A Useful Guide For Pizza Shop Equipment and Tools

Considering opening a pizza shop but don’t know where to start? A critical part of building your pizzeria is setting up your kitchen. Your business must have the proper pizza shop equipment suitable for daily use and attend to your customers’ every need. You probably do not want to spend all your money on the pizza shop equipment, but at the same time, you want them to be efficient and durable. Here we prepared a guide for you to help to choose pizza shop equipment and tools.

Making Pizza is Not Just Baking Dough 

In America, pizza ranks as the second most popular fast food, so that is not too easy to outshine and satisfy expectations. Imagine that it is lunchtime, and your pizza shop gets full just in a little while, or maybe a group of friends is there for a celebration; why not?

As a pizzeria, you will probably have customers all the time. Therefore, you need to be as fast as you can in the cooking process. In addition to preparing the dough, you need to roll, shape, and top it quickly, then bake and service. Again and again, day-long. All this process requires specific pizza shop equipment, tools, and supplies. And to make the perfect pizza, you need to know which pizza shop equipment is suitable for you and fits your expectations.

What Pizza Shop Equipment Do You Need?

1. Pizza Oven

A commercial pizza oven is must-have pizza shop equipment. Since it’s the most crucial part of your kitchen, you need to know the oven types and other details to choose the right one.

How Important is An Oven For Baking Pizza?

The right pizza oven will expedite the cooking process and will help you make the perfect pizza. Besides, despite being designed for pizza cooking, most ovens add plenty of flexibility to the kitchen. You can cook much different food in addition to pizza using them. 

Choosing The Right Oven For A Pizza Shop

Since a pizza oven has the biggest impact on the quality of the pizza, choosing the right one is essential. Choosing the right pizza oven for a pizza shop has some key considerations.

Oven type: Most pizza chains use conveyor ovens, but it is an option. All pizza ovens have advantages and disadvantages; you can choose the one considering each oven’s features, sizes, and your expectations.

Available space: Most oven types can come in different depth and deck options. For instance, deck ovens have a deep cooking chamber with room for at least three pizzas. Measuring the space you want to place your oven will help greatly in choosing the right size.

Budget: Budget is a determinative point in choosing a pizza oven. The bigger size ovens are normally more costly, and ovens with additional features may add to the cost. Gas ovens are typically cheaper but require a connection to a gas line.

Pizza Oven Types

Gas Type Oven: Gas ovens are a bit cheaper than electric ones at the same quality levels. But they have some drawbacks. Firstly, if you don’t have gas in your home, you’ll need a gas supply, which can be costly. And gas-powered ovens tend to have hotspots and uneven heating.

Electric Type Oven: Electric ovens are the most popular type. They are too easy to use to clean, and they are the best for even cooking.

Deck-Type Oven: Deck-type ovens are very popular oven types among pizza shop equipment. They produce high-quality pizza and pizzas made with brick-lined stone bottoms similar to those of a brick oven. Deck ovens are available in multiple cooking chambers with room for a minimum of 3 pizzas. They have to be preheated for a minimum of one hour and heat up to 400 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Convection Oven: Convection ovens are a good choice in settings where productivity is the biggest priority. Cooks every side of pizza at once by circulating hot air. It requires less work and cooks fast; however, it can cook 1 or 2 pizzas at a time. One downside to convection ovens is that they’ll need an extended recovery period, which is the time it takes for an oven gets back to temperature once the oven door is opened.

Brick Oven: Brick pizza ovens, designed to cook pizzas slowly and evenly, can either be wood-fired or gas-fired. While it takes up to forty-five minutes to preheat, a brick oven eventually will reach temperatures high enough to cook a pie in under 3 minutes and holds the heat for a long time. And it can cook 10 to 12 pies at a time is a good option for multi-client restaurants.

Conveyor Oven: These units are very productive pizza shop equipment, with a temperature range of 400 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit and fast cooking time. It cooks by moving the food through the heated chamber at a constant speed. A conveyor oven may use impinger or radiant heating for cooking. Impinger conveyor ovens operate with a fan that blows heated air, while radiant conveyor ovens feature a heating element above and below the unit, which also heats the walls of the oven generating radiant heat.

High-capability conveyor ovens don’t need to be checked as much as deck ovens, so they permit your employees to focus on client service and top a high-quality pizza.

Portable Oven: With lightweight, portable pizza ovens, you can cook pizza wherever you want. The portable wood and gas-fired oven will perfectly meet your needs.

Countertop Oven: You can save money and space by choosing a countertop version of the deck, convection, and conveyor ovens. While the number of pizzas a countertop oven makes per hour changes widely by oven type, they can not cook much as the bigger ones.

Why Is Pizza Stone Important in a Pizza Oven? 

A pizza stone is a round of earthenware material on which a pizza is baked. The ceramic material of a pizza stone holds heat evenly, and it helps absorb moisture from the dough, making the crust crispier. And when you preheat the stone, it gives the dough an intense burst of initial heat, and it puffs up the crust. Plus, it helps direct heat to the right place, and the crust will be similar to one made in a brick oven.

