Garth Pizza Oven First Cook


 
Shawn W

Shawn W

TVWBB Emerald Member
I have my hands on a Garth Pizza Oven & Smoker for a while and I enjoyed firing it up tonight for the first time. I'll have to give it back at some point ... they can pry it from my cold dead arms
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.

From the bottom section up the sections are: storage, firebox, oven, smoking oven.

I used Bryan's dough recipe tonight, but I have some of Jeff Varsano's recipe (high heat) fermenting in the fridge to try another night. It contains no IDY just sourdough.

I lit with parafin & sawdust starter cubes and used 5 logs of really old cured birch for the firewood. Left the vents wide open and got the oven section up over 700ºF (at this point the smoker section was reading about 450ºF). I had a good hour of 500ºF+ to use from my five birch logs.

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it. The pizzas were great. They cooked in 2 minutes flat, were about 10" across, got a nice char on the bottom.

Here are a few pics (there are more to be seen in the album):

The Oven:



Now We're Cooking:



2 Minute Pie, Fresh Basil and Pepperoni:



Crust:
 
That's is one impressive piece of equipment. I got few questions about it since I'm not familiar with the unit. I'll google it up and see if I can answer them myself.

nice work on the pizza, and don't give that baby up, ever!
 
Hey Shawn
How much are they there. In Australia they are $AUD 1499.00 "Her indoors" offered to buy me one early last year but I was looking at a brick wood fired pizza oven.

Cheers
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Phil Hartcher:
Hey Shawn
How much are they there. In Australia they are $AUD 1499.00 "Her indoors" offered to buy me one early last year but I was looking at a brick wood fired pizza oven.

Cheers </div></BLOCKQUOTE>That was mighty kind of 'her indoors'
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. They are $1389 Canadian.

What was the brick unit you were looking at? How much money was it? Have you decided if you want one and which one yet?

As much as I liked using it at this point I can't say I'd buy one, couldn't a guy build his own brick oven for 1/3 of that much?

Mind you, this has wheels and can be moved around. Pretty pricey portability though.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Shawn W:

That was mighty kind of 'her indoors'
icon_smile.gif
. They are $1389 Canadian.

What was the brick unit you were looking at? How much money was it? Have you decided if you want one and which one yet?

As much as I liked using it at this point I can't say I'd buy one, couldn't a guy build his own brick oven for 1/3 of that much?

Mind you, this has wheels and can be moved around. Pretty pricey portability though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It is not as simple as it seems to build one. I have found several that come in kit form for about $1600 - $2400. Her Indoors wasn't aware of those prices when she made the statement. She was thinking in terms of 500 bucks. This is one that I am looking at Clayworks Woodfired Pizza Oven and this is another Gisborne Wood Fired Pizza Oven

I have a Tuscanny wall on my side fence it would look good there, but like the idea of the maneuverability of the Garth.

Cheers
 
Shawn
That Garth unit is very impressive. Just did a search and see they don't sell them in the UK. Might need to visit Aus for some pizza. Will try and bug them and see if I can get one shipped from Holland. They sell them there. Cheers for the link. Pizza looks great and Phil I might end up making my own if the price is too high.
 
Alan
Do a search on the 'net, there are many references and ideas to build your own. The main points are the mortar mix, fire bricks and insulation.

Cheers
 
I mentioned in another post a great pizza stone I have. Check out this website if you want to make fantastic pizza on your 22 1/2" kettle. I've had the stone since April and it rocks the pies out! Grilled Pizza Stone
 
I have used the oven five times now and have to take it back today.

Overall I enjoyed using it but have some criticism of the unit. I'd like the fire chamber a little bigger or at least the door to it a little bigger. It was awkward building and moving the fire around inside.

As a wood pizza oven it worked well, I was easily able to get temps over 700ºF. However, the oven compartment gets zero smoke and in that regard I think I'd prefer an adjustable smoke vent to be able to allow some smoke into the oven chamber.

The smoking compartment could be better insulated, it gets almost as hot as the oven compartment, typically it was 50ºF cooler than the oven compartment. It would take some practice to get it and keep it running around 250ºF. The unit vents through the smoking compartment so it gets all the smoke and heat from the exhaust of the fire. I think one would have to build and manage a fairly small fire but even then after a few hours and the unit has heated up it may be very difficult to keep the smoking chamber under 300ºF.

The glass in the oven door cracked when I used it one night. A cold rain shower hit it directly while it was hot. It didn't shatter or explode but many cracks formed in the glass. It's an outdoor appliance and this to me seems like a design flaw. The glass should be replaced with a ceramic glass (which might loose too much heat) or the cooker should be kept under a roof of some sort. If it was mine I'd put in some sheet metal rather than replace the glass.

Unrelated to the oven, my Varsano dough didn't end up working very well. Perhaps I let it cold ferment too long or the starter wasn't active enough or I should have allowed it to proof on the counter prior to cooking. Perhaps my sourdough just isn't suited to this application. At any rate I got very little rise from cooking.

I had a great time using and got some great pizza from the Garth but I don't think I'll buy one.
 
Shawn. Many thanks for your clear evaluation of the Garth unit. I did do some searching but the price is too high and after your comments it is not a unit I would invest in. Great to see it and read about but I will stick to my smoker and pizza stone like Kenneth until I build a proper pizza oven. Thanks
Alan
 
I realized last night there is a whole section on this topic. I guess my question was a little off! I need to look at some of the other sections below the BBQ section more often! Vince
 
Re Garth Pizza Oven and Smoker

Hi Shaun, thank you for your time. I realise that you used this machine a while ago though do you remember if the machine was insulated.
For example when you heated it up to 700f was it blistering hot on the outside, and would it hold its heat reasonable ounce heated up?

Thanks

Shane
 
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