Pizza

[Juddy]

Browndog
The secret to the Pizza oven is in the base and the dome itself. For a pizza evening at my place I will light a fire in the oven at around 2 in the arvo. A good sized fire is maintained for around 4 hours! During this time the oven walls (Half a solid clay brick covered with 50mm of mortar, which is then covered with 50mm of concrete, which is then insulated with 50mm vermiculite concrete and finally rendered) absorbs the heat of the fire until they are completely soaked and will absorb no more. The base (150mm solid concrete and a single layer of 50mm pavers) also absorbs heat. The theory is that when you place a pizza in the oven it cooks in two ways. Firstly the conductive heat of the pizza in contact with the oven base, and secondly the radiant heat being emitted from the dome. The small fire kept burning also does two things. It keeps the dome topped up with heat as it were, and prolongs the cooking period, and it also draws cool air into the oven. Therefore the pizza ends up being cooked from above and below whilst surrounded by cool air! After a pizza night my oven will still feel warm 24hrs after it was lit! Some more piccies...

The dome during construction.

The finished oven.
The dvd from traditional oven.com as mentioned above it awesome. Rado the gent responsible is an absolutely artist and his ovens are stunning. Russel Jeavons' book is much simpler in both his designs and construction. Very impressive.
Hope this helps?
Cheers
Juddy

 

[browndog]

Thanks for the info guys, seemd pretty easy if you stick to the basic principle constructing the oven with the idea of maintaining the heat as long as possible.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Hashie]

I'm really loving this thread, so much so that I want to build myself a pizza oven. Problem is, I don't know the first thing about them. Hashie, from the look ofyour design, you make the fire right inside the part where the pizza goes rather than under it. Is this how they work?If so then I gather you need a nice thick base to hold the heat in. Also, do you need enough room so that you can push the embers out of the way to get the pizza in? I had a look on google for DIY instructions but didn't really come up with anything suitable.

cheers

Browndog

Hey Browndog, Juddy summed it up better than I could have so I will leave that there. I have, however found a web page that has lots of styles and links for brick and earth ovens. For mine I used old fire bricks from an electric storage heater for the base, then pressed solid bricks for the vault. I then covered the lot with ~ 100mm of earth (adobe). The outside temperature of the oven is still cool enough to touch after a 3 hour fire on the inside.

I have the plans for mine on Autocad if anyone is interested.

 

[fixa]

That'd be awesome hashie. Can you post them here or better by email?

 

[Hashie]

I can send them via email fixa. You will need autocad 2004 or later to view, or volo view express.

If you have these, pm your email and i'll post it off.

 

[browndog]

Thanks for that link Hashie, gonna spend a lot of time at that site.

cheers

Browndog

 

[domonsura]

I have a copy of Rado's plans on CD floating around somewhere, pretty good, haven't had a chance to build one yet......the day will come.....

 

[sluggerdog]

Today's Lunch/Dinner. Yum Yum :chug:

 

[albrews]

alan
I just use plain flour (never used S/R for bread)
Interesting idea on the corn flour - is this maize flour?

cheers
HStB

hi, either wheaten corn flour(white) or corn corn flour (cream colour) as in supermarkets . the very fine flours. yes the maize flour could be used. i have not tried the masa flour for it. (masa is a corn flour with a mineral added. ) wonderful for crisp corn chips.
don't forget to oil the top of the pizza base, before adding the tomato sauce to avoid getting a soggy pizza. canola or olive oil. etc will do.
sprinkle the corn flour on the table before rolling out the pizza base.

this is optional.(only if you are fussy) it only crisps the bottom of the pizza. added corn flour makes a crispy fish batter. all corn flour produces a rock hard batter.

i tried a lebanese bread base and achieved a nice thin crispy pizza base.

cheers, alan

 

[johnno]

Some more pics of one of my favourite foods.

Had this a few weeks back.

cheers
johnno

 

[PhilS]

Very Tasty looking Pizzas there Johhno, even Shrek seems to agree

 

[jayse]

Did someone say pizza?
Heres zakk after a long recording session with black label society.

 

[tangent]

i like the way Russell points out in his book that pizza is only a quick food to keep the cook going while using the wood oven. Traditionally a whole range of foods are cooked in it, with pizza being one of the few, flat, fast cook things that can handle the initial excessive heat.
Similar concept to the shared ovens in New Orleans where neighbours would get together to share the cooking facilities in a central location away from the house and keep the heat out of the home. (italian communal ovens too) A little ingredient from each family can make a great gumbo, but that's another thread.

 

[NRB]

Where'd you get the nice pizza trays from Johnno?

 

[johnno]

Where'd you get the nice pizza trays from Johnno?

Hi NRB.
I got them off my mum. Not sure where she got them from.

I can ask her if you want. Might take a while to get an answer as she has retired overseas.

cheers
johnno

 

[danbeer]

hotdogs AND pizza!

http://www.pizzahut.jp/whatsnew/050_070702_double/

 

[johnno]

hotdogs AND pizza!

http://www.pizzahut.jp/whatsnew/050_070702_double/

and burgers/rissoles

johnno

 

[fixa]

Those wacky japanese....

For a second there i thought the d*ckhead from big brother was working for pizza hut...

 

[Adamt]

Just for those who want to know what's on that pizza... lol

It's a half and half:

Left Side:

Hamburgers, Green Beans, Corn :blink: , Red Paprika and Tomato sauce
Hotdogs on the outside have sausage and bacon in them with a "Fruity Tomato Ketchup" :huh:

Right Side:

Actual pizza has non-humorous ingredients.
Around the outside are cheese rolls, which have Cheddar, Mozzarella and Parmesan... with maple syrup....


Those crazy Japanesies!


Edit: Yeah they are sausage rolls, they look kinda like those Vili dogs though. Tasty

 

[winkle]

Eeer.. aint they sausage rolls? I guess you could add a pie floater in the middle as well :blink: