Paul Tiffany, our resident food and pan expert, tackles your baking and pizza pan questions. Have a question for Paul? Leave a comment or email us at sales@lloydpans.com.
Question: I’m not satisfied with my pizza crust. It’s not crispy enough and it’s pretty uninspiring.
The crust is key to a successful pizza, regardless of what style you’re making. When we get this question, it’s essential to understand what type of pan is currently being used and what type of oven you’re baking with. When it comes to the oven, everyone wants to be baking in a hearth oven, but few operations have the space, time or money to use one. If that’s the case, it’s essential to look at your pizza pans to see how to impart hearth qualities without the hearth oven.
When pizza operations are having crust issues, nine times out of 10, it’s because they are using traditional pizza screens. This type of pan will definitely bake a pizza, but if you’re looking for a memorable crust, you need to upgrade your pizza pan.
LloydPans Hearth Bake disk can be used in a conveyorized impingement oven or speed cook oven to produce an artisanal character crust. Basically, the pan is going to give you a hearth-style crust without baking the pizza in a hearth oven. You’ll have the random bubbled look, blistering and the slight charring indicative of a hearth-baked pizza.
One of our great customers believe the move from pizza screens to our Hearth Bake Disks has helped him increase sales by 30% in the last year. He spent about $15,000 replacing all of his screens with our pans, but the investment has already paid for itself.
Question: How much does (insert type of pan) cost?
A: Always a common question, but one that requires more than just looking at the price tag of a pan. If all you consider is price, then you’re most likely not going to buy one of our pans. We make our pans more durable and with exceptional coatings, which costs more money initially. However, we also make them to provide superior baking performance and extended lifespans. Over the course of your pan’s life, our pans will prove a much better investment in money and quality of bake.
Question: I need a custom pan. How long will it take?
A: Customers are surprised to hear that it doesn’t take two to three months (or longer) for a custom pan. In fact, it often only takes two to three weeks. At LloydPans, we manufacture all of our pans and tooling equipment in the USA at our Spokane Valley plant, giving us the ability to create custom pans much quicker than our competition. Learn more about our custom pan options.
Have a question for Paul? Leave a comment and we’ll answer it in our next blog post.