The Pizza lovers thread

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Yeah it is the steam that is quickly produced that rises the dough.

With the metal cover for the stone, I read I can reach over 400°C because it holds the heat better than without. Still nothing compared to your nice oven.

Well, there is it again, the urgent craving for a good pizza.

I am intrigued by your trailer-oven set up. Couple questions for you...

1. What are the walls of the oven made out of? How hot does the area around the outside of the oven get?

2. Did you buy that as one pre-built unit, or the oven and trailer separately and then build it yourself?

3. How long does it take to cool down before you can move it? I would think a while in order to keep the brick from breaking.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The outer walls must be stainless, it's insulated and it gets hot to touch more so underneath, I leave the proofing boxes under the oven in cool weather to prevent the dough from hardening too much. I bought the oven, had the trailer and mounted it with 30 x30 x3mm gal bar, 3 bars and bolted it to the trailer sides, the oven has 3 legs as such, they're 3mm thick spaced at 45 x 45mm, i used 3 gal screws on each bar , solid as.

I moved the trailer an hour after the last gig and had no issues, I just spread the coals out packed up and left, the bricks didn't break so I'm going with that, they do have a bit of give in there, about 2 cm.

I'm going to turn into a stand alone unit, power, hot water it's turning out to be a fun project.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Yes, health code regulations can be challenging to comply with. Wife and I had a hot dog concession for a while, and even though we had hot flaming hot running water and a sink we still could not certify to cook food from raw without having a 3-basin sink (ours was a single). Didn't need to have power though (what's that about?) It worked out okay for us because we were only doing pre-cooked food (hot dogs).

Made a S#-ton of $$$$ doing that on the side! It was a lot of work though. Running the concession was the easy part, it was the stocking and setup/takedown which took a bunch of time.

I'll let you in on a dirty little secret...the big $$$ is in the beverages, not the food. You'll never make any money selling food, but you'll clean up on the beverages. We could practically give our food away and still make big money, and we were even underselling the competition by about 40% on the beverages and still made a killing. Candidly, I always felt a little guilty with how much we made on beverages.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It's 3 sinks here as well as part of the requirement, power isn't essential I just figured it wouldn't take much to have a led light system and a water pump running off 12 volt, i have a spare battery so it's now got a home.

We haven't sold many beverages as the business is still takeaways only until July 1st when restrictions ease, we should see a change once people can hang out and relax.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

The heat makes all the difference, using the same dough recipe it was pretty ordinary in my home oven at as hot as it could go, the dough just didn't rise. The heat from the woodfire though is enough to make the dough rise almost instantly, I have to turn the pizza in the first 30 seconds, it's golden already with mottled burn with the side closest to the fire, turn a couple of times and ready. The pizza is bubbling, the crust has risen and the toppings are charred nicley.

There's convection heat, the fire itself and then the oven floor which I've recorded at some 400 degrees Celsius at the furthest point from the fire.

So here's something I'm getting from some of this... heat above 800 c and a really good oven is required to do the neapolitan style crust, I saw I think an episode of pizza show where their dough didn't even have yeast, it had a VERY funky fine blackish brown sea salt that had natural yeasts in it (?). and then you pop that dough in that perfect 900+ c oven for literally seconds and the dough gets great pockets and character fast, you spin it once, maybe bring it up and kiss the top with some heat for a second or two and that pizza looks like your best friend.

I house sat at a friends place and damn near broke their fancy oven, but it had super turbo convection mode that was so crazy hot but made just a really burnt pizza, the convection air thing destroys crust, basic ovens need just high heat and a good stone.

If I want to make Neapolitan pies at home I will need to build a backyard oven

Dang your pizza game is serious strong my friend, you might love making a carnitas salsa verde and peach pie on that beauty of yours

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Beverages are a boom industry I think, every rave I saw a small bottle of water at $5

Festival food sales are so curious in that some can be hit and miss depending where you try, and what the local laws are like you are talking sinks. I have liked the concept of running a food truck, but hate the costs and laws we have here. The ones we have here are very limited and crazy $$, but a private event on private land.

Yesterday I just got a batch of Sauerkraut done, first successful attempt, and since I had to grab a ton of pastrami and swiss cheese to make some sandwiches today (made brats already too), I'm thinking I will try for a pastrami swiss and kraut pizza, and I will have to think about the sauce carefully so maybe something with a mustard base, maybe a tiny pinch of honey and some caramelized onions and maybe even mushrooms? Thicker edge on the crust but a medium crust really, 4 day proof at least. Yeah I got to start a sourdough starter so I dont have to age as long.

Learning, always learning

a reply to: Aliquandro

Yep, the heat is the key to success, I'm still very much a novice in this game, the learning curve is steep.

I like the sound of that carnitas salsa verde, I will give it a go.

I've got a gig on Friday, I'll take a few photos if I can and vid of one cooking and post it it up.

a reply to: Aliquandro

Beverages are a boom industry I think, every rave I saw a small bottle of water at $5

More like a rip off, in general.

Water bottles typically $5, at concerts and games, which considering the actual cost that's a huge profit actual price.

I mean, a glass (or cup) of wine is typically 6-9 bucks, and the cheap brands they use the bottles are generally around 10, so if you can get 3-4 glasses per bottle, huge profit.

And for the price of beer? A 16oz Heineken at a concert I went to was around $18, which was much higher than I'm used to.I think it's usually 11 or 12.

