# Pizza in the Combi Oven?



## chefbruz (Nov 18, 2016)

First, I have extensive pizza experience, so I know pizza. I was CdP of the pizza section in a bistro that used to sell $25,000 worth of pizza a WEEK! We used a gas fired triple deck tractor oven, on Fridays and Saturdays there were two chefs making pizza and one chef cutting pizza. No BS $100K of pizza a MONTH.

I often had people come to the pass and tell me the pizza I made them was the best pizza they have ever had in their life.

I've done wood oven and electric oven pizza as well. I've done turbo chef oven pizza with pre purchased bases and they were better than the crap they make at this place.

My situation is that I have an owner whose old chef used to make pizzas in the combi.

I've never found a recipe that makes decent pizzas in the combi. I've searched the web for tips, to no avail.

Their technique is to make the dough on the morning of pizza night, roll it out onto trays and let it stand in the ambient temperature and humidity, UNCOVERED all day until service in the evening. The bases skin up as you would expect in summer. In winter they don't skin as hard.

Let me tell you, I had a pizza off the old chef and it was delta sierra. You'd be better off with a frozen pizza... But no one will admit it.

But the owner insists that the old chef made proper pizza...

I previously made pre baked bases (same recipe baked with sauce) for a sponsored sports team who eats for free, so I thought I could show the owner how the pizza could be improved. The pizza turned out better, but the owner , for reasons I cannot fathom, insists on fresh dough and fresh baked (oh, and topping right to the edge "we're not making Pizza Hut pizza here" and we're not supposed to have colour on the cheese either...)

He said the pizza was DS, but I know they were better...

On top of this, the pizza makers put a scant coating of cheese on the base and then put a cup and a half of cheese on top.... This goes against everything I have been taught.

No one listens to me about how to make the pizza better, because the pizzas old chef made were apparently perfect....and I've only been there six months...

The pizza makers run the combi at 230 C and I laser temped the oven last night at 190C. so that's a start. Their door discipline makes me want to bash my head against the wall too...As if it's not hard enough in a hot oven...The owner checked the temp and the ball weight with the old chef, so i think there's a load there as we are in competition with him...

I've told them i won't do the pizza night unless I take over the process from go to whoa, so I have escaped the duty.

Yesterday I relived the doughmaker. I asked if i could make the dough the night before, no dice. I made the dough and let it prove all day in a bucket at room temp. I rolled the balls slightly heavier than spec and they still tore when I pushed them out...

I caught the owner weighing the balls too...

After the pizza makers dumped a ton of cheese over the top of the pre baked pizzas, as usual, they turned out not to be good enough to meet the owner's standard... Big surprise...

The pizzas were DS...

We could solve the problem by changing the technique, the recipe and pre bake the bases with a dough proofed overnight. I know they would be 200% better but the owner will not consider it.

The owner stated yesterday that I was banned from making pizza, as everyone else covered their a$$es and blamed the new guy.

Blamed the bases... The owner said that the pizza didn't rise because I only rolled them out just prior to service... I said "it's not magic"

Oh, and the recipe has no oil in it so there's barely any colour on the dough...

And Domino pizzas are the best pizzas in the area. Even the best shop in town turned out a good looking pie that was underdone on the base...

Your thoughts?


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Perhaps you should open your own pizzeria and put all those fools out of business.


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## chefbruz (Nov 18, 2016)

That's the only option I figured out too... Once you put the flavour in their mouths, they'll HAVE to keep coming back...


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## tomo2103 (Jun 7, 2017)

Depends on how serious of a combi you're working with i suppose, our kitchen has 2 $30000 rationales and we often make pizzas for functions, they seem to come out pretty well but if you want to sell pizzas as a primary part of a menu I think wood oven is the way to go. Not only gives that smokey element to the bread but also is a great marketing too to your clientele.


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## Andrey (Apr 24, 2019)

It may be too late, but I found a way to make pretty good pizzas in cheap combi oven. We place two bricks on the floor of the oven, and a pizza steel in the middle and bake on 260 (Celcium). It's quite good and quite fast.


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## officially4h (Apr 18, 2019)

I always made pizza on Tawa and It more delicious than oven pizza.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

A convection oven is a convection oven regardless if it costs $6000 or $35000. The fan blows hot air and the baked product is suspended in air—no contact with a stone or steel hearth or deck, and only one temperature zone in the entire cavity.

First off, if you were hired to improve this dip-wad’s pizza, and none of your observations or suggestions are even listened to, then it’s time to say “thank you for this opportunity but I...” and walk out.

If you were hired to make pizza the way this guy wants it, and don’t want to make it that way,then it’s time to say “ thank you for this opportunity but I...” and walk out.

A Porsche 911 is best used on fast roads with the top down and an attractive member of the opposite sex beside you. You COULD use it as a taxi, or to take granny to the airport, but that’s not what a Porsche is all about. A Rational oven is best used for high volume catering, production, and meat roasting, and in these cases it can pay for itself in a matter of months. In a pinch, a Rational can produce “decent” pizza, but like the Porsche, that’s not what it’s designed to do. If the owner wants to use the Rational pretty much exclusively for pizza only then the owner is an idiot of the worst sort and will fail in business fairly quickly.


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## EdwardParkernl (Feb 15, 2019)

This is pretty nice idea about pizza. It is very helpful and informative and i will definitely tried it for sure.


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