New Stainless steel Pizza Oven

[DaveW]

Don't laugh too hard but I have tried, lol. Doesn't cook, everything just instantly ignites and burns

That is awesome, I'd almost sacrifice a pizza to see that happen


DaveW
Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life!

[urbangriller]

Ha...oooops, not laughing

You could fire pottery!

Chris

[Smokey]

700C

[Budgetburner]

Yep, 700c

Some didn't believe it either on a different forum. Wished I'd taken a pic of what used to be a pizza just seconds after putting it in the oven lol.

I have a pic of me taking a temp reading though



I do have a pic of the bottom of a pizza we tried at too high of a temp, top wasn't cooked as the pizza was only in there for seconds. Don't know what the temp was that time, sorry for the quality/shake in the image...Pizza was so hot it was burning me while trying to grab a pic.



I will say I don't suggest trying these temps in these oven's though, it has damaged the finish of the steel on the outside of the oven by discolouring it from over-heating which is a bit of a shame. Also I'd warn folks that when temps are over 400c to be real careful throwing flour or polenta on the oven floor as it ignites in a flash also. I think it's best to keep these types of oven at no higher than 400c-450c (450c may even be a bit hot), I try to aim for pizza cooking around 300c-350c-ish now.

[urbangriller]

Yep, 250C to 300C is good! Most people think the hotter the oven is, the better, but it's the massive heat store that does the job most of the time, not having the heat off the dial!

Good warning for others, massive heat like that is spooky dangerous!

Chris

[Card Shark]

The commercial guys I've watched use somewhere in the 420 - 500C range with very wet doughs to get that fabulous base char. On and off quickly so not to dry the pie out which is the challenge using a BBQ. Interested to see how you get on with your toy budgetburner. Why not enter a pie or two in the present comp! CS

[Budgetburner]

Yeah, that's exactly why I was sharing my experience in that instance of the extreme heat temps. I've cooked pizza on/in many things before but normally at a lower temp like you can get on a BBQ or normal house oven easily, it was my lack of using this type of oven and misunderstanding some of the myths you read on the internet.

I had read/been told (can't remember 100% where/when lol) that in Italy they do 60 sec pizza's and that's a true measure of a oven, but I think they would be large earthen ovens that are pre-heated for many hours and when cooking happens wouldn't have a huge fire still throwing heat. It would be the "stored" heat in the oven walls/floor etc only I imagine. I'm finding that at the 300c-350c you get a thin pizza (long as not too heavy on toppings) in about 2 mins and if it's a bit thicker base/more toppings it's 3-5mins roughly.

Also if there's too much fire at the time of cooking you will end up with a little too much colour (even burnt if not careful), but you do still need to turn the pizza 2-3 times during cooking. Also the warning about over 400C temps with flour/polenta etc as when I said a flash I didn't just mean it burnt that quickly, I meant it ignites instantly and I guess may give possible flash burn if your not careful.

Dangerous when you have your face/eyes down close trying to watch what your doing, and when you have the temps above 400c-450c it's hard to get right in close with the door open. And because of the nature/design of proper pizza oven where the opening and/or flue are at the front the heat escape has to circulate/exit out of the front of the oven.

It's all good fun learning and playing with new things and sharing the fun/success side of things but often people don't share all of the learning experience, mishaps and total failures. I don't think it's embarrassing to share mistakes, (actually I don't like the term "mistakes" but rather think of them as opportunities to learn and they improve us to be better at what we do). sure everyone likes to share their perfections and the wins but while we learn from success , I think more is learnt from our "mistakes" and that mishaps are not failures unless you keep repeating them.

I just like to share it all, hopefully it helps others and we all have a bit of fun along the way. Oh and at all times I use fire/heat I always have access to water and I do keep a fire extinguisher close by always, I'm a bit OCD about that lol.

[Budgetburner]

The commercial guys I've watched use somewhere in the 420 - 500C range with very wet doughs to get that fabulous base char. On and off quickly so not to dry the pie out which is the challenge using a BBQ. Interested to see how you get on with your toy budgetburner. Why not enter a pie or two in the present comp! CS

I think I'll need more time/experience with my pizza making before I'd be able to even give thought to competing with others, haven't made that many pizza's in this oven yet and I'm still playing with my dough recipes. That's what's changed for us also since getting this oven, when we made pizza's in the past we just bought or made a basic base/dough and used different sauces that were still shop bought or made up of shop bought stuff.

