The Home Made Pizza Thread

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All this wood fire talk, I am guilty too. That said, it is clear after using mine only five times whatever that wood fire is tricky. Building a 1000 degree fire is not the easiest thing in a really small size space. Dont get me wrong all these ovens will get to 500ish plus easily. Now if it were a big oven with logs and such then wood fire would be much easier. Propane, hot, but not the same flavor and almost to hot, hot spots. With small space and wood only I think a fan is key to keep a solid fire, just guessing. While not falling in love with mine at first I am sure it was the right one for me. Only 250 yeah right, after gas insert and wood tray much more, but yeah the hybrid. Tried wood only, not for me, gas only, same. But turn on high, 20 minutes later 800 900 whatever it is, drop wood chunk in, turn gas down, poof chunk immediately ignites maybe 2 chunks, few minutes later, fire roaring out front just right 1000 degrees, perfect. Then gas back on, make next pie, throw chunk on, wood fire, and on and on, cant wait to use it!
 
Has anyone used one of these terra-cotta wood fired pizza ovens? I considered buying one but can’t really find out too much info on how they actually work. Any budget friendly alternatives to this for an actual wood fired cook?

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Don't bother with that one

google the ooni karu it's good and the best cheap one you can get. make sure to get the gas burner with it.

Gas is good, as someone with a WFO I wish I had gas as an option.
 
5 x, maybe, and it was clear cooking at 1000 degrees using wood only was serious. Born and raised in colorado and camped here my whole life I have cooked with plenty of wood. That ooni wasnt available when I bought mine last summer. Man they are quick to put product out. The koda was sweet but gas only now essentially the same design as mine but maybe better.
Don't bother with that one

google the ooni karu it's good and the best cheap one you can get. make sure to get the gas burner with it.

Gas is good, as someone with a WFO I wish I had gas as an option.
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I don’t know if this counts as pizza or just flatbread. It was a scrap of sun-dried tomato sourdough, topped with EVOO, minced garlic, tomato paste, grated Parm, and black pepper.

A little crunchy on the bottom, probably because it baked at only 425 on the stone.

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Party time out front. Made a bunch, here are some of them. Homemade sauce, and brisket from last night. Vidalia onion on some. Kind of scary but gas on high and wood is nice. Dont mind it a little closer to 750 seems a little easier to manage, it cooks fast around 900 plus. I use the front back and middle of it as differnt tools. As well as the top of the oven. This wet dough sucks to work with for this.
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^^looks good. I like the looks of that bottom crust. Whats on that gourmet pizza, looks delicious!
 
That was my wife's creation, she seen something for a BBQ chicken pizza. Left over roasted chicken, red onion, red pepper and pickled banana peppers, no pizza sauce just BBQ sauce drizzle over top. Tasted pretty good, the pickled peppers added a nice touch.

I like the way the bottom turned out, they had a nice crunch. The parchment seems to work better than corn meal for some reason, maybe a better contact with steel once it is removed. Easier to manipulate off the peel too.
 
Educate me: gas-fired Ooni vs pizza on my Weber Genesis. Is there a difference? Do I need an extra appliance?
 
Yes, the wood fired oven pizza is different. Not necessarily better but different entirely of its own. Its chewey for starters, its good, and the next day or so the smoke really comes through. I never had much luck with grill. If you want to better your grill pies make sure pizza is elevated into dome if you dont already. They also make grill boxes that I am sure work well. Without the wood something like the ooni with gas will still make the chewy Napolitano style well even better but it is really hot and tricky to use in my case
Worth it is interesting question, I like that once I am going I can make 10 pizzas or so in 30 minutes they cook in a minute or two. There is no way I know of replicating this using oven or grill. I wonder about broil. Put steel right under broiler and try broil? Careful for fire.
Educate me: gas-fired Ooni vs pizza on my Weber Genesis. Is there a difference? Do I need an extra appliance?
 
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Made this pizza on parchment at 450 in oven. Took out before cheese go to brown. It was tender, soft and folded beautifully. It was cut new york style, new norm, and we all loved it. That soft chewiness is much much more like wood fired pizza then a cruncy oven crust. I really liked it.

Haha, finally gave the oven a go for hamburgers. When I got Napoli I got this lodge to fit it. Didnt want to get it too hot for first time, work in progress, but smoke touch was nice.
 

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I knew it was a mistake to pop back in here and look at pictures.
We're down to morsels here, and grocery delivery not scheduled until Tuesday.
OMG those look good!
@applescrap If I may ask, what is "cut new York style"?
 
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Sure, a ways back added a little better info, but I came across this style of cutting. Means a full width sheet pan produces a slice that would have come from a 26 in pie. A 26 in round wont fit in my oven. But I love a big folded slice. So I saw a few pics and realized that a square pizza cut just so would produce a bunch of big slices. Get way less slices per pie but one or two is enough cause they are huge. Pretty much all we do now. Hope you try it.
 
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Have used Beer yeast, takes longer, dont recall advantages.
I add a tsp natural ACV for my 3 day dough to create a sour dough.
 
Why doesn't HBT have a Multi-Like button?
Just sign up for more accounts ;)

I've made a half dozen different pizzas with the recipe you guys shared for me. They've been great!

Is there some trick to sliding the raw pizza off the peel? I don't like cornmeal. I tried using flour but it didn't slide at all. Oil works fine but it slides off really slowly.
 
That's the stuff. Any brand of semola rimacinata would be good.

It's much less gritty than cornmeal, I also use it as bench flour and it falls off the dough better than normal flour - I keep some in an ice cream tub and dip the doughballs in it, see picture
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It's also very good for some types of bread (check out pane di altamura and pane di matera if you have not heard of them before) and of course pasta
 
I use parchment paper every time I make a pizza. I don't use any cornmeal, semolina, or oil. I just stretch the dough out some, then transfer it to the peel w/ the parchment on it then finish the build. I slide the parchment/pizza onto the preheated baking stone, then after ~ 4 minutes, lift the front edge of the pie with the peel and slide out the parchment then let the pie finish on the stone. Works like a charm every time.
 
It does not take much oil, dizzle a little on and wipe with a paper towel to leave a thin film, would probably work without but want to hedge my bet and I think the little bit of oil help browning. A pizza steel is more forgiving but once you get oil on a pizza stone it take a long time to burn off.
 

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