Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

[trockyh]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Hey Dino, you are quite the craftsmen! Your oven and enclosure are beautiful. I wish I had citrus in my yard, but too cold here for most.
Looking forward to see what color you end up with. I know it will look great!

Cheers,
Tom

[eprante]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,
Looking very nice( the oven, you look the same)!! You are close to the end, then you will be like Dmun, Les, and Mark- hanging around and giving advice to all of us in the midst of our build.
Eric

[Raffy]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Hey Dino,

It must be a relief to be so close to finishing your oven. Your oven is looking fabulous. What type of stone slabs are those in front of the oven? I'm thinking of putting stone slabs in the ground around the oven instead of brick tiles for a more natural look.

I'm really interested in learning more about baking bread. Can you tell me more about starters and how to make my own? Would really appreciate it. Or if there is any internet literature I can read please point me in that direction. I tried to google it and I mostly get topics about car engine starters hehehe

Thanks!

Raffy

[Millstone Man]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Great looking stone work. It really is a work of art as well as a practical use.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks for compliments and encouragement. I still feel so slow, especially when people like Raffy start and almost finish an oven in weeks .

Raffy: those are gray granite flat stones left over from a patio I did under a gazebo. I needed to level that area in front of the oven before a pool party so I set them in the brown decomposed granite (temporarily-initially) and it's turned out to match really well, so I'll keep.

RE: sourdough starter: I made mine last year with my own grapes (they're organic and had a nice white bloom of dusty yeasts on their skins) and hung them in cloth in a jar of rye flour and water for a week. Then I removed them, re-fed and re-fed the starter with regular flour and now I have the strongest started I've ever had.

There are so many people on this forum with GREAT info on bread baking. Jay (texassourdough), Rossco, Splatgirl, Elizabeth have all be so helpful and I can't remember half of them. Here is 1 thread with their discussions and pictures of starter:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f10/interesting-dough-experiment-11954.html

Lots of forum members have had dough discussion regarding books by Reinhart and Hamelman and I've searched those words to get to some good forum discussions on bread baking.

Thanks, Dino

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Here is some progress. It's going so slooooow for me. Mike and I are in semi- "oh boy it's summer, lets go places" mode and I feel like I'm ignoring my child.

Also, I've never inserted an actual picture in a post, I've always done thumb-nails to click on but after reading dmun''s instructions to Nikki, I had to try prove to myself I could do it. I feel so tech-y -Dino

\\

[mfiore]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino, your stonework looks great.

No summer here yet. We've had some great weather at times, but it's going to drop into the low 30's again tomorrow with a chance of snow.

[Modthyrth]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

It looks spectacular! I'd love to see a picture of it at night, with that fabulous built-in lighting.

[bbell]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Now that's a great looking oven!

[SCChris]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Beautifully done!!

Chris

[eprante]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,
The stonehaus is looking fantastic. You are really close to finishing this thing- I am so jealous. I lit my first wood fire tonight, cooked up 6 pizzas, drank a little Zinfandel- now I have to get to finishing the cosmetic part of the oven. I am experiencing the I need a break, now that it is functional stage. Cathy is having nothing of that- we have a party in 3 weeks...

Your oven is looking fantastic. Great work

Eric

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Eric: your 1st pizza pics look fantastic thru your arch. I'm glad your wife is a wfo taskmaster . I've got the opposite problem: Mike is forcing me (not really ) to make pizza tonight and I'd rather be working on the stones as late as possible. I guess wfo construction can also be lesson in balance and patience. I pulled out the "beer-can-chicken" cooking in it last night after I got home from work and it immediately splattered the un-sealed concrete counter with grease . I guess I have to seal it fast or cover it.

Thanks for kind words everyone. Nikki, me too, I can't to take evening pictures. Should look good. Thanks all, Dino

[dsgreco]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino- That thing looks awesome. What do you use to attach the stone to the concrete block and what goes in between the stones, is the answer nothing?

Doug

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino, it's looking spectacular.

Don't worry about abandoning your child to go fun places- this is one child that won't change as soon as you turn around. As long as it's protected, it's fine. We only go around once, you know, and they'll remember what came out of the oven a lot more than how long it took to finish.... (says the woman who's still at it... but I swear I'm almost done now!)

As far as the grease stain goes, well, that's a wfo badge of honor, isn't it?

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks Elizabeth, I've taped put a piece of foil on the counter to protect it. here is a picture of it with a shrimp-pesto pizza and the rear one is a chicken tomato sauce pizza made with the left over smokey "beer can chix" we made 3 days ago. Man, when the oven is used 3 days in a row, it REALLY holds the temps well! Also, having the larger landing is great for keeping the pizza's warm while we ate them.

Doug, thanks for the compliment. Here is a pic of me with 1"-2" thick stone in 1 hand and the trowel in the other. I'm using a Type S mortar called "SpecMix" that is readily available in S. California for $6.50 a 95lb bag and it's great. You mix it to the right consistency with water, smear it on the back of the stones, place it, hold it for 30 seconds to 1 minute on the heavier stones and remove your hand. If it slips, it's too wet so you add more mix. They tell you to work from top to bottom so any mortar oozing out doesn't fall on your work below which you'd have to clean and possibly remove stone coloring before it's sealed.

PS, it was warm (and beautiful!) and I get almost as much mortar on me as the stones. Funny, it's the same way with pizza and flour , maybe it's my technique?