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Post by greensheepuk on Jul 26, 2012 21:41:51 GMT
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Post by Fat Bob on Jul 26, 2012 22:32:50 GMT
Well done and great pics - we cooked on the WFO today as we do daily even though it was 39C.
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Post by faz on Jul 27, 2012 5:55:47 GMT
Nice looking food I am hoping to fire up the oven tonight as we have some family coming round - I am not sure that my pizzas will look quite as professional as yours, but no doubt they will be tasty anyway
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Post by minesamojito on Jul 27, 2012 8:47:07 GMT
Wow, some cracking meals there, great bit of kit you got there Cheers Marcus
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Post by cannyfradock on Jul 27, 2012 16:33:15 GMT
JK
Great looking pizza....I love the way you create a high sided edge to your pizza. Normally I bake pizza's directly on the hearth without the use of a form.....I must invest in some pizza trays and try your method.
You mention you have limited space, but your oven is a good construction with correct insulation so I would think that after initially firing your oven you could get away with just a few small logs flickering away at the rear of your oven. You could probably cut the footprint of your flickering fire by 50% and still have enough heat in the hearth for a decent pizza party?
Terry
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Post by greensheepuk on Jul 31, 2012 23:14:36 GMT
Thanks for the replies guys. Terry, the base heat is good, i'm just slightly struggling to maintain dome heat for whatever reason. Anyway I'm starting to get on top of it by using a small cage to contain the ticking over fire, it keeps the dome hot and lets me cook on the base without having to worry about stray coals. Now I just need to stop over-heating the base! In regards to the pizza forms, I wasn't sure whether you were refering to the deep pan in the first pics or the other pizzas, the only form I use is the pan for the deep pan, all the other pizzas are hand stretched (new skill, still developing!) and cooked straight on the base.
So, on my quest for the 2 minute margarita, tonight i hit 2:25! And that was with a slightly underheated dome and a dough that had to suffer my vastly under-developed stretching skills! Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing pizza and the 25 seconds isn't exactly the end of the world but it's important to have goals, lol, enjoy!
JK
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Post by cannyfradock on Aug 1, 2012 7:25:00 GMT
JK.......now you're starting to show off.....I love it!!!. What a brilliant video clip. The next video we see from you will probably see you swirling the pizza dough above our head.
It's difficult for me to advise on improving the heat retention of your oven as not many people have used an oil drum in their construction (hope Marcus can help on this).....but here's my thoughts on your comment...
You will get more heat retention from your dome....the more you use it, until about the 5/6th full firing, when the dome will have stabilized. Your structure (insulation cladding) looks good. Also the wood used will make a massive difference in putting heat into your dome. You will already know this, but dry seasoned hardwood is by far the best. I noticed a large crack of the wood spitting when baking your pizza. This is either soft wood, damp wood or Horse Chestnut. Although Horse Chestnut is a dark wood ...it will spit when burned even when dry.
The timing to cook your pizza sounds good to me. The 90 second pizza needs to be rolled out really thin. Members have commented that leaving the dough overnight in the fridge to prove allows you to get to the "window pane" stage a lot easier. It also stops the spring back of the dough when shaping.....but still try to keep it cool after taking out of the fridge.
....hope you don't mind my comments. Please feel free to put a link to the You Tube clip in your signature.....or your build thread....or your blog...
Terry
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Post by greensheepuk on Aug 1, 2012 15:58:14 GMT
Hi Terry,
Please keep commenting! I appreciate all the info I can get hold of.
The first few firings were all dry softwood, which I have a pretty decent stock of. Since then I've managed to get hold of some sycamore (3ft diameter trunk!) which was felled last summer, I'm not sure where it's been stored since then but it's not as dry as it could be, I've been filling up the oven with it after use and leaving overnight to give it a bit of a bit of help drying which seems to be making an improvement.
So my last few firings have been half softwood on the bottom (dry, easy to light) with half sycamore on top. I've found that this works well to get the oven up to temp. But when it comes to moving the fire to the side to cook, the remaining sycamore (softwood all gone by this point) has a hard time staying at flame. I think this is a combination of not being perfectly dry and being cut slightly too large (as small as i could cut them with an axe having never used one before!). So last night, after moving the fire, i topped it off with some small pieces of softwood so ensure the fire stayed at flame rather than smoking out.
