Kettle pizza oven


 
Whoa, parchment makes it real easy !!

Just tried assembling a pizza on a piece of parchment with the corners trimmed off. It slipped onto the stone easily, and even landed in the middle of the stone rather than hanging off one end. That part could be luck though.

The temperatures were low -- everything was damp and the hardwood never caught -- between 400 and 450F for the duration of the cook even after 1/2 hr of warmup time. Tried pulling the parchment out after a minute or so with no success, but after a few more minutes and a partial rotation it slipped out really easily. I was really surprised how well it all worked.

I can't say my pizzas are getting better but at least I am maintaining pizza quality while using an ever decreasing quality of ingredients. In this case the sauce was <STRIKE>hand-picked San Marzano tomatoes</STRIKE> ketchup and the cheese was <STRIKE>a careful blend of shredded mozzarella and parmigiana reggiano</STRIKE> a couple of torn up cheese slices, topped with leftover chicken, chopped onion and a suspicious-looking hunk of ginger.

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I'm going to try cornmeal next, but it's good to know that parchment works so well. Started with flour but I haven't been able to get the pizza off the peel without using so much flour that it affects the taste of the crust.
 
Hi John. Good looking pizza, man. One thing that works well for me is to use semolina on my peel. I then round out my dough on the peel as well. Before I build my pie, I give it a good shake to make sure that it can slide freely. If it does, it will slide with a fully constructed pie onto my stone. For me, the stone is a critical tool. And with the high heat of the Kettle pizza, I find myself rotating my pies on the stone very frequently to keep them from burning. Honestly, this is the first tool that has allowed me not to kill pizzas! I've used parchment in the past, and I have dumped a ton of pies. My local pizzeria turned me on to the stone with the semolina on the peel. This has been a solid tip, so I thought that I would pass it on unsolicited if I may. Good luck and thanks for the pics!
 
Saturday night pies:

Pie 1:

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Pie 2:

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Crust turned out very nice and crisp; had a nice crunch. 2nd pie was a stretched paper thin in the middle. All in all, great effort for the second time out with the Kettle Pizza. I used a little Olive Oil on the dough to keep the sauce from soaking in, a tip I picked-up off Youtube. Both pies had the same toppings with pineapple added to the second. I drained the pineapple for a couple hours.

I used a mix of hardwood briquettes with a few big chunks of mesquite lump. I should have used some extra hardwood, because I couldn't keep the temp up high enough. Even using liberal cornmeal on the peel, I had to use a large knife to get the pie off the peel and onto the stone. I think the SuperPeel is really going to help my process. I was able to avoid "accordian pizza" this time out and my wife declared the evening a success. Proof was in the eating!

Cheers! Tony
 
I made one last night too. I made it on the ci pan and left it in the fridge until the fire was ready.







Well it didn't rise much because it sat for a while and never hit a hot pan or stone. The flavor was perfect and especially the crust. My wife and I are positive the ci crust gives a better flavor than the stone. I just like the way the dough rises better on the stone though. I may try preheating the ci on top of the stone next time. Maybe that will keep the ci from getting that scorching high heat.
 
Great looking pizza Shaun! I guess I'll play too. Here's one that I did on Friday. Sliced Chorizo instead of pepperoni. Very tasty!

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Yum. Those all look great. Derek, are those pizzas made on the shiny pan that comes with the oven insert ? That's a *big* pan and your pizzas seem to fill it right up.

I had been thinking of semolina as "just another flour" but after reading up on it a bit it seems to work a lot better for sliding pizzas than regular flour. Will have to give that a try.

I had another "D'oh !!" moment when I realized that I coat the dough balls with a bit of oil before putting them in the fridge. When I was using a pan I didn't have to be super-careful about using too much oil because it helped the pizza come out of the pan anyways, but I have to think that "too much oil" on the bottom of the crust has to be a *bad* thing when using a floured peel.

Anyways, those are some great looking pizzas, folks. I'm glad it's not a competition
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Hi John.

I cook my pies on the stone. I cut and serve them on the pan. My local pizzeria is very helpful. He noted that he uses semolina vs flour because flour will burn. He actually gave me a cup of semolina to take home, and that is what I have been using. I am using his dough so, I'm still cheating.......
 
Cheating is when the pizza arrives in a cardboard box
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I would say that making the dough is one of the easier steps, and that you're already doing all the hard stuff. I'm particularly impressed that you are getting pizzas that size onto the stone.

Just finished what was probably the best pizza I've made so far. Didn't look like anything special so no pics, but used sourdough dough on parchment, with hot italian sausage, onion, garlic and bird chilis. The sauce was ketchup again, which was definitely too sweet, so that's it for the ketchup
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Here's the best one I have made in a while. I used the last of my toppings including the jar of sauce. I think I made about seven or eight pizzas with that same jar.

I used a parchment on the stone this time and was very pleased.


I pulled it after about 10 minutes with perfect crust.


Success! I am happy with a ten minute pizza on the stone. But, I think I could do them in two minutes with the ci since it seems to get so much hotter.
 
My wife, a coworker and I went to Claim Jumper yeterday for lunch. What do I see on the menu but "wood fired" pizza. I ask if it's really made in a wood oven and the waitperson say, "yes", so I order.

Well, lemme tell ya, that pizza was okay, but it had no smokey flavor, soggy crust and all the character of a pie that'd been made in a 350 degree oven. My first, screwed-up pies in the Kettle Pizza tasted better and had a crisper crust.

We're on to something really good here gents! I suspect that the Claim Jumper "wood fired" oven is in reality a precast, ceramic oven with a gas flame in the back...

Gonna make me really suspicious in the future unless I can smell smoke.
Tony
 
I have been making quite a few pizzas lately.
When I was a kid and worked at the pizza place(dishwasher)they built the pizzas on screens. So I bought a couple at the restaurant supply store.I know this keeps them from making contact with the stone but my results have been quite good. It also makes the pies much easier to turn for even cooking.
 
Speaking of screens, my local wood fired pizza joint uses screens in their oven. Their pizzas are quite good.
 
I sometimes make my pizzas on an aluminum 16 inch pizza pan with holes. I think it works much better than a regular screen because it's also smooth. It also doesn't have any teflon coating. Great job on all of those pizzas everyone and thanks Tony for the encouraging words. I agree we are on to somthing.
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Excellent looking pizzas! I think tomorrow will be a pizza day for me
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I found it worth investing in a metal pizza peel, as it make it possible to really quickly place pizzas of the stone, and remove them without having to crack the lid open too wide, or for too long and loosing heat.

-Mark.
 
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