Sarah's Progress Photos

[gjbingham]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Great pizza Sarah! I've tried tossing the dough but it always ends up in disaster. Practice, practice.
George

[Kemo]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Great pizza Sarah! I've tried tossing the dough but it always ends up in disaster. Practice, practice.
George

George,

I went so far as to purchase the instructional video from the US Pizza team website on how to toss dough. Its a little rubbery piece that resembles a 14" dough disk. its actually quite fun and addictive. I sling it around the office at work. People think im an idiot though

[dalucca2003]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Just remember these pizza's we make are "Artisan" and are meant to be most shapes but perfectly round. Kemo, has the disk improved your dough stretching?

[Kemo]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Just remember these pizza's we make are "Artisan" and are meant to be most shapes but perfectly round. Kemo, has the disk improved your dough stretching?

oddly enough...it has. I can sling it up in the air alot better now. I dont know if it makes the pizza taste any better, but it sure does add some fun to the process

[sarah h]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

It's one of the great things about this forum, that whenever you reach a new oven milestone there are others here who can appreciate it , so thanks everyone! Non-oven-owners often don't have a clue of what it took to get there.

I will post some pics of my oven cracks but it could take a day or two - it is miserably cold outside right now, and dark too, and I think it's meant to rain tomorrow. (By February, I'll think of a day like today as great weather and be out there cooking!! ) My husband thinks we should coat the entire dome in castable refractory - any comments?

As for the pizza shape, I don't really care, but I would love to be able to fling the dough in the air and catch it again with some degree of flair - whether it'll happen is another matter. My biggest problem at the moment keeping holes from happening in the middle part before the rest of the dough is stretched. I know it'll get better though.

I'm looking forward to trying out some more unconventional pizzas too - I used to have a recipe for a pizza with blue cheese and pears on a rye crust (how much of the audience did I lose there?) that I always wanted to try ... if I can find it again. Then there's the Middle Eastern one with lamb. How about figs (when I can get them here) and goat cheese? Wow, I'm getting hungry! Time to go eat ... and maybe time to switch to a food thread ...

Last thing - while the oven has now had seven fires and yesterday's was a big one, I don't think the oven is fully cured yet. I'm taking a break from fires tonight though .

Sarah

[Les]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

[QUOTE=sarah

pizza with blue cheese and pears on a rye crust (how much of the audience did I lose there?)

Sarah[/QUOTE]

Blue cheese and pears? That just doesn't sound right

Les...

[oventhusiast]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

My husband thinks we should coat the entire dome in castable refractory - any comments?
Yeah, It's a waste of time. Don't do it!
Rick

[oventhusiast]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Hope you can understand the last post. I can't seem to do that 'quote thingy'.
Rick

[gjbingham]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

George,

I went so far as to purchase the instructional video from the US Pizza team website on how to toss dough. Its a little rubbery piece that resembles a 14" dough disk. its actually quite fun and addictive. I sling it around the office at work. People think im an idiot though

Ha! Great idea. I figured there'd be something out there like the rubber pizza. Ill see if I can find it. People already think I'm an idiot so they won't be surprised by this. Now, where did my rubber chicken go?????

Sara, your pear pizza with blue cheese sounds pretty yummy to me. Those pears will carmelize nicely. I've seen a lot stranger combinations than yours over the years (as the Navy dragged my butt around the world). I say, anything goes. The dog will always eat it if its not fit for consumption.

[Frances]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

I think pear with blue cheese pizza sounds great, too. And the more fires I light, the less I think a pompeii oven needs any additional mass.

Here's another song for your oven Sarah: "And another dome beats the frost. And another dome beats and another dome beats, and another dome beats the frost..."

[Kemo]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

I have had a Pear-Gorgonzola cheese salad before...and I must say it was quite tasty. I think it even had Walnuts in there. I think the two compliment one another nicely. Sounds like a plan. I would think that you would want to leave out the tomato sauce and sub in some EVOO (ala Rachel Ray) instead.

[christo]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Sarah - just wonderful. Very happy for you.

Rye, corned beef and sourkraut pizza for me please!!!!

[sarah h]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

For Rick - some pics of the cracks on the front of my dome - the first one, of a cold oven, shows the width - see the quarter stuck in it (BTW, the dome has not turned green, it's just a reflection). The second one was taken when the oven was hot - hard to tell but its a bit more than two-quarters wide and I can see firelight through it - definitely in need of patching, but the oven is still standing ... and cooking. I really don't know if I should be worried (the crack carries up about three or four rows but is only open at the point where I stuck the quarter) - guess it's a wait & see thing.

Another thing - tonight when the oven got hot, the chimney pipe cracked at the back, right from top to bottom ! It was pretty scary to see and hear - it made a loud noise - and we kept expecting it to fall apart but it held together. I was going to take a pic but was busy cooking. Them, when I went out an hour or so later, it had closed right up again. I don't know if this means it needs to be replaced or if I should just leave it alone unless it falls down?!

I couldn't let that heat go to waste tonight so we threw together a hasty meal and cooked it in the oven. The last pic is of the pans as it cooked but to see what it was, you'll have to go to the "What I Cooked Last Night" thread (even though it was today) .

[sarah h]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

PS - can't resist throwing in a white dome shot!

[Gentcpa]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

The white dome shot is a very cool picture. You can almost imagine a cooking demon jumping out...