American Metalcraft Pans

[Bluesology]

For those familiar with Sicilian style - what are your opinions of the American Metalcraft pans?  I'm trying to branch out and the square PSTK pans look particularly expensive.  Abestkitchen.com has aluminum pans for much cheaper but I don't want to buy them if they aren't going to get the job done.  Am I better off just sucking it up and springing for the PSTK?

Chad

[ninapizza23]

Hi Chad,
I bought the AMC black pans, round,rectangle and square about 3 years ago. They give you a crispier pizza at the bottom, easier to clean. Well worth the $. Mine are like new, I take good care of them. They are heavy. Also, I bought the 9x13 in aluminum but no comparison. I hope this helps.

[Pete-zza]

Chad,

As part of your research, you might check out Reply 2 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9166.msg79294.html#msg79294.

Peter

[PizzaHog]

Hey Blues
Black steel is traditional, what I like, and hard to find outside of a restaurant supply.  Not sure if these qualify but is all I could ever find on the internet.
http://www.cookware.com/Paderno-World-Cuisine-41745-WCS4027.html

[steel_baker]

Paderno World Cuisine makes blue steel pans which are outstanding for pizza baking. There are a number of restaurants in the area where I grew up that make a speciality style of sicilian pizza that is baked in blue steel pans. Here's a pic of the browning on a tray of white/ garlic/ broccoli pizza that I made last evening in a Paderno blue steel pan.

steel_baker

[Pete-zza]

steel_baker,

Very nice. Can you give us some particulars on your pan dimensions and how you baked the pizza, such as oven temperature, rack position (and stone, if used), bake duration, and also whether you oiled the pan and, if so, using what type of oil and its amount? The answers may enable us to compare your pan with the pans that the rest of us use.

For those who are interested, there is a feature at the Paderno website at http://www.world-cuisine.com/store/index.cfm that allows one to try to locate a reseller.

Thanks.

Peter

[steel_baker]

Paderno makes a variety of pan sizes. Mine is 11-9/16 x 15-7/8, essentially 12x16. It is 1-1/8" high so I do wish it was deeper. These pans are commonly available at Amazon.com, lionsdeal.com, and many other places. I seasoned it with shortening several times before using it.

My technique is to make a nice fairly high hydration sicilian dough (65-67%) using bread flour, ADY, salt, and some olive oil. After mixing and kneading (Bosch Universal Plus), I give a rise overnight in the fridge. The next day, I put 1/4 cup of peanut oil in the pan, punch down the dough, place it in the pan, and stretch it to about 2/3 of the pan, let it rise for an hour or so, then stretch it again to fit the pan. It then gets one last rise, then is topped and baked in a 475 degree oven, bottom rack.

This one is topped as follows:

Spread a pinch or two of kosher salt on the dough, sprinkle pre cooked (I steam it) broccoli that has been rough chopped into small pieces, drizzle garlic oil (or garlic butter... however you prefer to get your garlic flavor, I use minced garlic in olive oil & butter), then top with a 50/50 blend of mozzarella & vermont white cheddar, then bake for approx 12 mins.

I have other ways that I top this pizza but the crust always turns out like this. It's crispy & browned on the bottom and soft on top. Great juxtaposition of textures. This pizza is actually based upon a style of sicilian pizza from Wyoming, PA sold as Victory Pig pizza. I grew up eating this style a lot and have found that it's really hard to find anything even close anywhere else..... so I taught myself to make my own.

steel_baker

[Puzzolento]

My carbon steel commercial pans do nothing but collect dust, now that I've discovered the cheap nonstick steel pans my grocer sells. Perfect crust every time, without a stone (or the added time it takes to preheat a stone). I wish I had never bought the commercial pans.

[steel_baker]

My Lodge cast iron skillet was $15 and the Paderno blue steel baking pans I use cost $17. Seems pretty cheap to me. I can feed pizza to lots of people with 2 or 3 12"x16" blue steel pans.

It's easy to bake pizza in virtually any pan if your techniques & recipe are solid. You need bigger & better pans to produce it in larger quantities for parties & get togethers.

steel_baker

[Puzzolento]

It's easy to bake pizza in virtually any pan if your techniques & recipe are solid.

Some pans require much more effort, and some won't do the job at all. My cheap pans never let me down, and they save me a lot of work.

[Pete-zza]

Since most people can't afford or aren't in a position to purchase and try every type of pan, they usually start somewhere with a particular type of pan. Maybe its a pan that they saw or read about or someone recommended to them, or maybe it is a pan that is commonly associated with a particular style of pizza of interest. Over time, usually with practice and maybe a few bad outings, they eventually learn how to use their particular pan and to make the necessary adjustments to successfully make the types of pizzas that interest them. At that point, it might become difficult to convince them to switch to another type of pan, and start the journey all over again. Also, I have discovered that the type of oven can influence pan choices, as can the ways of baking the pizzas in different ovens. I will occasionally try out different pans to learn more about them but am perfectly content when I find pans that quickly get me to my destination. I have a loyalty to my pans that is hard to budge. My thinking might be more malleable if I were starting from scratch and someone with intimate knowledge of pans and baking methods showed up to guide me.

Peter

[Puzzolento]

That's why I mention my cheap pans. It's very easy for new people to be misled by more experienced cooks who have unprofitable prejudices, and things like cast iron and commercial pans have enthusiastic followings which are not always based on reason.

A new person might come here and read about commercial carbon steel pans and assume they're the best pans for the job. I've tried them in my conventional electric 550-degree oven, and they are just about useless. They refuse to heat fast enough to brown the crust before the top of the pie burns, and putting them on a hot stone doesn't help. This is probably the reason people do things like par-baking pies and preheating pans. I don't have to do those things. I can turn on the oven at noon, omit the stone, and eat perfect Sicilian pizza at 12:30.

I believe I spent forty bucks plus shipping for two carbon steel pans, and I did that because of opinions I read here. The pans were a complete waste of money. My Wear-Ever pans cost six dollars each. The pan I got at the grocery store probably cost ten bucks. The grocery pan works perfectly in every way, and the Wear-Ever pans work fine as long as I'm willing to put the pies on a stone right after I bake them. I use 12 Wear-Ever pans when I bake pizzas and rolls for my church; that's how good they are. I could have gone the conventional route, but the pans would have run over $200, and they would have worked very poorly, in addition to rusting when mishandled.

I know things will work differently for people with different ovens. My advice to newbies is to start with the cheap pans and see what happens, because it makes no sense to try the most expensive solution first. I should go ahead and drop my carbon steel pans at the Salvation Army. I have no use for them.

[Pete-zza]

Puzzolento,

For the benefit of newbies who might want to go the route you took, can you post a link or two to show them the specific Wear-Ever pans you are using?

I specifically asked steel_baker about his pans and methods because I thought that he made a great looking pizza, especially the bottom crust, which many members like to achieve with their Sicilian style pizzas. Apparently he has mastered the use of his blue steel pans.

Peter

[steel_baker]

I actually bought the blue steel pans because I know that the restaurants whose pizza I was trying to duplicate use commercial blue steel pans. Once I saw how easy it was to brown the crust, I was hooked. Some of the Paderno blue steel pans cost less than $5 so it's cheap to try them. The results were great so I stuck with them.

steel_baker