The Manufacturing of Deep-Dish Pizza Pans

What Is Deep Dish Pizza?

When you think of pizza (and let’s face it, who doesn’t think of pizza on a regular basis?) your mind may wander into the various offerings depending on your geography. New Yorkers think of wide, foldable crusts with a touch of blistered char, just thick enough for a toothsome chew. Californians picture thin, crisp crusts topped with innovative combinations of ingredients. But if you’re in Chicago, pizza means a pie with a hearty crust and layers of toppings all served up via deep-dish pizza pans.

Chicago was a popular area for Italian immigrants from the end of the 19th century to the early 20th century. As they flocked to the city, they brought with them their love of pizza. This passion resulted in a new culinary creation that married Italian and American traditions: deep dish pizza. Thicker than a Neapolitan style pizza, but thinner than a Sicilian, deep dish pizza features a hearty crust, sauce over its cheese, and various meats and vegetables. To note, the first one was sold by Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo at Pizzeria Uno in 1943.

The Deep-Dish Pizza Pan

Image courtesy of Pizzeria UNO

To facilitate the construction of deep-dish pizza, pizzamakers use pans that are specifically designed to allow the crust to extend up the sides and form a shallow container for the other pizza ingredients. In most respects, standard and deep-dish pizza pans are the same. However, deep dish pizza pans are distinguished by their taller metal walls. In addition to making it easy to cook deep dish pizza, they can be easily stacked and carried and used for proofing dough.

These pans are generally available in round and square shapes and are made from aluminum or tin-plated stainless steel. Non-stick coatings can also be added to allow for easier cleanup.

How Are Deep Dish Pans Made?

Manufacturers use deep drawn stamping to create a wide range of metal products, including deep dish pizza pans. This manufacturing technique employs a custom stamping die and stamping press to form sheet metal into hollow shapes.

Deep drawn stamping is ideal for producing deep dish pizza pans for a number of reasons, including:

• Minimal warpage. As metal stamping is a cold forming process, it does not use heat to produce parts. This quality allows for the production of more precise and accurate parts as there is no chance of thermal warpage.
• High product strength. Deep drawing strengthens metal through a process called strain hardening, which rearranges the metal’s crystalline structure as it is pressed into shape. After deep drawing operations, finished stamped parts tend to demonstrate greater material hardness and strength.
• No seams. Seams can serve as weak points in formed and assembled parts and increase the risk of leakage or breakage. Deep drawn pieces are stamped out of a single sheet of metal, meaning they have no seams.

By using deep drawing to produce deep dish pizza pans, the result is a sturdy pan that can be used to create a chewy crust with a crisp exterior and a bubbling cauldron of sauce, cheese, and toppings within.

Deep Drawn Stamping Services from Manor Tool

At Manor Tool & Manufacturing, we offer custom deep drawn stamping services for industries ranging from aerospace and automotive to refrigeration and restaurant service. Our stamping capabilities allow us to produce countless parts and components, including deep dish pizza pans.

Our team is equipped with a fleet of over 30 400-ton presses, each of which allows for various press strokes and stamping capacities. Combined with our team’s knowledge and years of experience in stamping, this equipment allows us to stamp several types of material, including aluminum, brass, copper, nickel, plastic, and steel, in thicknesses of 0.005 to 0.5 inches with tight tolerances. To ensure the quality of our products, all deep drawn stamped products, assemblies, and sub-assemblies are subjected to rigorous ISO 9001:2015 certified quality control measures throughout the production process.

If you need a deep drawn stamped product, our expert team can take your project from design to end product. For more information on our stamping capabilities or to partner with us, contact us or request a quote today.