To try and remedy this, I've been at the sycamore today with the hatchet and broken it down into smaller pieces which should finish drying quicker and stay at flame easier.
In regards to the dough, I think I've just about got the hang of proper resting times to reduce the elasticity of the dough so all that's left is my 'technique' lol. I think that'll just have to come with practice, I've been watching a few tutorial vids on youtube and the base seems to improve bit by bit with each attempt. I certainly agree that it needs to be thinner, not so much in the centre but definately around the crust, that should see the times tumble!
More to come after the next attempt.
JK
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Post by greensheepuk on Aug 1, 2012 16:10:30 GMT
Forgot to also mention that I've bought another cheap pizza peel from ebay that i'll cut down to a 6" round turning peel so i can rotate the pizza without having to open the main door and pull it out everytime. Might help to maintain a little dome temperature.
I'm also wondering if its worth installing a damper in the flue quite low down to close/restrict during cooking. Can't imagine the fire suffering too much if its just for a minute or two with the bottom door still open? May help to maintain/increase dome temperature (bearing in mind that I've got a 5" flue in an oven barely 16/17" deep, it's a good chunk of the domes top.
Thoughts appreciated, JK.
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Post by faz on Aug 1, 2012 18:30:56 GMT
Having had millions of bonfires in the past, I was amazed at how much of a difference even slightly damp wood makes when it is buring in the oven - especially with regards to how much smoke & heat is produced. I am making a big effort to dry out my wood fully prior to using it. I have about 3 cubic meters which I collected recently and is now stored under cover, so we're getting there slowly
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Post by greensheepuk on Aug 1, 2012 20:08:19 GMT
Hey Faz, I'm starting to build a real appreciation for the condition of the wood that i'm using. I'd always thought 'wood is wood', until I finished this project and started cooking. I agree completely with your post, lack of moisture is everything. I got busy today with the hatchet breaking down the sycamore and have managed to mix up my oven dried wood with everything else and I'm paying the price for it now (only cooking steak and bake! lol).
Moral of the story for now, always make use of a hot oven to dry wood stocks, then keep them seperate from the wet/unknown stuff!
JK.
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Post by minesamojito on Aug 1, 2012 21:28:52 GMT
Just catching up with these posts, and just to point out that it isn't easy to get a good balance between top and bottom heat, but you'll need a rolling flame over the top of the pizza to get it below 2 minutes with enough heat on top. Hope that makes sense? cheers marcus
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Post by greensheepuk on Aug 2, 2012 16:32:19 GMT
Yeah makes sense Marcus, the last couple of firings ive managed to have a flame licking right over the top of the dome during cooking and its made a massive improvement. Well today I've built my fire chamber so I can use the BBQ as a smoker (completing the holy outdoor cooking trinity as turkey put it, lol). I'd originally intended to use the void under the oven as a fire chamber but its simply too small. So, seeing as I am now on a severe budget due to some un-expected car troubles I've really had to scrimp on the parts for this but I think its worked out well: 'El cheepo' bread bin from argos and half price bog brush and holder from sainsburys, lol, and a tube of high temperature silicon: Fixed the bread bin lid permenantly to make a cylinder, simple door and latch on one end, ash dump/vent underneath and bog brush flue on top: Some left over welded grid as a fire grate: Have just sealed it all up with the silicon so tomorrow I'll install it under the BBQ, mate up the flue and seal, find a drip pan from somewhere and might even get chance to give it a go with a slab of pork shoulder! (I'm off work this week). More to come tomorrow, fingers crossed. JK
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Post by Fat Bob on Aug 2, 2012 18:11:33 GMT
Highly creative and beautifully made - what do you do for a living?
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Post by greensheepuk on Aug 2, 2012 18:46:59 GMT
Thanks Bob, I'm an electrical designer. I design electrical installations, emergency lighting, fire alarms, CCTV etc. Well I got impatient and fitted the fire box to the BBQ, I've welded the flue onto the BBQ and am using a piece of rope to support the weight for now, I'll fabricate a mount tomorrow. Everything has been sealed so by tomorrow I should be able to run a few fires through there to cure the silicon. JK
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