100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

[MarkB]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Will try the more round approach on Friday night, having a couple of people around to test some ingredients.

[Greenman]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Mark, that's a fine looking pizza!

Starting round, lets you finish round much easier.

I reckon you are right. I let my pizza dough develop the second rise in the refrigerator for a few days (at least) and I use containers with sloping sides but square at the bottom. It is really difficult to get them back to round.

Sorta square pizza still tastes great though.

[hodgey1]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Did a far better effort last night. Oven was far hotter, base was thinner, 60 seconds max and it was delicious!

Mark, that's a fine looking pizza!

For anyone having trouble making your pizza round, make sure your starting with a round dough before stretching . I have found that letting the dough slow rise in the refrigerator a couple of days in a 2qt/2L plastic container will help the flavor and texture of the dough and you start with a perfectly round dough to stretch. Either way you do it, just make sure once your done with kneading, that you ball your dough at the weight you want. Starting round, lets you finish round much easier.

[cobblerdave]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

G'day
That is one fine looking pizza. Isn't it great to eat a pizza that the base tastes so good the topping then becomes an added bonus.
The down side is that thing getting to the nearly round stage
Regards dave

[MarkB]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Did a far better effort last night. Oven was far hotter, base was thinner, 60 seconds max and it was delicious!

[cobblerdave]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

G'day
Sorry to break this to you. But after 4 odd years of pizza baking ... Its a simple as this ... Never trust a round pizza...it just doesn't exist
Regards dave

[ugnsnisse]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Beautiful!

[MarkB]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Did a small pizza last night as an entre for a tester.

Took approx. 3mins, tasted damn fine too!

Only downside was I probably didn't get the dough even enough, a touch too thick in the middle.

Hopefully the start of many years of pizza making.

[Greenman]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Fuel that size seems fine. No logs there.

[MarkB]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

G'day
Don't burn logs as a rule. Chop then into pieces no thicker than you wrist. Best fires are made with sticks really. Hot and fast not low and slow ovens looking great by the way
Regards dave

Thanks Dave, ill chop down some of the bigger pieces.

When I say logs though that is being quite generous, most would range from wrist to bicep thickness, rather than tree log diameter.

[cobblerdave]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

G'day
Don't burn logs as a rule. Chop then into pieces no thicker than you wrist. Best fires are made with sticks really. Hot and fast not low and slow ovens looking great by the way
Regards dave

[MarkB]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

G'day
Can't go wrong with more insulation. But what you've got is probably still a bit damp that's why its hotter than you would expect. It takes a while to truely dry out and damp insulation is really not insulating like it can when dry.
Regards dave

Thanks Dave,

Took your advice. I had a small (200c) fire going for a few days after this, and also some dry weather. Everything started to come together and the insulation was cool to touch (19c).

Over the weekend I did 2 coats of sand finish skim, and this weekend I will be putting acratex over it to waterproof and give a nice finish.

I had a large fire at the end, so large in fact it blackened the front of the arch, but I like it as it adds some character. The chimney works well, just this was the "scary fire" I guess everyone talked about. 4 logs on sawdust logs got me to 500c (932f) so I am ready to cook this Friday!!

Dome certainly grew in size a lot with the fireclay layer, then insulation, then 2 layers of render.

[cobblerdave]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

G'day
Can't go wrong with more insulation. But what you've got is probably still a bit damp that's why its hotter than you would expect. It takes a while to truely dry out and damp insulation is really not insulating like it can when dry.
Regards dave

[MarkB]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

Hit 842F on the walls this week, or 450c for other Aussies.

Pretty happy with it all, just possibly needs another roll of insulation over before I texture the dome as it got a bit warm (still can be touched easily though).

Cooking on Monday.

[MarkB]

Re: 100cm Oven Perth, Western Australia

I don't really understand, for how long have you kept the mortar wet before firing it up?

The dome was left for a couple of days before I tried the newspaper fire, as everything was nice and dry.

Now the weather has changed and its raining it is sitting dormant under a tarp until I can let it dry out again and start some proper curing fires each day.