Cooking pan for baking pizza pies and like food products

Abstract

Abstract An improved one piece cooking pan designed especially for use in baking pizza pies or like food products in a pre-heated oven, the pan having a substantially flat bottom portion with a plurality of perforations uniformly distributed over the entire extent thereof for directly exposing a substantial portion of the lower dough layer of a pizza pie or the like food product to the cooking heat of the oven. The perforations preferably have filleted upper edge portions and are uniformly distributed over the pan surface such that the ratio of the perforated surface area of the bottom portion of the cooking pan to the total surface area thereof is in the range from approximately 15 to 40 percent. The filleted upper edge portion of each perforation allows the heat to be distributed relatively more uniformly over the exposed areas of the product being cooked and avoids undesireable concentration of the cooking heat. The uniform distribution pattern of the perforations also produces a rapid elimination of moisture in the dough, substantially reduces the separation and bubbling effect of the dough, shortens the cooking time, and makes it easier to separate the cooked product from the pan. This specific relationship between filleted perforations and the ratio of the perforated surface area of the bottom portion of the pan to the total surface area thereof produces an accumulative affect which results in considerable cooking advantages and energy savings over prior art constructions. The substantially flat bottom portion of the pan preferably also has a centrally disposed aperture therein as an aid to proper positioning of the pan on a device used for punching the perforations therethrough. The pan construction of the present invention has wide applications for use in oven cooking food products such as pizza and other type pie products, cookies and numerous other food products.

Inventors

• 👤 Douglas P. Power

Bibliographic Details