Building a wood fired pizza oven

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Sointenly: Sep 7, 2008

Can we talk pizza management for a moment? For those of you with large WFO's, do you find that you ever get to fire more than one pizza at a time?

at least at my house, I cant imagine trying to manage more than one pie at a time. My wife has zero skills when it comes to prepping pizza, so I am pretty much it from start to finish. That's fine when it's just for my wife and I, but it can be kind of lame when we have people over and i'm trying to crank out a bunch of pizzas. Prepping in the house, and then walking out to fire and then doing it all over again for the next.

The reason i ask is because i've been thinking maybe a smaller beehive oven is the way to go for me. I'd LOVE a huge Pompeie setup but i'm not sure i'd even be able to utilize that much cooking floor space.

# ? Mar 17, 2015 16:45

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 02:12

twoot: Oct 29, 2012

Couple of suggestions I've seen and plan to use once we get some decent weather:

Pizza parties where you recruit your guests to assemble and cook their own pizzas are probably the best. It can be fun for them and nobody really cares if it looks like poo poo as long as it tastes good, which it will.

If you can, assemble alongside the oven. Invest in some foldaway tables. This makes conveyor-belting the pizza process significantly easier.

You can cheat and use restaurant grade sheet pizza pans that can be cooked on, then pizzas can be assembled beforehand and stacked ready to throw in. Using pans can also be a good idea while you (or guests) get the knack of moving pizza, because breaking the dough and getting sticky topping everywhere is probably the most annoying issue to encounter.

# ? Mar 17, 2015 18:25

winnydpu: May 3, 2007; Sugartime Jones

When cooking at full temps (above 750�F) the process moves too fast for me to be comfortable doing more than one pizza. You are right, it takes forever to cook a number of pizzas when you have to run back and forth between the house and the oven. This weekend was the first warm weather of the year, and I was able to set up all of my stuff outside for the first time. Much easier and quicker. You have a hot spot in the center where the fire was, and cooler floor off to one side (I rake my fire to the left-back quadrant). I would be comfortable starting one pizza in the center and pulling it off center to start another. So, perhaps two pizzas cooking at any one time. I don't think you want to use a baking sheet if you can help it, pumping a lot of heat into the crust gets those nice blisters and slightly burnt spots that add flavor.

I have a 42" interior, and once you have a nice fire going in one "corner" it is not a huge waste of space. the overall footprint of the oven does not change that much even if you give up 50% of the interior space by going down to a 30" ID.

Finally took a picture of a pizza...

# ? Mar 17, 2015 19:29

AFewBricksShy: Jun 19, 2003; of a full load.

Sointenly posted:

Can we talk pizza management for a moment? For those of you with large WFO's, do you find that you ever get to fire more than one pizza at a time?

at least at my house, I cant imagine trying to manage more than one pie at a time. My wife has zero skills when it comes to prepping pizza, so I am pretty much it from start to finish. That's fine when it's just for my wife and I, but it can be kind of lame when we have people over and i'm trying to crank out a bunch of pizzas. Prepping in the house, and then walking out to fire and then doing it all over again for the next.

The reason i ask is because i've been thinking maybe a smaller beehive oven is the way to go for me. I'd LOVE a huge Pompeie setup but i'm not sure i'd even be able to utilize that much cooking floor space.

I don't have a pizza oven, but when I'm doing grill pizzas, I just set a spare 24x24 porcelain tile on my picnic table and do all of my prep work outside. I'll pretty much create an assembly line, as one pizza is coming off the grill the next one is ready to go on.

If we're eating outside, I just set the tile on a small table that I have, but it's a little wobbly that way.

After it's done you just brush as much of the mess off the tile into a garden or your yard, then bring it into the house and rinse it off, and toss it back into storage.

# ? Mar 17, 2015 20:56

Sointenly: Sep 7, 2008

winnydpu posted:

I don't think you want to use a baking sheet if you can help it, pumping a lot of heat into the crust gets those nice blisters and slightly burnt spots that add flavor..

I would definitely not recommend this if you are going for Neapolitan style pizza. I've seen videos where guys do bake in a WFO and do start the pizza's in a black pizza pan, but think that's because they dont know how to use a peel and manage the cooking.

winnydpu posted:

I have a 42" interior, and once you have a nice fire going in one "corner" it is not a huge waste of space. the overall footprint of the oven does not change that much even if you give up 50% of the interior space by going down to a 30" ID.

That's awesome, what type of wood do you like to burn? I'm in southern California where hardwood for burning is a) hard to find and b) super expensive.

Sointenly fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Mar 17, 2015

# ? Mar 17, 2015 22:25

Fire Storm: Aug 8, 2004; what's the point of life
if there are no sexborgs?

Sointenly posted:

Can we talk pizza management for a moment? For those of you with large WFO's, do you find that you ever get to fire more than one pizza at a time?

Well, I was able to get in a good rhythm and do 2-3 on my grill with pizza stones. Got the stones nice and hot, rolled the dough out on a folding table liberally covered with flour, pull out the stone, throw the dough on, sauce, cheese, toppings and if you get the timing just right, one pizza can be ready to come out as one is going in, but I think that would be around 4-5 pizzas at a time. I imagine with a good peel and bigger oven, it would take some practice, but you could probably be pulling out a hot pizza every 2-3 minutes.

But having the people there for the party help make the pizzas would be wonderful and people would probably not care if its a little slower because they are too distracted by cooking.

