What makes a pizza, a brioche, or a baguette truly perfect?
Is it dough hydration? Proper leavening? The selection of ingredients? It surely is the right combination of all these elements, anchored by one essential ingredient for baking any product to perfection: heat.
When properly controlled, heat enhances dough and toppings, otherwise it can jeopardise all your work.
High quality heat ensures a uniform baking, a perfectly golden, crunchy product with the ideal internal moisture, but also healthier and more digestible.
Let’s explore five reasons why deck ovens make a difference.
1.Uniform Baking and Perfect Product Development
In a deck oven, heat originates from heating elements at the top (ceiling) and bottom (deck), allowing for precise adjustments based on each product’s needs. It simultaneously exploits transmission by conduction, radiation and convection.
These heat propagations allow baking without the use of forced air, favouring even volume development for bread, pizza and pastries.
The dough rises gradually, preserving its structure.
Imagine baking artisan bread: with a deck oven the heat envelops the dough, creating a golden crust with a soft interior. Without air movement, the bread grows without ‘squashing’ or over-drying, with the ideal air pockets.
The same applies to various pastry products like puff pastry or choux pastry, which also expand in volume during baking.
With separate ceiling and deck power controls, products have a more ‘artisan’ appearance, with natural colour variations. This results in a final product with richer tones, an authentic look, enhanced flavour, and an exceptional aroma for a superior sensory experience.
2.Ideal Internal Moisture and Texture
Moisture plays a fundamental role in baking, particularly in the initial dough expansion phase. Deck ovens, thanks to their structure and technology, help maintain the ideal moisture level within the baking chamber. This is essential for preventing the dough from drying too quickly, keeping the product’s core soft while allowing the crust to form gradually.
Consider baking a contemporary Neapolitan-style pizza. The moisture at the start of baking allows the dough to expand, making the edge soft and airy. Then, a gradual reduction in moisture helps the crust become crunchy and golden due to the Maillard reaction, providing the right balance between softness and crunchiness.
3.Efficiency and Ease of Use with Modern Deck Ovens
Once considered challenging to operate, modern deck ovens have significantly evolved.
Advanced models, like those from Moretti Forni, offer intuitive UI and pre-set baking programs, making them easy to use even for less experienced chefs. In addition, with enhanced insulation, these ovens achieve perfect thermal retention, minimising heat loss and optimising energy consumption while keeping the exterior cool and noise-free.
This results in not only highly accurate baking but also notable energy savings, creating a more comfortable work environment.In a bakery, an advanced deck oven allows operators to simply select the program for bread, pizza, or pastries, achieving perfect results without having to manually adjust temperature and/or baking time each time.
4.Extended Freshness and Shelf Life
This kind of baking also offers a crucial advantage in terms of shelf-life for baked goods, thanks to its positive impact on the retrogradation of
starch (the process by which starch, after being softened during baking, gradually re-hardens upon cooling).
Static baking, with its gradual and uniform heat distribution, helps control this process, keeping the soft structure for longer and slowing down hardening.
Baked products like croissants, bread, cakes, and focaccias stay fresh longer without the need for additional preservatives.
5.Dough Technical Properties Enhancement
Static baking enhances the elasticity and extensibility (rheological properties) of the dough, which are essential for the quality of products like pizza and other baked goods. These characteristics are crucial for achieving the ideal texture in the finished product, keeping its shape and texture.
For pizza, a well-balanced dough that preserves these properties is necessary to get a thin pie with a soft crust. A deck oven retains these qualities during baking, ensuring a perfect outcome.
Heat as an Ingredient: a critical factor for the success of every recipe. Deck ovens represent a strategic choice for excellent results. Whether it’s for pizza, bread, pastries, or leavened products, static baking will make you achieve perfectly baked products with superior organoleptic and sensory quality. It’s an ideal solution for those seeking the very best in baking.
