QLD Pizza Oven

[Worb]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Cheers Cobblerdave, I'll check out the dough recipes.

We've got a breadmaker and I had a go, 2 and half hours for dough is a bit more than I can handle though.

I'm surprised at the dough - we made a heap up and froze and you're right, give em an hour and it's away again. Beer and Pizza dough, how is yeast not an aussie national icon????

I think she'll be a wet one for the party, all the yokel farmers are predicting rain. But no worries about the mates inside, the missus is locking the doors.

[cobblerdave]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Hi Worb
Jas and me have taken to measuring the rain in our wheel barrows saves time in empty them out every few hours!!!
2 1/2 hours for a dough!! check the settings out you might have it set on wholemeal or extended time my old thing takes 1 1/2 hours... perfect for heating the oven.
You know they make Vegemite out of the left over yeast from beer making... its true... nothing better than vegemite on fresh bread after a good night full of vit B... talk about hair of the dog that bite ya!!!
My BBQ's built in but not under cover so... an early present from santa arrived and is under cover on the back deck.... a Webber Q. A fancy bit of kit
havent figured out how to cook pizza on it yet.... pehaps a few left over oven bricks cut down use like a pizza stone...yep the missus would kill me but it would be fun to find out.
Regards
Dave

[Worb]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Cobblerdave,
You're not wrong about the rain. I think it's me, every time I light the WFO it pisses down. Still, beats 40 degree days and watching the garden slowly turn different shades of brown.

I've checked the bread maker and I'm right, 2 and a half hours for dough. Too long for an impatient fat man.

We had an afterparty after the work christams party. Mum had drama lighting the fire while I was at the party (my fault for not building it right) I got home about 3 to a smoking mess, I rejigged the firewood and away she went. It was roaring a by about 4:30, and I kept slowly feeding it. By the time we'd got the guests lubricated, and the oven to temp, away we went. All the while, sporadic rain followed by stinking humiditiy and sunshine, interspersed with gale force wind and downpours.

I've got a 5 metre tiled bench with my 6 burner bbq that serves as a brilliant work surface. We split the dough and I recruited some dough rollers. It ended in a massive flour fight, but hey, it's christmas.

The pizzas went over well, small pizza's-everyone made their own, and I explained the finer points of the oven and the cooking process while their pizza was cooking. The oven cooled off a bit much halfway through, but another gutfull of kindling got it up to temp again.

THe pizza was a roaring success, everyone loved it and enjoyed watching the cooking. The oven rocks, it gives a bit of a talking and focal point, and beats the arse off a bbq anyday. And we can have the ambience of a fire without worrying about drunks and kids falling into it. All round, a 10 out of 10.

We estimates it cost around $1000 - $1500 and about 4 good weekends of work (I get an RDO every 2nd monday). Best money we ever spent. I would reccommend it to anybody on the provisos 1) you got decent area to cook in (or have one planned) I have a 10m x 6m entertaining area with all the mod cons. I would not like to be standing in the sun playing with the oven. And 2) you enjoy a long afternoon spent playing with fire and are relaxed about the timing of your meals, (for the first few months anyway).


In regards to gas bbq's, I went with a $300 dollar cheapie, 6 burner single flat plate. Ease of cleaing is a priority for me because I hate a dirty bbq and the hooded jobbies with the grill plate look good, but in my experience are a challenge to cook on and a bastard to clean. But the weber q's look the goods. By the look of them you'll be able to pass it on to the grandkids, they look like a quality bit of gear. Also I've read they use bugger all gas, which if you are using it a fair bit, it a ral bonus. And have a go with the bricks, I'm sure mum would rather see you use it than have it gather dust in the shed.

All the best to the fb crew for christmas. I'm at the inlaws, wishing I was at home stuffing some wood inside the Mistress. (Mistress is the name for my wfo,....what did you think I meant?)

[petraequipments]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Thanks all of you here who has given their inputs in this thread. Very helpful thread.. Also thanks for including images too..