We've taken to doing it all from scratch since the new oven and so far have only been making basically just ham and sausage one for the kids and a typical Aussie supreme type without olive or anchovies. My family are a boring lot lol, I'm the only one who likes most types of things and different things. Most the dough recipe's I've been using for the family have been quick/easy to make (short fermenting) spur of the moment things, I think I prefer the 12-24 hour ferment type though myself and want to play with those more. Once I perfect my recipe and have honed my skills though heheheh, look out

EDIT: oh I didn't look at the pizza comp thread, I don't normally read competition things as I'm not a real competitive kind guy but that thread looks like fun. If I get a chance before the comp finishes to make pizza again I might enter for fun. I thought it might have been a much bigger thing with all pro's strutting their goodies, oh well anyways we also thought maybe some desert would be nice and the oven had cooled down.

So we thought pavlova would be nice.



cooked and cooling



Started making a roulade and just about finished and more visitors turn up so we made another batch too, so we had enough for all. One roulade and one stackova as we call it lol. Only real difference is one is a single slab of pavlova cream and fruit spread and then you roll it up and then put more cream and fruit over the outside (roulade) and the stackova is just 2 thinner slabs of pav with layer of fruit 'n cream inside and then dressed same on top.

[Gumb]

It's all good fun learning and playing with new things and sharing the fun/success side of things but often people don't share all of the learning experience, mishaps and total failures. I don't think it's embarrassing to share mistakes, (actually I don't like the term "mistakes" but rather think of them as opportunities to learn and they improve us to be better at what we do). sure everyone likes to share their perfections and the wins but while we learn from success , I think more is learnt from our "mistakes" and that mishaps are not failures unless you keep repeating them.

I just like to share it all, hopefully it helps others and we all have a bit of fun along the way. Oh and at all times I use fire/heat I always have access to water and I do keep a fire extinguisher close by always, I'm a bit OCD about that lol.

You should be commended for sharing mistakes too, it's a good attitude. We all make them, even Chris

[NotoriousPIG]

That pavlova is bloody top notch!!! Have that every year on Australia Day!!

[Bear]

Well done on the pav! When I fire up my pizza oven, I always do a minimum of 2 - 3 cooks. Pizza at the start & as it cools a roast, then maybe bread and/or desert.

I'm yet to do a pavlova,but will do now & as it cooks at a low temps - it will make an extra cook. Usually at lower temps I throw in some redgum logs to cure.

[Budgetburner]

Yep, same here. It just makes sense to make use of the heat doesn't it, we've taken to making sausage rolls or chilli chicken meat pies after sometimes for lunches/quick meals later on in the week and bread as well. I'm lazy though we use the bread maker to do the dough making hehehe. Was my first attempt at using the oven for pav, think I had the oven about 110c-120c. But I thought it'd be dead easy as we used to do them on the BBQ and have even done them using camp fires, pav's are so quick and easy to make I don't know why I don't make them more often.

Good idea/tip on the curing logs, I'd not thought of that...I'll borrow that hehehe, thanks.

[Bear]

Yeah, fill that oven up with wood & shut the door when you've finished cooking. Sometimes I forget about it until my wife says: "What are you cooking now, it smells lovely" for a split second I panic, then I realise it's just the redgum.

I agree with utilisation of the heat. It's against my nature to be inefficient. I've read about competitive bakers in the US attempting to break records of consecutive bakes in a cooling wood oven with no fire. That is ridiculous, but at the same time I understand how that mentality begins.

[Luke Clarkson]

How has this oven held up? I'm thinking of buying one. Could I put it on a rock wall without the stand?
Love to know if it's lasting.

[Budgetburner]

Yep, the oven is fine still. Haven't used it for a couple of weeks as it's been pretty hot of late, could do with a clean hehehe. The oven just rests on top of the stand so yeah, just lift it onto whatever you like. Just make sure it's strong enough to take the weight (and heat) of the oven, oh and you will need the help of a some mates as it's damn heavy .

But nothing wrong with the oven at all, works fine and the only rusting is a couple of small washers. The top front of the oven is a little blackened from the heat/smoke that comes out but that might clean off if I scrub it. We do clean/wipe the outside of the oven over with a stainless steel cleaner every few weeks, ours still cops rain and the weather but still looks pretty good I think.

I could take a pic of the oven if you wish to see how it's standing up to the weather (by the coast here) if you like. The flu has lost a little of it's finish and is discoloured but all in all I think it's looking ok, we've had stacks of use from the oven cooking all sorts. Still love it, just with fire bans etc haven't used it much last few weeks.