Batting .500! ~almost~

[70chevelle]

Had a party on Saturday. Once the sun went down, and the temps started cooling, everyone, all 50 of them, were calling for the pizza oven to be christened. The adult bevereges kicked in, and I could do anything. Fired up the oven with a good hot fire. I actually got the full white inside the oven! Anyway, the chef at the party was impressing the girls in the kitchen, tossing the dough. The first pizza he made up (with my dough & sauce!) was a little thin. The center tore and when I went to turn the pizza, it folded. That one went into the fire. The next one, I told him to make it a little thicker. He did. I when to turn it, and I pushed it right into the fire, another massacre! The third one I had to take a breath and clear my head. I set it nicely where I wanted it. I saw the fire side of the crust starting to smoke a little and carefully turned it. I was a little too late. So I pulled it. It was edible, and got good reviews, except for the charred crust on the one side. I put #4 in, and got the same results.

For the next few pizza's, I'm going to keep the temps a good bit less than 700*+ on the floor and 900*+ at the dome. All in all, a great day & nite, just wish the pizza's turned out a bit better. I guess I'll have to have another party in the future, when I have it all figured out. I thought the building and design of the oven was going to be the tough part!

[christo]

Re: Batting .500! ~almost~

Maybe you put a little too much pressure on yourself...

Big party - still learning skills - you just took too much on.

I honed my skilz in the home oven on a baking stone by setting off the fire alarm almost every time. Most of them were crumpled messes that still tasted pretty good. My wife was starting to lose faith that we could turn out a good pizza without a pan....

Then the first pizza in our oven - no dough handling skills - and the first pizza looked remarkably like Australia and we still think it is still the best tasting pizza we have had from the oven.

You will have mad skills in no time. (seriously it's really strange - one day all of your pizzas start coming out round....)

Christo

[70chevelle]

Re: Batting .500! ~almost~

Yeah, late at a party, after a few adult beverages probably wasn't the best time. I feel extremely confident in my pizza making skills. My dough has evolved into a favorite along with my San Marzano sauce. The problem I had had more to do with being able to handle the new oven. I definitely have a learning curve there. I also need a turning peel, as the big clunky wooden peel I have isn't the best for the job. But it will come, I feel pretty good about it. Now, I need to re-energize so I can lay my final brick, pour my cement roof and then do the stucco. It's been a great journey, now the real fun begins!

[dmun]

Re: Batting .500! ~almost~

Title for next post: "wood peel in flames"

[CajunKnight]

Re: Batting .500! ~almost~

My first experience in building and operating a WFO (the one tha got me started here) was a clay oven built 20+ years ago. It was designed primarily for bread but pizza was a real trat coming out the door. The first few times attempted were complete disasters. It soon took off and things started working better. We had some of the fattest bread fed dogs around and they never got tired of it. We did learn that if a piece of dough that hasnt risen yet somehow ends up on the floor that it must be disposed of properly. When a dog eats yeast bread that hasnt risen yet its not a nice site at all. Luckily it was a small ball.

Best of luck on your future cooks and keep on practicing.