[cobblerdave]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Worb
I've gone past being sick of the wheather to getting a bit worried. We have copped a pasting. Got 75mm 3" in an hour last sat I have Never seen rain like it in Brisbane. Been bucketing down over Xmas and todays the worst yet we have a full dam and a high tide so they can't let it go.....yet when they do it's going to be pretty nasty.
Jas has a good idea he an ex cook and recons you can pick up some commercial mixes from certain places in brisbane>seems like you feed a "cast of thousands" might be the go give him a post and find out more.
Xmas was good.... spose to have pizza but the ovens in the open not under cover like yours. Seafood was the order of the day. Son No2 did the duties this year and lined up for an hour to get it.
Menu for Breaky Ham and eggs off the BBQ cant beat it
Menu for lunch Singapore chilly crab and various salads. We have it down to a fine art now. Its SOOO Good but Messy!!! Plastic table ware and tablecloth ya have to eat it with your hands so a bucket of water and lemon an a towel over a chair helps. When that course is finish pick the lot up in the tablecloth and in the bin Hopfully no one leaves there keys on the table Happened one year... nasty buisness getting that out of the bin next day.
Dinner After eating and drinking all that day Fresh prawn grilled on the BBQ and peanut sauce. Morten Bay Bugs parsley butter nd cheese under the grill and fresh prawns..... couldn't eat me sweets that night.
Xmas was great me mums up for a while and I had both boys home .....a good family xmas.
You right.. cant beat a big flat grill when you feeding more than a few you can pump through a few snags on a 6 burner.
The Qs a bit freaky... cooks with the lid down so ya cant see anything you got to trust you timing. Works really well.. best steaks real quik and you have to be lazy to burn anything .The old BBQ just about hadit we don't have that many over a one time these days so I think its days are numbered will not get ride of it quite yet...
Yes I did try to cook a pizza on the Q on boxing day bored with the rain results were...well...you can't beat the WFO
KEEP DRY
Dave

[Worb]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Cobblerdave
I'm in gympie for a couple of weeks and the weather is the same here. THe father in law is flying in from WA today and I need to pick him up from the ettamogah pub. Here's hoping.

THe seafood sounds the go. I agree with the table setting. I grew up in arnhem land and we would get the plastic lawn furniture out under a tree, go your hardest, then hose the lot down, including ourselves. (Works well for mangoe eating as well) Mudcrab is so much more enjoyable when you can just get in to it and worry about the mess later.

All the best with the rain, I saw wivenhoe the other month when the water was blasting over the spillway. Scary.

[cobblerdave]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

dear worb

at a friends place this is the way to start a wfo with wet wood
regards
dave

[bris-pizza-oven]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

hhaha now i dont feel so bad putting a log or two in the bbq to dry it out hehehe

[Worb]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Pheeeeew, I am so happy to see that picture. Before now I was a bit ashamed to admit that an air compressor, air duster and 4 foot of copper tubing was an important part of my WFO fire lighting arsenal.

I think any WFO owner in QLD will need to adapt to this kind of apparatus for the next few months - Dry fire wood is going to be a rare find.

Happy new years to all - I wish I was seeing out the year standing in front of my WFO, toasting to 2010, and welcoming 2011.

[lwood]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Hope you all are ok down there in QLD. The flooding looks bad. I can see why dry wood is a rare find.

[Worb]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

I tried to light the fire today, in a torrential downpour, with wet wood. Give me a break, I go back to work on monday, and have only lit the WFO a couple of times since finishing it. Come hell or high water (and I know which is more likely at the moment) I was gonna cook something today.

Did a little lamb roast with vegies. I have only done Pizza to date, and now I am so glad I went to the drama of building in an ash pit. Makes life so much easier come time to clean out the oven. I made a temporary door from Stainless and inch thick hardwood and it's a ripper.

