Trays come in shapes and sizes as diverse as the products that they will help to make, while also considering the equipment and handling methods in each bakery. A characteristic they all have in common, regardless of endless possibilities in their layouts, is the safety guarantee provided for the products baked, time and again.
Made for pizza
In most restaurants, pizzerias or foodservice operations, the choice of oven is influenced by financial, space and labor considerations, aside from its technical capabilities. This means that the potential of these ovens can be maximized by innovations that pans can bring, such as mimicking certain baking surfaces. “The first step in this process is thinking of your oven simply as a heat source and your pans as baking systems. With that frame of mind, our pan experts can customize a pan that cooks almost any type of product in any oven. We’ve built pans to bake chocolate lava cakes in high-heat pizza ovens and pans to fry eggs in a conveyor oven,” Traci Rennaker, LloydPans CEO, elaborates.
Avoiding product adherence to the surface of the pan and having it easily released once it is ready are top priorities for pizza manufacturing, too. Dealing with a commonly thin layer of dough topped with various types of ingredients means more challenges are brought to the pan design table. LloydPans has developed three proprietary coatings to prevent sticking in all pans; all of which are permanent, toxin-free and infused into the pan surface to create a permanent baking platform that will not chip, peel or flake off. “Unlike traditional seasoning or glazing, our Silver-Kote and Dura-Kote coatings are not damaged by steaming in pans and don’t wear out,” she explains.
1) The PSTK ensures a stick-resistant coating. Rebbaker points out that this coating has proven successful by the top pizza franchises in the world. Pizza experts who are using it have tested its performance and appreciated its durability.
2) The Silver-Kote coating system is designed to eliminate reglazing for bakeware used to prepare pizza. Its baking properties resemble those of bare aluminum but have the added benefit of being a permanent stick-resistant coating.
3) Dura-Kote: this coating for bakeware is similar to PSTK, but fine-tuned for applications in retail and high-volume commercial bakeries.
Specializing in pizza pans for commercial foodservice, LloydPans looks into several aspects when considering new developments. Three criteria stand out in the pursuit to perfect pans suitable for the heat-intense pizza production process:
+ Durability: LloydPans takes into consideration the everyday rigors of a commercial kitchen, meaning they have to be built to be strong and perform consistently. To increase durability, all PTSK and Dura-Kote coating systems are metal utensil safe.
+ Coatings: The company has developed a proprietary coating for its pizza pans called Pre-Seasoned Tuff-Kote® (PSTK). This permanent coating eliminates pre-seasoning and is heat safe with an empty pan up to 700°F (371°C) – there is no limit when cooking if food is removed when ready. The coating is stick-resistant and will not chip, peel or flake off.
+ Performance: This is the combined result of constructing a durable pan with a high-quality coating: “Our pans perform exceptionally because they do so regularly over countless cycles,” she highlights.
Pizza under any circumstances
The general environment in a bakery or foodservice business can be damaging to pans. LloydPans also sees a lot of pan damage when machine washing detergents are used. To prevent this, it is imperative to clean with a non-corrosive detergent, according to the specialist.
Pans specialized for pizza production need to handle not only different baking equipment, types of manufacturing and handling routines, but also to provide optimum support for various types of products. “We have spent years developing pans for specific pizza types,” Rennaker says. For example, the company’s Detroit Pizza Pan is its bestseller and was developed specifically to cook this trendy pizza. “When we develop any pan, we factor in shape, size, depth and crust/dough characteristics that we are trying to achieve. From there, we get to work and test multiple iterations until we accomplish our goals,” the CEO explains. In terms of flexibility, LloydPans designs and manufactures custom pans for its clients based on their unique needs. For example, looking into portion control to meet pizzeria and consumer concerns, the company has developed the Equalizer, which is one of its best-selling products. It is a multi-blade rocker knife for accurate pizza slice portion control, used in many commercial foodservice operations, such as schools, to ensure consistently equal slices.
The article is part of an extended feature, which was originally published in [BBI 5 – 2021]. Read the full article in the magazine:
