Romancing the [Pizza] Stone

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Romancing the [Pizza] Stone

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

I have a real big cast iron skillet. Is there any reason I couldn't just flip it upside down and use it as a pizza stone?

I see the links on the last page, but I don't really want to do a dish thing. I mean letting the iron heat up in the oven and using the bottom as a normal stone.

Fart Car '97 fucked around with this message at 17:39 on May 11, 2014

# ¿ May 11, 2014 17:36

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 02:14

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Report: It worked absolutely perfectly.

# ¿ May 11, 2014 21:08

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Heners_UK posted:

I can't remember the last time we discussed this, but I tried to wing making pizza on a charcoal barbecue.

Full album here: http://imgur.com/a/gmj8m

However, this sums up the experience:

Instead of using less coals and moving them to the back/indirect heat, I put my pizza stone directly on top of glowing lumpwood charcoal. By the time I was done with the first test pizza I had one crack in it.

Once the first test pizza went on (Baking Steel's Mushroom Pizza btw), I closed the lid quick. After 90 seconds smoke was rising but I thought nothing of it as the top wasn't done... waited until it was... then had to chizel the bottom of the pizza off with a spatula on one side. Burned black on one half, uncooked on the other half and all of the top. The second pizza, smaller, burned all over. Third one I timed but uncooked top again and the same was true of the 4th.

This leads me to some research I did on how to do this properly. I was looking over at PizzaMaking.com and they appear to have a few leads on a few things:
1. The Kettle Pizza for $130ish: http://www.kettlepizza.com/
1a. Or you can make your own for about $20 + stones... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdWPUKibdeU (but whatever you do don't use Galvanized Steel)
2. The Little Black Egg - in other words, convert your Weber barby into a pizza oven - cost varies but looks like I'd need another $60 Weber Jumbo Joe + stones (lots of designs, I've linked to my favourite): http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=4753.2020#msg262893
3. The Bakerstone Pizza Oven Box - $130ish: http://www.bakerstonebox.com

Out of all of those, I'll probably start on the 1a (the self built kettle pizza) as I don't have to cut into my barby, and doesn't have a high cost of entry and it's portable.

However, after all of that, I have a practical question, do you think aluminium roof flashing ($10-15) will do the job? It's melting point is around 600C/1250F, temperatures not far above what a pizza oven can reach. I can't seem to easily find non-galvanized steel without trebling the cost and it's also harder to work with. Aluminium I could work fairly easily with tin snips ($10 from Home Depot + $3 gloves) and make the rest out of bolts and spare wood ($5?)

Is there a reason you don't just raise it off the coals a bit :confused:

# ¿ Jul 9, 2014 19:54

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

mediaphage posted:

90 minutes is a long preheat. personally i try and give it no more than 60, which is probably too much but i often just sit a probe inside and weight for the temperature to equilibrate.

my go to is to have the steel on the very top of the oven. then a little before pizza goes in i’ll switch on the broiler. things cook...very fast...at that point.

90 minutes pre-heat & 15 minutes broiler on is about what it takes to get my stone to a point where it makes a really good pizza, so I don't think it's long at all?

Like, it's noticably better than a 60 minute preheat.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2021 12:55

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

mediaphage posted:

no, it's an objectively long preheat.

mediaphage posted:

maybe it's what your oven needs because it doesn't dump as much heat as quickly into the cabinet.

What difference does it make if you think it's 'objectively long' if that's what it takes to get a good cook for me or that other guy? I don't really care why it takes that long, or that it takes longer for my cheap rear end oven to get there than nicer ones, that's just what it takes.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2021 20:35

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

mediaphage posted:

all i said was that it was a long preheat

there�s no need to get upset about it

All you're accomplishing is potentially dissuading someone from trying it when they could be in a similar situation to me. It's not long if that's what it takes :shrug:

# ¿ Apr 6, 2021 21:26

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

StarkingBarfish posted:

Yep, fresh yeast has made a definite improvement:

I faced a similar problem mid-summer. Pizzas were just way flat, even the yeast that I'd had in a vac-sealed bag had just kind of...died? Fresh yeast and everything was back to normal.

# ¿ May 28, 2021 12:38

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

ShaneB posted:

Apologies for more Just Postin', but after doing some searching on "why does my stand mixer just make the dough ball around the hook and not actually knead," I came across this:

https://www.superdoughhook.com/english/

Basically most people say something like "you need a reverse spiral attachment." I don't care for my stand mixer that much, is there something I can consider buying that comes with/can get a reverse spiral arm that will actually knead my bread and pizza dough vs just ball it up around a lovely J hook?

Do not use a spiral hook on a stand mixer that isn't designed for it. Eventually it will break the mixer.

Your mixer's gear layout is designed to handle either lateral force, where a dough hook is pressing the dough against the side of the bowl, or vertical force, where a spiral hook is pressing the dough down an into the bottom of the bowl. Each requires a specific gear layout and is not designed to handle the forces put on it by the wrong style of hook. The hook your mixer comes with is the correct hook to use.

Fart Car '97 fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Jun 9, 2021

# ¿ Jun 9, 2021 22:43

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

J-hooks can have a relatively limited volume window where they're effective. They are bad at small batches especially, and not great for batches over a certain size. Have you experimented making things in larger or smaller batches to find the range where it can work effectively?

Also, Stand mixers hold their value OK. Why not just sell it and replace it with a used one designed for a dough-screw?

# ¿ Jun 9, 2021 22:59

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

J-hooks work. They wouldn't be the standard hook if they didn't.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2021 20:29

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

You don't need to knead much if you're doing a long ferment, but isn't it better to knead for countertop/non-cold fermets?

# ¿ Jun 11, 2021 02:56

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

mediaphage posted:

you can take a shortcut by vac packing your dough

Tell me more

# ¿ Jun 11, 2021 19:15

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Warping is usually the result of rapid heating/cooling, isn't it? I.e. cheap pans warp because you throw them on the stove and crank the heat. Steels are usually being preheated along with the oven or grille so they're getting a decent warmup.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2021 21:08

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Deck ovens generally max at ~650, so theoretically you could get a little closer to NY style in an Ooni by regulating the heat but is it really going to be worth the work and cost? Probably not, imo.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2021 16:41

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

If I'm going to cook a sauce I'll use a combination of drained & blended san marzanos, tomato sauce/passata, and tomato paste, because each brings a different element of tomato with it. Then whatever combination of evoo/garlic/herbs/pepper I feel like that day.

I''ll use the reserved san marzano liquid and combine it with all of the leftover tomato things for a lazy pasta sauce.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2021 15:41

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

MrYenko posted:

Not photogenic

Disagree

# ¿ Aug 12, 2021 21:06

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

I did a breakfast pizza with Everything-bagel crust, home made breakfast sausage, and eggs on it once and I count it among one of the best meal I've ever cooked for myself :shrug:

# ¿ Sep 7, 2021 02:28

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Dacap posted:

Made a sheet pan

Sheet pan more like Sheet drat that looks good

# ¿ Sep 18, 2021 05:32

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

When you're all doing a 3+ day ferment, do you do any significant amount of fermentation at room temperature?

Semi-related for you long fermenters, much of your ferment time is spent bulk fermenting and how much is spent fermenting after balling the dough?

# ¿ Nov 1, 2021 22:48

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

PokeJoe posted:

counter time is unnecessary

I asked basically the same question itt a week ago and everyone responded the opposite: Counter time up to 24 hours, followed by fridge.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2021 14:40

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

BraveUlysses posted:

by "everyone" you mean one person said they did 4 hours on the counter and put in fridge for cold ferment

3 people itt have responded they do a room temp ferment of some time and many, many recipes out there suggest the same even for a 3+ day cold ferment, ranging from hours a full day. My point is just that it doesn't seem settled at all that some time at room temp is "un-necessary"

# ¿ Nov 17, 2021 17:13

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

I've yet to find anything better than Pizza Beddias' recipe combined with a 3 day ferment:

https://www.inquirer.com/food/craig-laban/philly-chefs-recipes-pizza-cookbooks-home-cooking-family-kitchen-laban-20200320.html

# ¿ Jan 11, 2022 04:49

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Honestly I just started using parchment paper and have never looked back. There are so many other elements to improve on that I'll deal with launching once everything else is nailed down.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2022 13:09

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

ogopogo posted:

Testing square pies, did a Sicilian meets a Detroit kinda thing. Next time gonna up the hydration on the dough.

Looks like poo poo

# ¿ Apr 3, 2022 23:20

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

StarkingBarfish posted:

Went on a canotto binge. This is proof you can make insane canotto Pizzas using standard blue caputo pizzeria in case anyone cared. The cornicione on these is about 3' high.

Tuna caper and onion

Broccoli, Gorgonzola and Mozz

Mmmmm, cum pizza

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 01:05

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

Tandoori chicken pie is a good rear end pie but drat if dressing it wasn�t a colossal pain in the rear end

There's a cheap NY style spot by my house that does chicken & paneer tandoori slices and they're really good for $5

# ¿ Apr 10, 2022 06:07

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

cr0y posted:

I haven't popped in here lately but I'm currently positive for covid so I've had a chance to get weird with my poo poo because I have to isolate 😅

Who likes em thin? (Personal challenge)

Curious what dough recipe you use?

# ¿ May 14, 2022 18:45

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Cr0y post your GOD drat recipe so I can make and eat it

# ¿ May 16, 2022 15:20

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

If you're going to use a GF flour, our hotel's pastry chef swears by Thomas Keller's cup4cup

# ¿ Aug 10, 2022 17:21

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

ogopogo posted:

Passed our health inspection, we soft open next week!

What a saga, incredibly excited for you

# ¿ Dec 2, 2022 21:18

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

distortion park posted:

I went to a pizza place in Paris and they had a giant wood fired oven with a bunch of those on their own big circle, all going around the oven

This and the "one giant stone that rotates" is a very common thing in the commercial/ restaurant woodfire pizza world

# ¿ Jun 8, 2023 16:39

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Eifert Posting posted:

I'm a big fan of making pizza dough out of nothing but flour oil salt and water. Yeah it's not authentic but it crisps up really well You can make it as thin as you want and it's tasty as gently caress.

oh boy its time for some POSTS

# ¿ Jul 3, 2023 16:23

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Fall Dog posted:

ogopogo, I've just been catching up on this thread and your food looks ridiculously incredible. You and your team should be super proud of what you do!

Does anyone have any experience with using pizza oven inserts for pellet smokers? They're basically a similar concept to an ooni, except they sit directly over the fire pot of the smoker. I'm curious about how well they can cook multiple pizzas in a row and if they're appropriate for making dinner for four, for example. To me, they (ooni ovens) seem better suited for a party scenario where people can pick at individual pizza as they come out of the oven. My current set up is using my pellet smoker to cook four pizzas simultaneously.

Isn't the perpetual problem with "grill pizzas" that the heat source is situated well below the pizza, making it very challenging to cook the top of the pizza at a decent speed? Also, since the heat source is relatively far away from the stone, wouldn't you have issues making repeated pizzas back to back? The pellet smoker inserts I'm looking at don't really look like they do much to alleviate that

# ¿ Aug 29, 2023 17:07

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 02:14

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

How portable is the ooni koda compared to the roccbox? I know the ooni is lighter but the actual dimensions of the roccbox seem like it's just gonna be easier to throw in the trunk for glamping or using at the park compared to the koda.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 05:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Romancing the [Pizza] Stone