The big thing I'm concerned about is that the outside of the oven is getting hot, and after today's effort it seems to be losing internal temp really quickly. Might be my imagination, but it seems to be getting hotter every time I put a fire under it. There's a few cracks in the render and I'm sure it's letting some water through given the amount of rain we're having. I don't want to race out and render it with an acrylic render now because there will be so much moisture under the coating. Does mineral fibre insulation break down with moisture??? I am hoping it's just the result of wet wood, a fire not quite up to temp, and a sopping wet oven combining to cool the oven too quickly.

The father in law is over tomorrow, I am going to light the fire again and impress him with Pizza. Mind you, I don't want to be too impressive or I'll have to build an oven for him as well.

[cobblerdave]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Hi Worb
Back at work and understaffed so sorry I have been missing in action lately. Oven wet! don't we know about that. Your right you know about the oven not working to well when the insulation is wet. No air space cause there full of water means the heat just passes through. My ovens just the same. Its looking pretty lonely sitting under a tarp agin I got it fairly dry and I'm not willing to see it wet again its just too much wood to dry it once again.
My WFO is sealed over the render with some fancy "Tuscan effect stuff" the wife got me to buy $80 bucks a tin. Recon I could have got the same effect with a flat house paint and a good bit of anti slip sand. Funny women...complains about the cost of the bricks and insulation which really make the thing work but doesnt blink an eye lit to buy fancy paint.
Any way... figured out my problem stems from the hearth. The rain blows in the entrance, wets the hearth bricks and you no how they soak up water. Next min its in the oven soaking into the hearth insulation and wicking up through the rest. The oven also sits on a larger piece of insulation than its size so the insulation on the hearth overlaps the oven. This has tiles on it and I recon the grout of the tiles soaks in a bit to...plan to get some grout sealer for this.
On the whole though I don't think we can do much about the wheather its just to extreme mate we have had up to 120 mm (5 inchs) in a 24 hour period thts not common

Regards Dave

[Worb]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

I think I'll just keep burning wood, putting up with it till the rain stops, then light a few monster fires and finally render it with something weatherproof. You've given me food for thought with the hearth bricks though, I think at least some of my issues are the same as yours.

After yesterdays dismal effort, I loaded the oven with wood to dry last night. Lit it an hour ago and she's going strong. Pizza and friends and beer this arvo - I'm farewelling my holidays (go back on monday - aaargh). Even with all the drama with wet wood, wet ovens, smoke and dirty looks from the neighbours (bugger ?m, I was here first) - the WFO is by far the best project I have ever done.

[cobblerdave]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Dear worb
Ya been working to hard.... havn't heard from you in a while. Oven still wet? mine is as well. Gave it a few low slow fires in an effort to get it dry for Australia day... yep fire and no pizza... no pain no gain.
Sunday before Australia day had both the boys home so I flashed her up proper like and made the boys some pizza ...worked alright.
Australia day flashed her up again pizza for lunch and put the oven door on and put some lamb and bread in for tea. Had a coupla friends over and a couple of ales in the afternoon... you guesed it feel asleep ...just a little nanny nap. Woke up late child bride was not happy couldn't get the oven door out.
The lamb survived a little more well done. Bread was not... chooks like it though. Oven Temp fell of like I have never seen and the ovens render real hot at the front Top and back are all right though. Recon this things more wet than I thought and put a piece of plastic under a brick on the hearth. And ya quessed it was damp that evening.
Only plan at the moment is a few more low and slow fires cann't find any cracks in the dome ,grout in the tile surround now sealed only entry point must be through the entrance hearth bricks. Yep... thought of that ..slabs dry and bases dry has builders plastic under the slab.
Any thoughts???
Hows yours drying

Regards Dave

[david s]

Re: QLD Pizza Oven

Hi Worb,
Only just discovered your thread. There is an old Italian trick to checking the floor temp prior to sliding in the first pizza. Toss about half a tsp of semolina flour onto the centre of the floor.If the temp is right it should turn black in 3secs. 2 secs = too hot 4secs = too cold. Also place your first pizza closer to the entry where it's cooler to prevent burning, then push subsequent pizzas further in as you need.
Dave