Topic: Pizza from scratch

[harley]

Here's my first effort.



Tasted quite good but not as good as I'd hoped.

First it was quite soft soggy from what I wanted, no real browning underneath. Didn't seem to get enough rise out of the dough. All I could find was tesco's own mozzarella, it didn't come out white melting and stringy or tasty enough except the odd small area, its was disappointingly very much like every TA I've had in a decade or more where its more clumpy, yellowish, okay nice to an extent but average in my opinion and very similar to how the pizzahut round here is.

Couldn't find a pizza stone, went to tesco, asda, morrisons, wilkinsons, could only get these thin pizza plates, no pizza screens either. I guess they don't sell well or take up too much room too heavy. I'll have to order online or try sainsbury's, or find some catering place. Quarry tiles are far too small from what I could see.

Supermarket pizzas take 10-12mins, sometimes 15mins gas mark 6 in my oven. My first one took 20mins and wasn't cooked enough despite preheating for 30mins on the highest setting , I had to take it out as I didn't want more browning of the cheese and develop some thin layer.

I'll try a pizza stone or try to source one of those pizza pans the takeaway often use, more preheating. On my oven there's a six inch gap/vent on the door which I don't think helps.

Anyway, not bad, not great, kind of rivaled typical tesco, asda, pizzahut. In recent months I've been going to Aldi and their stonebaked pizza is much better than all the other supermarkets and is only half the price at around ?1.79 every day, not on these cheap one week then jump up to ?3.50 the next week ie tesco. Aldi pizza for the price makes me think twice about going to the trouble.

Hope I can find a place for lots of decent mozzarella at reasonable prices. Doing it yourself doesn't seem quite as cheap if you have to pre-heat the oven for an hour on full and ?1.50 for a bag of cheese to cover a 12" pizza along with the rest.

[natterjak]

Hi Harley

Photo looks good, shame it wasn't quite what you hoped for.  Was the cheese the kind which comes pre-grated in a bag? Not sure I would trust that kind of cheese. Better to buy a buffalo mozarella which comes in it's own bag of liquid and cut it into squares yourself.

For cooking the underside I haven't tried it yet but I'm thinking of one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Re-usable-Pizza-mesh-Gives-round-crispness/dp/B002DFF6AY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_kh_2

It's a teflon lined mesh which lets the oven heat get directly to the underside of the pizza. I can't see why that wouldn't work and amazon reviews are very positive.

[Unclebuck]

Uncle Buck,
here's the blog of the build I did with lots of photos of the construction. As you'll see, from the lack of recent entries I'm not much of a blogger
www.batty.me.uk

Jerry,
try it with sour dough starter only, there's certainly enough rise without commercial yeast, and the flavour is fantastic. as I say to all my guests, 'best pizza this side of Rome' and they have to agree otherwise they don't get invited back ;D

Shame about the recent crappy summer weather which meant I only fired the oven up half a dozen times last year.

looks good tonybatty well done, I haven't been on http://ukwoodfiredovenforum.proboards.com for a while I must pop in

[StoneCut]

Regarding cheese: I've found a mix of 1/3 parmesan (coarsely grated) and 2/3 young Gouda cheese (also coarsely grated) makes for a fantastic (and cheesy) combo. Most italians here use a mix of Parmesan (or Pecorino) with Mozzarella and/or Gouda.

The Mozzarella makes it nice and gooey while the Gouda (and/or Parmesan) gives it a nice cheesy taste. I find most Mozzarella to be bland, even the expensive stuff.

[harley]

Hi natterjak

Might give that a whirl, thanks. Similar to those pizza screens I've seen recommended. My plate has some holes in but maybe not enough. I think I need to pre heat much longer more than anything.

EDIT: Just ordered that mesh. Should help with condensation

Yes the cheese was pre-grated bag, all I could find at the time unfortunately. I'll search harder for the buffalo mozz when the snow clears a bit.

Will check those other cheeses out StoneCut.

Thanks.

[tonybatty]

You need to be a little careful with using buffalo mozzarella, nice taste but you need to squeeze out as much moisture as you can otherwise it just makes it soggy.  Ironically the cheaper, drier mozzarella often works better.

[JerryM]

Quarry tiles are far too small from what I could see.

reclamation yards have the tiles - they are 1 inch thick and 6 inch square - i use 4 off in my domestic oven. i think the modern equivalent would work too but are thinner. not used myself but would expect the stone to give reasonable performance - the thicker the better (it acts as a heat store).

can post a pic of my setup if you need.

quarry tiles/stone are no good unless the oven temp is high ~ 550C. getting to this temp (typ 1 hr oven pre heat) is not easy in a domestic oven and potentially could damage it. you may be stuck unless the vent can be temp blocked. for example on the difficulty i had to locate the thermocouple and covered it to enable the oven to run at the higher temp.

tonyB,

very best wishes.

i picked up on your initial comment on the West Bromwich location for fire bricks as this is my No 1 task in the coming wfo season. i tried to purchase from Higgs Refractories in the Midland over the new year being foiled by seasonal shutdown.

[harley]

reclamation yards have the tiles - they are 1 inch thick and 6 inch square - i use 4 off in my domestic oven. i think the modern equivalent would work too but are thinner. not used myself but would expect the stone to give reasonable performance - the thicker the better (it acts as a heat store).

can post a pic of my setup if you need.

quarry tiles/stone are no good unless the oven temp is high ~ 550C. getting to this temp (typ 1 hr oven pre heat) is not easy in a domestic oven and potentially could damage it. you may be stuck unless the vent can be temp blocked. for example on the difficulty i had to locate the thermocouple and covered it to enable the oven to run at the higher temp.

I was thinking one large tile would be better when moving the pizza but yes it should work fine. I guess you could even fix the tiles together to stop them sliding if needed.

Really need to see if I can get my oven up to temp, no access to a heat gun. The vent is on the front door seal and should be blocked quite easy. The thermocouple is hanging down from the oven ceiling.

Should be on the right path if I can half the cooking time. How long does yours take in your domestic oven JerryM? Should I be looking at 7-10mins tops?

Thanks.

[tonybatty]

Jerry, the company I used was W Midlands Refractories who were subsequently rolled into Yorkshire Refractories who were rolled into Sapling Associates : For comparison, you should also have a look at www.kilnlinings.co.uk who have supplied a number of members on the forum and I believe offers members a discount.

There's quite a range of firebricks not all of which are right for the classic wfo so make sure you do your research before buying.

[JerryM]

harley,

i'll dig out and post some more info. pizza is even harder than curry to master but probably more fun.

the tiles don't move - i thought they would. you need to master the peel too.

the bake in my oven after the 1 hr pre heat is 3 to 3.5 mins. this is at 63 to 65% hydration. since trying out the 70% hydration the bake has increased to 4.5 to 5 mins. it all depend on the thickness too and the amount of toppings.

i use a cheap dial thermometer that goes up to 300C - it's good enough.

tonyB,

many thanks - will make this my starting point - the range issue is why i wanted to see before buy so to speak.