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I made pizza tonight. It was the first time I've tried anything remotely like it, I haven't even really done a great deal of real cooking before. It turned out reasonably well:   However the base was a little doughy/soggy on top still, under the toppings. Is fixing this just a case of putting it lower in the oven? I cranked my oven up to the highest it would go which is about 280° Celsius. Also the first pizza I put in, I put too much topping on, it overspilled, and my stone has split nicely in half:  I was still able to use it for the second pizza though, I just slotted the two halves together in the oven. One thing that's puzzled me a bit is how the hell you're supposed to get a really thin crust pizza onto a stone. I have a wooden chopping board, I covered it with cornflour and just about managed to get my somewhat thin pizza onto the stone, is there any special technique to getting REALLY thin pizzas in there?
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Sep 10, 2012 21:51
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 22:04 |
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Yeah I realised after I posted that I forgot to press/drain the mozzarella which is probably a huge contributing factor. All good tips though, thanks guys.
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Sep 11, 2012 19:25
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So I've been making a mental list of different pizza related things to try - beer crust, 00 flour, a couple of different dough recipes, but I'm also thinking about trying the "skillet and broiler" method that this guy talks about : http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/09/how-to-make-great-neapolitan-pizza-at-home.html Essentially you just heat a skillet on your gas burner, wait for your broiler/grill to heat up, whack your dough in your skillet, put the toppings on while it's in there, then put it straight under the broiler. Now I don't have a skillet, but I do have a nice big wok. The wok isn't particularly thick metal though, do you guys think this would still work if I put it on the largest burner at full heat, or is it not even worth trying without a thick and heavy skillet?
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Sep 13, 2012 22:32
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Yeah I think for the most part the underside of the base is supposed to cook while putting your toppings onto the dough. I thought I could do a triple whammy and heat my (now broken) pizza stone in the oven, then pre-heat the wok, put the dough into the wok, put my toppings on, then put my wok under my grill and on top of my pizza stone, so that way it's getting direct heat from underneath from the wok, then direct heat from on top and stored heat from both the pizza stone and the wok from underneath once I put it into the oven/under the grill.
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Sep 14, 2012 16:18
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OK so I think I've actually got it nailed more or less with the equipment that I've got. I used my lovely pizza stone again but it seemed to turn out well this time. I have an electric oven with an electric grill in there, that goes up to 280° Celsius according to the dial, which is about 530°F. I preheated the oven and stone for about 45 minutes beforehand, then I switched the electric grill in the top of the oven on. I made the dough from earlier in this thread with the wine and honey (Is this Varasano's recipe? Can't remember) with half amounts, and this gives me enough for 2 medium size pizzas. The first one I just tried using small amounts of sauce and cheese, and I remembered to drain/press the mozzarella this time. I made it on my chopping board which I'd covered in regular flour, which I rubbed into the grain of the wood, then a thin layer of cornmeal on top of this since I actually like it on the underside of my base. I made it all up on the board and slid the whole thing onto the oven. It was better than the last ones I did the base was still just slightly soggy on top. For the second pizza I put the base in the oven with no toppings for 3-4 minutes, using the grill again, then took the stone out and put sauce and cheese on - I had to use cheddar this time since I didn't buy enough mozzarella. It turned out drat near perfect, or at least as good as I'm ever likely to get with this oven/these temperatures. The base was nice and crispy underneath, and nice and chewy on top, without being soggy at all. I think next time I will roll the dough slightly thinner though. Based on my (admittedly very limited) experience I would absolutely recommend that people with an oven which only goes up to 500-550°F that you put the base in first sans toppings, take it back out of the oven after 3-5 mins, top it and put it back in for another 5 mins or so. I still might try getting a skillet or a baking steel though, since I'm always down for experimentation to make things just that little bit better.
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Sep 16, 2012 20:50
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On electric pizza ovens, since there was some talk a few posts up: I have a G3 Ferrari Delizia electric countertop pizza oven: http://www.ebay.com/itm/G3-Ferrari-...%3D321253549267 It's goddamn awesome. Way way better than I was every able to achieve with my regular oven and steel, skillet/broiler method, I tried just about everything suggested for people without a real pizza oven and had some success, but the first time I used my Ferrari it blew everything I'd made before out of the water. It's been a while since I made pizza in it as I've been busy organising my wedding/honeymoon but I'll make one soon and post pics. I agree with whoever said up there that it's the best solution short of having a real woodfired oven. Edit: Apparently it's the most popular pizza oven in Italy and I can believe it. WhatEvil fucked around with this message at 12:08 on May 20, 2017 |
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May 20, 2017 11:36
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The dough recipe I've had best results with is this one: http://www.woodfiredpizza.org/pizza-dough.html I've used it for the skillet/broiler method, cooking directly on a stone/steel in my regular oven, and for my Ferrari G3 countertop electric pizza oven (which I definitely recommend). I've tried various dough recipes with all of these methods and this is the best one every time. To get the absolute best out of it you want to slow ferment it - 3 days in the fridge, but you can still use it and get good results after 1-3 hours of starting it.
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Mar 22, 2018 11:01
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Eh I prefer my aluminium peel to wood - admittedly I was using a wooden chopping board previously but it does have bevelled edges a bit like a peel. I just load it up with semolina (cornmeal) before rolling my dough out and I don't have any issues with sticking. My peel has like a brushed aluminium surface which I think helps - maybe this is standard to all peels?
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Mar 26, 2018 16:21
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If it's 8mm thick I doubt that fucker is going anywhere from heat warping.
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Apr 13, 2018 10:18
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His Divine Shadow posted:You'd be surprised how much metal can warp from heat, some types are more prone to it than others, a big factor when welding... anything really. Some of the commerical stuff I've seen like this 1/4 model, has three pieces tacked on the bottom to counteract this, I was gonna do the same thing, better safe than sorry I think: Welding is by definition getting the piece hot enough to melt (3100°C), and the heat is highly localised. Your oven/grill isn't getting anywhere near that hot - charcoal maxes out at 1100°C and the heating is going to be a lot more even. I have a baking steel which is about 8-10mm thick that lives in the middle/bottom shelf of my oven as a temperature regulator (used to be used for pizza til I got my countertop electric pizza oven) and that goes nowhere at all. I even had it directly on my largest burner for ~20 mins before to try and get it to the hottest temp possible and there was no warping at all. I honestly think you'll struggle to warp it, even putting it over a barbecue or grill or whatever. Still I guess it won't hurt to weld some bits on, just seems unnecessary. WhatEvil fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Apr 16, 2018 |
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Apr 16, 2018 10:28
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clockworx posted:As an evangelist of the cheap and convenient electrical clamshell ovens, I wanted to pass along this deal on eBay. If you view my earlier posts in this thread I have summaries of the fun stuff people do with these models of ovens including mods that let them go to Neapolitan troops of 900 degrees plus. Even unmodified, they're probably equal to or better than an oven. I've got one of these which I've also posted about. It is fantastic, way better than my home oven for pizzas. I very much doubt that unless you have a "hacked" self-clean oven that gets to stupid temps, you're not gonna get better than one of these clamshell electric ovens until you go to a dedicated full-on (wood etc.) pizza oven.
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May 24, 2018 10:39
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 22:04 |
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:there's the super peel that's been mentioned as good but I don't have it yet. I probably will if the paddles suck for the clamshell. Clock you drilled holes in yours to move the elements? I may get a second one to mod and just do the temp and maybe a reflector for this one. The paddles that come with the clamshells definitely suck. Mine were like 3mm plywood and as soon as they got remotely damp they warped like they were banana wood.
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Jun 4, 2018 09:19
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