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Re: No more wood-fired oven?
Putting all personal tastes aside, lets look at the practical side. First, I just can't see where the sheet steel would be any improvement over a stone, Lodge cast iron, or a basic steel pizza pan. I am far from being a pizza snob or any kind of expert. I have cooked 'pizza' in or on just about everything imaginable. I think the difference here is the incorporation of the broiler, its not the sheet steel. From a cost standpoint I think it is rediculous. Unless the fabricator is a DEAR friend, the cost of 1/4" sheet steel to fit your home oven will be equal to that of any stone. Fabrication shops rarely do small single item jobs for cheap, it is simply to disruptive to there production runs. Shoot, I spent $20 on a piece of 1/4" boiler plate for my first WFO door. No fabrication, just a simple 18 x 24 piece that I took home and fabricated. That was a deal compared to 2 other suppliers.
The bottom line here is the fact WFO pizza is NOT what you grew up on (unless you are an Italian immigrant) and is nothing like what is produced in an indoor gas or electric oven. That high heat does some great and not so great things to ingredients. Its an apples and oranges thing. I happen to love pizza alot of ways, including in my 500 degree max electic oven. I built my oven based on on simple reason, I visited Italy and had WFO pizza every day for a week. It was new (to me) completely different, and I loved it. The only way to duplicate it was to build my own oven.
To me, building the oven was/is not part of the appeal, just another fuctional project for me; its all about a new (to me) and different way of cooking.
Go ahead an try the sheet steel thing, I'm sure you can make a good/great pizza, just don't try to rationalize or compare WFO cooking, and don't spend a whole lot - I think the cast iron skillet or any pan will have similar results.
I remember my brother and his wife doing a 2 yr stint in Italy when he was in the Air Force. NOTHING authentic appealed to them, most notably the pizza. They came home telling everyone it was all terrible. We like what we like...if you have had WFO pizza and like it, then you are going to have to build a WFO, there is no substituting or duplicating.
RT
Putting all personal tastes aside, lets look at the practical side. First, I just can't see where the sheet steel would be any improvement over a stone, Lodge cast iron, or a basic steel pizza pan. I am far from being a pizza snob or any kind of expert. I have cooked 'pizza' in or on just about everything imaginable. I think the difference here is the incorporation of the broiler, its not the sheet steel. From a cost standpoint I think it is rediculous. Unless the fabricator is a DEAR friend, the cost of 1/4" sheet steel to fit your home oven will be equal to that of any stone. Fabrication shops rarely do small single item jobs for cheap, it is simply to disruptive to there production runs. Shoot, I spent $20 on a piece of 1/4" boiler plate for my first WFO door. No fabrication, just a simple 18 x 24 piece that I took home and fabricated. That was a deal compared to 2 other suppliers.
The bottom line here is the fact WFO pizza is NOT what you grew up on (unless you are an Italian immigrant) and is nothing like what is produced in an indoor gas or electric oven. That high heat does some great and not so great things to ingredients. Its an apples and oranges thing. I happen to love pizza alot of ways, including in my 500 degree max electic oven. I built my oven based on on simple reason, I visited Italy and had WFO pizza every day for a week. It was new (to me) completely different, and I loved it. The only way to duplicate it was to build my own oven.
To me, building the oven was/is not part of the appeal, just another fuctional project for me; its all about a new (to me) and different way of cooking.
Go ahead an try the sheet steel thing, I'm sure you can make a good/great pizza, just don't try to rationalize or compare WFO cooking, and don't spend a whole lot - I think the cast iron skillet or any pan will have similar results.
I remember my brother and his wife doing a 2 yr stint in Italy when he was in the Air Force. NOTHING authentic appealed to them, most notably the pizza. They came home telling everyone it was all terrible. We like what we like...if you have had WFO pizza and like it, then you are going to have to build a WFO, there is no substituting or duplicating.
RT
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