2. Dough Mixers

Commercial dough mixers are specially designed pizza shop equipment to mix, knead, and stretch dense dough continuously and thoroughly. Spiral mixers are specifically designed for dough kneading. Unlike the planetary mixers, their hook and bowl are fixed and not interchangeable, but the rotating bowl provides more uniform results. Planetary mixers can knead the dough, mix and even blend ingredients. It differs from spiral mixers with its planetary attachment that rotates in a stationary bowl, as in spiral mixers, the bowl rotates, and the attachments stay still.

The mixers come in capacities ranging from 15 to more than 300 pounds. They come with mixing bowls and a selection of containers and attachments. So you can hold and knead bulks of ingredients all at once.

3. Dough Rounder & Dividers

To simplify and accelerate the process of making dough, one of your major pizza shop equipment needs is a dough divider and rounder. It can divide and round a significant amount of dough in a bit of time, making you use your time for other works.

4. Pizza Prep Tables

Refrigerated prep tables are used to do easy work of prepping anything that utilizes refrigerated ingredients in its process. Your foods are kept at a safe temperature, and easy to access all ingredients during preparation through refrigerated open wells and separated parts. It also provides a flat surface to make the pizzas.

5. Dough Storing Equipment

Dough boxes come in handy to transfer dough between the mixer and proofing cabinets or prep tables. They are also used for rising dough in proofing cabinets.

6. Holding/Proofing Cabinets

Proofing cabinets are constructed with either aluminum or stainless steel and provide a more controlled environment to accelerate the fermentation of your dough. The warm atmosphere it creates makes the dough’s fermentation gain speed, and it rises faster.

7. Dough Retarder

When you retard the dough, you place it in the cooler to slow down the rising process. The process may be used for many various reasons. Some pizza makers retard their dough balls to be ready when they need them to be. Some retards the dough to enhance its flavor.

8. Pizza Pan & Peels

A pizza peel is a pizza tool you can use to put in or take out the pizzas in the oven without burning yourself. There are many types of pans producing different styles of pizza, so you should use the type considering the kind of pizza you want to serve. Using a thick pan will make the pizza cook longer.

9. Pizza Dough Press and Dough Roller

To get a perfect round of pizza dough, all you need is a pizza dough press and dough roller. And it will help you to form the thickness of your dough.

10. Pizza Warmers, Display, and Merchandisers

Pizza warmers and merchandisers are for keeping pizza warm, fresh, and ready to serve. Pizza merchandisers will not only keep your pizzas warm, but also your guest can see and smell the tempting slices of pizzas.

11. Pizza Scales

While making pizza, weigh the ingredients using a portion scale. You’ll see even minor differences and make an excellent pizza by using the right amounts. 

12. Pizza Tools

Pizza tools can be used in prepping, cooking, and serving process of pizza. From making dough to slicing pizza, they ease your work and save time. Pizza cutters slice easily and equally, and a pizza dough docker makes holes over the dough before putting it in the oven to prevent the dough from rising. And you can easily serve the pizza with servers and create space for other utensils on the table by lifting the pizza with pizza stands.

13. Pizza Packaging & Delivery Supplies

You can maintain your pizza’s warmth and freshness with pizza bags. With disposable boxes and pizza pans, you can deliver quickly and neatly.

The Important Points at Shipping & Delivering Pizza Shop Equipment 

Delivery of your oven or another supply differs depending on what you bought. If the oven is under 2,000 Lbs, the carrier will place the oven using a lift-gate truck, but if the oven weighs over 2,000 Lbs, you will require a forklift to take the pizza oven off the car. To be sure whether a fork truck is needed or not, you can call the dealer or send an email before delivery. The distributor will inform you to track your oven shipment, including the carrier information.

Maintenance of Pizza Shop Equipment

All pizza shop equipment is built to withstand heavy volumes and continuous work, but your investment’s longevity will depend on how it’s used and maintained. If you want your investment to be durable and long-lasting, you should regularly clean and maintain pizza shop equipment.

Pizza Oven: It is normal when cooking in an oven that spills or spots occur. To prolong the service time of this pizza shop equipment, make sure you are cleaning it regularly. Before starting to clean, do not forget to ensure that the oven is cool.

While cleaning the oven, do not use detergents because they could alter the taste of food. You should remove the scraps and brush the oven after daily use.  These small touches prevent deeper problems. You can use a copper brush to clean any food stuck to the floor during cooking or remove ash from the cooking area.

Dough Mixer:  To clean a spiral mixer, you may pour some hot water into the bowl and steam the bowl by covering it with a sheet of plastic so that any dough residue in the bowl softens. After steaming for about 15 minutes, you can scrub the bowl out using a nylon bristle pot brush. Then rinse the bowl and sanitize.

Pizza Stone: How often you clean the stone will depend on its condition and how often you use it. If the stone has stains and debris, never wash it! Because it will absorb the soap and the cleanser since its surface is poriferous; so you will taste it next pizza. Instead of washing, scrape off debris with a dry brush, toothbrush, or plastic scraper after cooling. 

Proper Pizza Shop Equipment For Perfect Pizza 

Pizzeria supplies are versatile, and you need to choose them carefully from the beginning to the end, from preparing a pizza to serving it. You can have dough that is done by an excellent mixer and shaped with a dough press. Using the best pizza oven at the right temperature, with the fresh ingredients kept at the prep tables and a preheated stone, you will make the perfect pizza. Do not forget to ease and enrich the service with pizza servers. We are sure that you’ll get many customers by cooking with the best pizza shop equipment on the market.