# ? Mar 17, 2015 23:01

winnydpu: May 3, 2007; Sugartime Jones

Sointenly posted:

That's awesome, what type of wood do you like to burn? I'm in southern California where hardwood for burning is a) hard to find and b) super expensive.

I'm in the Chicago suburbs. I burn oak which I get for $75/face cord delivered. They make a big deal about only burning hardwood, but I roasted a chicken on Sunday using a cut-up pallet (pine). It smoked a lot until I got the fire big enough to start burning clean. I let it die down to coals and threw on some hickory for smoke and some flame to crisp up the skin. Not optimal, but I think you could get by on UNTREATED pallets if no other wood was available.

# ? Mar 18, 2015 02:24

Gegil: Jun 22, 2012; Smoke'em if you Got'em

winnydpu posted:

I'm in the Chicago suburbs. I burn oak which I get for $75/face cord delivered. They make a big deal about only burning hardwood, but I roasted a chicken on Sunday using a cut-up pallet (pine). It smoked a lot until I got the fire big enough to start burning clean. I let it die down to coals and threw on some hickory for smoke and some flame to crisp up the skin. Not optimal, but I think you could get by on UNTREATED pallets if no other wood was available.

Just because the Pallet was untreated when made, doesn't mean it wasn't contaminated by the previous owners through misuse or adventure.

# ? Mar 18, 2015 14:14

Sointenly: Sep 7, 2008

winnydpu posted:

I'm in the Chicago suburbs. I burn oak which I get for $75/face cord delivered. They make a big deal about only burning hardwood, but I roasted a chicken on Sunday using a cut-up pallet (pine). It smoked a lot until I got the fire big enough to start burning clean. I let it die down to coals and threw on some hickory for smoke and some flame to crisp up the skin. Not optimal, but I think you could get by on UNTREATED pallets if no other wood was available.

That is insanely cheap for a full cord of oak. I have one old school firewood yard that's about a 40 minute drive from my house. For $30 I got a wheelbarrow's worth of oak (most of which was face and other odd cuts) and I had to load it myself... and honestly, I was pretty jazzed to get it for that.

# ? Mar 18, 2015 16:45

Dalax: Oct 27, 2007

winnydpu posted:

Forno Bravo has a fantastic free e-book detailing construction of the "Pompeii Oven", which is very similar to the OP's. Take a look at http://www.fornobravo.com , under their library tab. They also have great free books about making pizza crust and bread.

Thanks for this.

Don't worry folks, my dad doesn't like Whiskey, but I shall get him a nice bottle of Port.

# ? Mar 29, 2015 14:54

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

Dalax posted:

Don't worry folks, my dad doesn't like Whiskey, but I shall get him a nice bottle of Port.

Good call.

# ? Mar 29, 2015 15:01

Blow: Feb 10, 2004

More pizza please.

Such effort needs to be rewarded in the form of pizza.

Do it.

# ? Jun 19, 2015 01:12

Some of the Sheep: May 25, 2005; POSSIBLY IT WOULD BE SIMPLER IF I ASKED FOR A LIST OF THE HARMLESS CREATURES OF THE AFORESAID CONTINENT?

twoot and Blow.

# ? Jun 19, 2015 07:22

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

just wanted to say this is awesome and interesting, gj goon

# ? Aug 27, 2015 00:08

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

ReelBigLizard posted:

DIY & Hobbies > Building a wood fired pizza oven - Then the door caught on fire

Been following this thread closely since it's inception, been contemplating making a mobile one to hire out for corporate barbecues and the like.

I have a stainless steel oil drum to turn into a smoker first though

There's some guys in my town who have an earth-fired oven (not sure about the foundation underneath) on a like 20-26 foot trailer, they do a lot of shows and stuff, an the trailer is large enough that they are able to mount up both all the fuel they need, as well as some restaurant supply equipment so they have a prep area to make and throw in more pies. Sorry I don't have any pics, I don't hang out in that neighborhood too often anymore. Their oven is very low slung and melted-igloo shaped, and it looks sturdy as gently caress, you'd have to be driving on some pretty rough terrain at high speeds for the 4 tires on the trailer to bounce hard enough to rock the trailer frame and crack the whole contraption. They even have shading tarps to throw up off of struts from the trailer platform, for customers in sun and rain.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 04:45

Haji: Nov 15, 2005; Haj Paj

coyo7e posted:

There's some guys in my town who have an earth-fired oven (not sure about the foundation underneath) on a like 20-26 foot trailer, they do a lot of shows and stuff, an the trailer is large enough that they are able to mount up both all the fuel they need, as well as some restaurant supply equipment so they have a prep area to make and throw in more pies. Sorry I don't have any pics, I don't hang out in that neighborhood too often anymore. Their oven is very low slung and melted-igloo shaped, and it looks sturdy as gently caress, you'd have to be driving on some pretty rough terrain at high speeds for the 4 tires on the trailer to bounce hard enough to rock the trailer frame and crack the whole contraption. They even have shading tarps to throw up off of struts from the trailer platform, for customers in sun and rain.

Do you live in Western Washington? We may live in the same town.

# ? Nov 22, 2015 03:17

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Haji posted:

Do you live in Western Washington? We may live in the same town.

Nope, Eugene. It's painted in rasta colors though, and I haven't talked to them in a couple years they might have moved, or followed a show or something up there.

# ? Dec 12, 2015 21:06

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 02:12

Haji: Nov 15, 2005; Haj Paj

Nah. Olympia up here and this one just looks like a massive clay colored igloo and it's amazing. Best pizza I've ever had comes out of their crazy pizza igloo of joy.

# ? Dec 16, 2015 07:35

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