SOS maintenance: here’s how to clean your pizzeria oven step-by-step
Do you know that pizza quality is also linked to oven cleanliness? Food residue (like flour residue) and the ash that gathers can in fact alter the flavor of the food.
So let’s have a look at how to clean a pizzeria oven to guarantee efficient operation and keep the pizza from absorbing undesired odors and flavors.
Cleaning the oven: here are the right tools!
Whether it is a wood-fired, gas, pellet, or combination oven, the professional oven for food and pizza requires maintenance for which you need specific equipment, all with a handle long enough to reach all the inside parts safely:
- Ember rake and oven rake to move the embers over the cook plate (for the wood-fired oven).
- Rake and shovel to remove the ash and heavier debris.
- Brushes with brass or natural fiber bristles, for cleaning the surface of the oven (perhaps with a movable head to reach all the corners and hollow spaces).
- Sponge or cloth to remove encrustations and stains.
How to clean a pizzeria oven in three steps
- Remove the ashes. To clean wood-fired ovens, the first step is to go and remove the ash left by wood burning from the cook plate simply by using the shovel.
- Brush the cook plate to remove the small residue, which you can also use an oven bellows for.
- Remove any encrustations (of cheese, tomato sauce, or other toppings) with a sponge or a cloth soaked in water and vinegar; to facilitate this job, all you have to do is heat up the oven beforehand to make the encrustations melt.
When do you clean a pizzeria oven?
All cleaning operations must take place with the oven off (like with an electric oven, but it goes for all ovens) and with the cooking surface entirely cooled off. Then especially for ovens that run on wood or gas with a cook plate in refractory stone, it’s important not to use detergents that could be damaging or make the food taste different.
Plus, it’s important to do periodic checks, like the one on the chimney.
Which oven for pizza should I choose?
We’ve seen how to clean a pizzeria oven, but you still don’t know which to pick for your place? You have to assess different characteristics, and if you want to combine tradition and innovation, choose Marana products, equipped with constructive and technological expedients. Besides the classic fixed oven, you’ll also find the innovative Rotoforno, where the cook plate turns all by itself, allowing for uniform cooking all over. Plus, this lets you clean faster, since thanks to the rotation the surface comes toward the pizza-maker, and not the opposite. Moreover, the ashes can be left under the rotating surface for days without having to constantly remove them; in fact, they are an excellent natural insulation and don’t come into contact with food. This way, you can clean once a month in some cases.
Find out more on this and the other Marana ovens and contact us to book a test at our establishment in Verona.
