Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

[Allo Pizza?]

Re: Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

No rain this week-end! I was able to attach the chimney using the supplied refractory mortar:



placed the first layer of insulating blanket. The blanket is fairly easy to cut and shape, although it takes a little bit of adjustment because of the dome shape and the width of the material:



We passed inspection



And had time to place the stucco lathe on the 3 layers. I ended up using chicken wire for the dome and a honeycomb structure for the front. Tomorrow, stucco!

[Allo Pizza?]

Re: Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

The stucco is in, first coat anyway. I used the mix sold at the local Home Depot that allows for 2 coats on the same day (did not have time to take advantage of that). I ended up using my hands to apply the stucco on the dome and push it through the wire lath, that seem to work better that the trowel. It had several days to dry and several long (> 2") cracks have developed. Should I be worried about these?

Is there anything special I need to mix to the second "color" coat to make it water proof? Or is stucco sufficiently water resistant?

I am starting to think about the curing process. Regarding the door, the instructions state:

DO NOT close the oven door fully while a fire is in the oven
Closing the door fully will cut off oxygen to the fire, causing
the fire to erupt suddenly when the door is removed.
Always keep door tilted to allow air to circulate in the oven.

Does that mean the door should be left out during firing? In which case, is there something similar to a fireplace screen that could be used to prevent sparks from escaping while allowing oxygen in? Or should it be in place but at an angle? Thanks

[james]

Re: Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

This is a phrase that Intertek makes us add to the installation guide -- though it really is not a problem. You fire the oven and make pizza and other fire-in-the-oven cooking with the door removed, and sparks are not an issue. If you ever need to cut off the fire, you can use the door to control the air supply.

Nothing to worry about.
James

[Allo Pizza?]

Re: Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

So is it fair to assume the door is mainly for protecting against the elements and maybe to keep the oven warm until the next day when it can be used for baking bread or cooking?

Sounds like we will be starting the curing process this week-end. What is the best source for dry wood?

Here is a picture of the oven with the scratch coat of stucco.

[Allo Pizza?]

Re: Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

The color coat of stucco went in this week-end. Spraying the stucco with water for several hours to keep it wet seems to have prevented the cracks that formed in the first coat. I had time to start the first curing newspaper fire.
Pizza ETA: 2 weeks

[Allo Pizza?]

Re: Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

And we have pizza!

I used the FB recipe "by weight" and the crust turned out great, despite using "regular" all purpose flour. As an experiment, I prepared 6 dough balls the night before (stored in the fridge) and 6 dough balls 4 hours before. Although the elasticity was not the same at the time of shaping the base, we could not tell the difference in the cooked pizza.

As an experiment, I froze three of the pizzas, and they turned out great 3 weeks later...




Next step is to try making the dough with tipo 00 flour, and use the almond firewood I picked up yesterday. I used some 00 flour last week-end to make belgian waffles (I had run out of regular flour) and it resulted in very light waffles, something I have not been able to achieve with all purpose flour from the store. It should make a big difference for the pizza crust too.

I had good luck using just regular flour to coat the pizza peel, but was wondering if someone has come up with a non-stick pizza peel? If not, it really sound like a no-brainer invention (James?). Maybe I will try attaching a non stick cookie tray to a handle just to test the concept... I will let you know how it turns out.

[eprante]

Re: Giardino 70 in San Diego - round stand

Very nice looking pizza and oven. Congratulations!
Eric