In the world of pizza, what’s hot and what’s not changes almost as often as the latest version of an iPhone.

While thick-crusted, Detroit-style frozen pizza drove sales for the past few years, hand-tossed, stuffed and even fermented-flavored, Italian pinsa-crusted pies are striving to give takeout a run for its money.

On top of it all, extra meat, cheese and everything else are loaded up and capturing the imagination of hungry consumers.

Keeping up with this ever-changing universe isn’t easy.

“With pizza production, the product quality is all process-driven,” said Nick Magistrelli, vice president of sales, Rademaker USA. “Flavor development for the crust is creating new and exciting options for consumers in the market. Advanced proofing solutions allow for these new artisanal-style pizzas with control over such variables as time and temperature. The stuffed crust pizza segment is rapidly growing and is a highly special equipment process that tends to be a dedicated system with its own set of process points.”

Adapting to the latest fashion requires constant retooling, even for the most versatile of lines that often require much more space than dedicated production systems.

Pizza producers may even need to add an inline proofer for thicker, fluffier doughs or additional mixing bowl storage capacity for longer fermentation processes, noted Martin Gallot, area sales manager, Rondo Industrial Solutions. Or a new press may be required for a better pizza crust rim or an extra calibrating head for thinner doughs.

The shape of the pizza world is also diversifying with the invasion of rectangular and oblong flatbreads that transform pizzas into appetizers or create a new textural experience for adventurous aficionados of this category.

Randy Kelly, applications specialist, Fritsch, a Multivac Group company, noted the company provides a variety of tools, such as versatile cutter rollers, to form naan or lavash or punching systems for rimmed crusts for its Impressa line. 

“The line is also able to process different types of dough with a long fermentation time,” he said. “Nearly all shapes, dimensions and weights are possible to produce, and the scrap dough can be fed back into the process for a better taste.”

Gemini Bakery Equipment is focusing on makeup systems that can expand the weight range of products made, improve the rounding of doughballs and significantly reduce labor and changeover time.

Ken Johnson, the company’s president, said the new Gemini/W&P TPA divider allows for a much greater dough ball scaling range with weights ranging up to 12 oz, depending on the dough, without sacrificing scaling accuracy. For heavier dough balls, a secondary rounder operates in conjunction with the TPA roll divider.

“The combined primary and secondary rounding system can expand the weight range of products on an existing pizza production line up to 20 oz,” he said. “The combination offers improved moulding results with capacity for high weight ranges.”

The flurry of new product activity, coupled with strategic discounting, is fueling sales of frozen pizza, which rose 10.3% to $6.9 billion, according to Circana data for the 52 weeks ending May 13. Deli pizzas jumped about 16.5% to nearly $2.1 billion.

In response to this dynamic growth, several large pizza manufacturers have announced major expansions of their facilities and even new plants to provide much-needed capacity and reduce distribution costs. 

“What we have seen many times is producers have outgrown their existing topping lines due to increased volume,” said Tom Trost, sales manager, Quantum Technical Services. “For example, they may have purchased a single lane line, but now that line can no longer handle their production requirements. In this case, they can either add another single lane line or a multiple lane line. That said, there still may be opportunities to add additional sauce pattern plates, pepperoni clusters or waterfall topping applicators to accommodate other SKUs.”

He pointed out some manufacturers are adding new lines, not necessarily replacing them, to accommodate the extra volume while maintaining production flexibility.

“Change outs [of machines] are easier and faster on a single lane line than on high-speed or multiple lane lines,” Mr. Trost pointed out. “For this reason, producers who graduate to high-speed lines will keep their single lane line to run lower volume SKUs with more variation in toppings and run their high-volume SKUs on their high-speed line.”

At the front of the process, dividers need to handle doughs with a high range of consistency to create everything from traditional American-style to gluten-free, fermented and flatbread crusts with short changeover times across the board. 

“Extrusion technology has made major advancements in the past 15 years, especially with materials and servo controls that improve precision,” noted Joe Alameno, product manager, Handtmann. “The adjustable vane cell design also moves product through the feed system with less friction than older designs, and this is a positive for product quality and consistency, especially with higher speeds and when handling stiffer doughs like pizza.” 

On high-volume lines, he added, the space between dough pieces becomes critical in maximizing throughput.

“One important feature of our Handtmann pizza solutions is their placement consistency, which frees up labor and reduces interruptions at the proofer or with the press,” Mr. Alameno said.    

He added that Handtmann also offers dividers that eliminate oil and improve portion accuracy to reduce giveaway and rework.

“They can also handle a variety of dough viscosities with simple adjustments at the control panel or an easy nozzle change at the attachment,” he noted. 

For fresh dough ball scaling and handling, Reiser combines its Vemag divider with a JLS Automation robotic handling system.

“The technology has advanced considerably during the past years,” said John McIsaac, vice president of strategic business development, Reiser. “Our oil-free Vemag dividers have been optimized for speed, gentle dough handling and scaling. We have developed rounding options to match production requirements. Our VPC 715 Process Check ensures superior scaling accuracy across the batch while gathering production data and rejecting out-of-spec products. Dough is then handed off to our JLS robotic systems, which use vision technology.”

He said the Vemag’s accurate scaling minimizes waste, enables dough ball press lines to run more efficiently and prevents jams in packaging that occur when product sizes are inconsistent. Dough trimmed from the process is automatically sent back to the mixer in a metered fashion.

“We have all kinds of engineered solutions for putting down fillings, depositing cheese for stuffed crust, cheese slices for handhelds and more,” Mr. McIsaac said. “All of our machines are recipe-driven, so changeovers are simplified.”

On a sheeting line, a key area to reduce labor involves automatically reusing scrap or reworked dough.

“Depending on the product shape and line capacity, managing the rework becomes a critical area of the process,” Mr. Magistrelli said. “Today, there are solutions to get the dough off the line and back to the front of the process for rework with minimal or no labor.”

The creation of rework or scrap dough during the pizza production process is a matter of geometry.

“Even though cutting a circle in a dough sheet generates lots of rework, there is very little waste at the end of the day. Rework dough is part of the recipe and managed as any other ingredient,” Mr. Gallot explained. “Rondo helps its customers by providing a rework dough chunker mounted on weighing cells that precisely integrate the right amount of rework dough in the next mixing bowl. A growing trend is more rectangular frozen pizza, which requires no rework dough on the line, efficient packaging, more weight on a pallet and less space in the freezer case.”

In some cases, he suggested, upgrading the extruder to a newer generation can substantially improve pizza quality and lower the operational costs. Rondo annually replaces five to 10 Oscar Stress Free Extruders, which the company discontinued in 2009, with new third-generation MIDOS (Multiple Industrial Dough System) technology extruders.

“They provide more gentle processing, more setting possibilities, require no process oil or flour dusting and make a better pizza with less downtime,” Mr. Gallot said.

To lighten workloads and expedite sanitation, Rondo also provides removable components such as rotary cutters and other machines on its production lines, said Peter Spinelli, president and general manager, Rondo North America.

Moreover, Mr. Gallot said, some longer sheeting lines are separated into sections, which allow the operation to start a new product on “Section 1” while the previous product is still on the back end of the production line.

“The different sections can be set independently and run two different recipes, allowing a quick changeover,” he said. “You do not need to empty the line to start the new product.”

With the latest in automation, pizza producers can react quickly to consumer trends and roll out new products with pizzazz in a way that makes a world of difference in fueling demand from a nation of pizza lovers.

This article is an excerpt from the November 2023 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Pizza Processing, click here.