Pizza

Pizza production on the large scale generally produces frozen pizza dough, frozen par-baked pizza shells and frozen fully topped parkbaked pizza shells. In the production of shells and topped pizza shells, automated lines are the trend. One of the important quality parameters is the absence of any shrinkage of the pizza dough directly after cutting or during the baking cycle.

During the dough fermentation, an 18°F increase in dough temperature could double yeast activity. During processing, control of the dough temperature is vitally important. Typically, dough containing normal yeast levels of 1 to 2 percent compressed yeast will perform best with a finished dough temperature of 80°F to 85°F, but if higher yeast levels are employed better results are obtained with finished dough temperatures in the 75°F to 80°F range. The best way to control finished dough temperature is through the temperature of the water that is added to the dough. Both the water temperature and the finished dough temperature should be monitored and recorded for each and every dough batch made. This will allow you to be aware of any differences and make corrections to the temperature of the water to maintain the targeted finished dough temperature. The recommended final proofer temperature for an automatic pizza line is 90-100°F (equal or slightly (2°F) higher than the dough temperature).

For the production of topped pizza shells, the crusts are normally par-baked or fully baked then cooled before application of the topping and freezing. When freezing topped pizza dough that hasn’t been baked in any way, water migration into the dough can occur and can result in soggy crust. This can be a big problem in thin crust pizza where crispness is desired.

In the process of freezing the pizza dough, the dough should be frozen to an internal temperature of 20°F. The hold or storage freezer should be 0°F or colder, preferably -10°F. A topped pizza shall be frozen in a blast freezing process to prevent topping from releasing their bound water upon thawing, thus creating a wet, soggy pizza.

ThermoBlade™ can help you achieve the goals of maintaining frozen dough in the right temperature at right time. Use ThermoBlade™ to create a thermal profile of your oven and verify the heat distribution inside the pizza oven.

Here is how we can help:

• Expedite process transfer from R&D to production

  The ThermoBlade™ can travel with products through chilling lines, spiral freezers and blast freezers providing real time display of air and product core temperatures, or use it as a wireless data logger and quickly download temperature data without waiting for the ThermoBlade to warm up. It is easy to measure and adjust freezing profiles in R&D and replicate the freezing process across production lines.

• Implement quality control

  With the help of TC-Probes, the production group can use the ThermoBlade to routinely measure key temperatures at consistent locations inside freezers and products, providing documentary proof that the process is on track and quantitative data for quality control.

• Speed maintenance

  When it's time to check freezer performance, ThermoBlade collects accurate multi-channel thermal profiles easily. Real-time data collection and display allows immediate freezer diagnosis or, when used as a data logger, data can be downloaded wirelessly without waiting for the ThermoBlade to warm to room temperature. After line maintenance operations, it is easy to run the ThermoBlade again to verify freezer performance.

• Optimize line efficiency

  Many high-volume manufacturers run multiple products on the same line every day. ThermoBlade can be set up with the product, in the same stacking configuration inside a blast freezer, or on the conveyor to quickly provide a thermal profile during process changeover and ensure quality control. ThermoBlade can be used to quickly find process inefficiencies where product is "over-frozen" and line throughput can be increased yielding more profit without any additional equipment investment.

• Compensate freezer inconsistency

  We all know that not every freezer works in the same way. By using ThermoBiscuit to measure product core temperatures at the various stacking locations,the operators do not need to accommodate the freezer inconsistency. Control the process using the product core temperature in stead of freezer’s thermometer readings.

• Monitor product quality during transportation

  ThermoBiscuit can be used as a data logger to simply collect temperature history during product transportation. The users can download the data to a local laptop in the destination facility.