Outrageous.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

If youre a novice, you sure seem to have stumbled in the right direction fast! LOL

I think why I liked the pork carnitas and peach combo was I used peach nectar to marinate my pork butt in for like 48 hrs before i slow roast in a dutch oven in more peach nectar and lime garlic and cumin for like 2-3 hrs, those leftovers are out of this world, on top of a spicy green sauce, queso fresco and maybe some sweet pickled jalapenos, some fresh cilantro at the end, WOW.

I now ONLY make pork carnitas when I already have some pizza doughs made

If you ever feel inspired to make lamb or beef barbacoa, that is also amazing on pizza, you have that OVEN!!!!

a reply to: Aliquandro

I saw I think an episode of pizza show where their dough didn't even have yeast, it had a VERY funky fine blackish brown sea salt that had natural yeasts in it (?).

If I correctly recall, whole grain flour has natural yeast in it, which is why some sourdough starters don't even use added yeast, but rely on the natural yeast reaction as it ferments.

Of course, sourdough pizza crust sounds and looks amazing. And this sounds like what you mentioned in your OP: simple-sourdough-pizza-a-step-by-step-guide: Yes!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yes, health code regulations can be challenging to comply with. Wife and I had a hot dog concession for a while, and even though

I understand the importance of health code regulations, but sometimes they are just a burden. I don't know how many times I've seen perfectly good, uneaten tossed out by caterers after lunch because there was nothing they could do with it. I mean huge 18" long, 5" round meatloaves that were never cut into, sundry other meats and and veggies...all to waste, when it could have fed so many, especially when filming in poorer areas. Even whole pizzas gone to waste at the end of the night...

Only one time did I see a couple actors make an effort to keep it warm according to regs and send it to a kitchen somewhere.

I finally got the pizza stone
Still missing the steel cover and the pizza or bread spatula.

For now, I will just use two long cake cream spatulas, to handle it in the oven. Use backing paper with flour to get it onto the stone, pull it away fast. That is the theory. Let's see if I make a mess or not, haha.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

OMG the difference is worlds. Did it in the oven, 250°C.
Pizza took 5 minutes with the cheese already loosing it's ability to string, but what has changed:

Crust is awesome in taste and crunch. The dough now bubbles up a bit better than on the metal pan.

But what really has changed is the the flavor of the dough. Richer and deeper, it seems the stone pulling the moisture out is the main factor in taste difference.

Can't wait to try it on the grill and try some recipes.

originally posted by: ThatDamnDuckAgain
a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

OMG the difference is worlds. Did it in the oven, 250°C.
Pizza took 5 minutes with the cheese already loosing it's ability to string, but what has changed:

Crust is awesome in taste and crunch. The dough now bubbles up a bit better than on the metal pan.

But what really has changed is the the flavor of the dough. Richer and deeper, it seems the stone pulling the moisture out is the main factor in taste difference.

Can't wait to try it on the grill and try some recipes.

I am really happy for you! Making a crust you finally feel you would pay good $$ for is really an awesome thing, like bucketlist worthy. That insanely rewarding texture and chew gives life meaning.



So my latest pie was 3 day fermented dough with dijon garlic cream sauce, shredded pastrami, pickles, and a moz swiss blend. Was delicious and formidable, but sauce needed more tang and creaminess? Maybe caramelized onions and shrooms, or even black olives?

got 2 more doughs and some pastrami and swiss left, maybe add some of this homemade kraut

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

I'm spending money to make my own pies as I've got every type of pizza imaginable in this city so don't need to. If I were I'd go with both - wooden to make the pie on and "throw" it in the oven then the aluminum to work it in the oven.

I put throw in quotes as that's how I learned how to make pizza. My boss was from New Haven(where they don't call it pizza but they sure as hell know how to make it) and he taught me how to throw pies in the oven. He used bread crumbs, slightly chunky, not like the fine stuff at the grocers. Throw a little bit on the peel and literally throw it in the oven. Put it all the way to the back, touching the back. Pull it back one inch, then jerk off.

That's exactly how he described it, jerking off.

Tried to edit my post as that first sentence should have started I'm NOT spending money. Missed that one. Anyway, I can't edit as it says it's over the four hour limit. It's not.

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher

I actually had my first CT pie a few years back, was definitely good east coast pie.

I'm still basically nuts for creating delicious pizza creations, and off rez is some of the most fun.

So I picked up an entire half porkbelly on sale at a restaurant supply store, and so far have made 2 creations that got turned into wonderful pizzas, first was 4 day marinated teriyaki porkbelly that I sliced thin on a teriyaki sauce pizza with fresh pineapple and moz. Next I did a porkbelly chile colorado, sliced on a colorado sauced pie with pickled jalapenos, queso fresco and enough moz to hold the toppings together.

That chile colorado pizza was amazing, I'd order if it was on a menu.

Tomorrow I'm making a leftover meatball pie, and day after its a chinese plum sauce and Char Siu BBQ porkbelly pizza

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

You definitely would appreciate a good sized pizza peel, being able to confidently slide your masterpiece in and out of that furnace is important

I have a really thin aluminum one with a medium length wood handle, I never cut my pizza on the peel, and before i put my dough down I dust it with fine semolina, or cornmeal, and believe it or not fine cous cous also works... they just need to be teeny balls of hardness for the dough to roll on.

I just always give it a gentle tug every few toppings to make sure its not sticking

Have fun!!

a reply to: Liquesence

Thanks for that link! I've still been dying to try making sourdough pizza. After making a much tastier and easier batch of kimchee this week I'm pretty inspired to try some new things in the world of fermented foods. Might even try making pickles of all things.

cheers to you!