36" Pompeii Dome Chicago

[Chach]

Always neat to see the dome clear. Next time pay attention to the smell, there is a unique smell just as the carbon begins to burn off. This will give you another clue on when the oven is ready.

almost like a plastic smell but sweet.

[Chach]

Wow is all I can say! Made my first pizza tonight and for a first time it was amazing. I had a few friends over and they had no clue I was going to make them tonight and they were amazed how delicious they were. This was just a test but it was very successful and I was amazed that they came out that good for my first time...shapes were funny looking at times but I can work on that. I have a few Italian import stores by me and I went to one and picked up Granoro 00 flour. I dont have anything to compare it to but it was delicious. I ised 6-1 crusjed tomatoes little salt amd oregano for a basic pizza sauce and it was better than I expected. I need to goto the other few stores and see what flour they carry so I can at least see the differences. I used 65% hydration and I made a 60% hydration. I didn't cook the 60% yet so I don't know the difference im texture and taste. I need to figure out how to prep the dough for a larger group. I mean can i get the dough shaped and put wax paper beteeen so i can just grab and load? I have to figure that out so I can move faster. I also need a longer round peel, the one I have is just a little to short but worked good. I suppose I can fabricate a longer stick. Thanks to everyone's help so far during my project!

[rwiegand]

Looks fabulous! Congratulations! I remember how astonishing it was to have the first pizza be so much better than anything I'd made previously.

Practice will help with the prep thing, I haven't figured out how to deal with getting 3-4 pizzas done at about the same time for a sit-down meal. I really don't like letting them sit. A bigger party where you're not trying to get to the table yourself is in many ways easier. I'll prep 2-3 at a time, if you let them sit on the peel too long they start to stick--or you have too much loose flour on the bottom that burns.

60-65% hydration is good for inside ovens, try going to 70+% for your new oven, I expect you'll be pleased with the results.

I mail order the Caputo Blue flour in the ~20 kg bags, store in it gallon ziplocks in the freezer. I've started experimenting with the Caputo Nuvola, it is quite different (I've been posting in a different thread about that, trying a 50-50 blend today). I like the Strianese DOP San Marano tomatoes, best deal I've found is at World Market, again by mail. ($4/can)

[Chach]

Looks fabulous! Congratulations! I remember how astonishing it was to have the first pizza be so much better than anything I'd made previously.

Practice will help with the prep thing, I haven't figured out how to deal with getting 3-4 pizzas done at about the same time for a sit-down meal. I really don't like letting them sit. A bigger party where you're not trying to get to the table yourself is in many ways easier. I'll prep 2-3 at a time, if you let them sit on the peel too long they start to stick--or you have too much loose flour on the bottom that burns.

60-65% hydration is good for inside ovens, try going to 70+% for your new oven, I expect you'll be pleased with the results.

I mail order the Caputo Blue flour in the ~20 kg bags, store in it gallon ziplocks in the freezer. I've started experimenting with the Caputo Nuvola, it is quite different (I've been posting in a different thread about that, trying a 50-50 blend today). I like the Strianese DOP San Marano tomatoes, best deal I've found is at World Market, again by mail. ($4/can)

I'm going to see if my store has those tomatoes, they have like 10 different brands from Italy so I'll look out for those...70% hydration i thought 65% was tacky lol but im gonna try it.

[Chach]

Just had an after thought...why didn't I bring power to my pizza base? I just drilled through the structural slab and throgh the sidewall to where I left a junction box behind my outdoor refrigerator. I will installe some can lights in the roof or wall lights on front of the structure. I for sure will be adding a directional light on the side of the enclosure for my grill which I think is a must. This created a little bit if work if I had done it during construction It would have been a cake walk. Needless to say its done.

[RandyJ]

I am surprised you didn't think of lights. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to get can lights and not need a permit. I ended up Frankensteining some up with landscaping lights and can lights. They worked well. I might go 120 this time though.

[Chach]

I am surprised you didn't think of lights. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to get can lights and not need a permit. I ended up Frankensteining some up with landscaping lights and can lights. They worked well. I might go 120 this time though.

Oddly enough I had it in my mind but I was focused on the outdoor kitchen power adding switches for future LED tap lighting and accent lighting for the fireplace. No worries for me now "I've got the power" LOL. Frankensteining lol we can make anything work can't we.

[Chach]

Those of you you built an enclosure around your oven, did you waterproof the walls or did you just put the cement board on the studs. I was reading that for this application you sandwich 15lb felt paper between cement board. I would like to know what everyone did with theirs and what they would change if they did it again.

[RandyJ]

All i did was screw up the cement board. Then just mixed up thinset and stuck on the stone veneer.

[Chach]

All i did was screw up the cement board. Then just mixed up thinset and stuck on the stone veneer.

no issues with water seeping through? Thats what I was going to do...mix up some mortar and stick it nut was worried about the water getting behind but im elevated off the slab with foamglas so I should be good if it did get back there...Im also goimg to jave venting in the eaves as well.

[RandyJ]

I never noticed any water issues on that oven. I raised my insulation up with paver stones so as to hopefully avoid issues with that. The roof will do the majority of the work keeping things dry.

[Chach]

I never noticed any water issues on that oven. I raised my insulation up with paver stones so as to hopefully avoid issues with that. The roof will do the majority of the work keeping things dry.

Thanks Randy for the info! Hope the remodel is going good.

[RandyJ]

Thanks the remodel is moving along now. I put in a new sub panel and got all the home runs pulled to the new addition this weekend now to finish the rough in and get a permit. On the not so good side when they did the roof they found one whole side was dry rottedand had to replace the sheeting, and one of the workers stepped through my kids room ceiling. They are going to fix it though so i guess it will be ok.

[Chach]

Thanks the remodel is moving along now. I put in a new sub panel and got all the home runs pulled to the new addition this weekend now to finish the rough in and get a permit. On the not so good side when they did the roof they found one whole side was dry rottedand had to replace the sheeting, and one of the workers stepped through my kids room ceiling. They are going to fix it though so i guess it will be ok.

always tons of unforseen when doing this stuff...take a wall out and you never know what you will find

[Chach]

So after 2 months of non stop working at work I finally was able to set my limestone sills and start my enclosure.