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[mbusse]

Are you guys still using the 2stone for NY style pies, or has it pretty much shifted to Caputo 00 traditional neopolitan pizzas?  I was really excited early on to see/hear the results for NY style, but it seems to have progressed way beyond that now.  I'm very interested in what the 2stone can do, but I'm not trying to go to college or import flour to get there.  I'd just like to make a great NY style pie with fairly readily available ingredients.  Does the 2stone offer a better alternative than my oven if I'm not trying to replicate Naples?

I would appreciate any comments from those who are using the 2stone to get NY "street" style pizza, as opposed to elite/neo pies. 

Thanks,
Chris

Chris,

I am using the Pizza Oven for NY Style. I experimented early on when I only had the grill model, but could not achieve enough heat for Neapolitan style which I was also interested in. Since then I have purchased the oven casing for the grill model. I have been doing just NY style. I also plan on experimenting soon with Neapolitan. The key is to use a high hydration for your dough of around 62-63%, this is because you will want to cook it in the high heat range of 700-800F, this will get you a slight crisp on the outside and a fluffy, cotton like, inside for the conicione, these are the results I just could not achieve in my home oven. You will really enjoy the high heat for your NY style. At heart, I am NY style and am thrilled with the pizza oven. With that being said, between the pizza grill and pizza oven, I would recommend the oven over the grill by far. My reasons are the following:

1. With the pizza oven, you can achieve heat ranging from the standard home oven of 500-550F, all the way up to 1000+ if you so desire, this would allow you to do thin, NY style, and Neapolitan, if you so wish.
2. Very fast preheat times, I can have it up to 700-800F in about 15 minutes. With the grill model, it usually took 30-45 minutes, thus wasting more propane.
3. It became a pain to tie up my grill all lined with aluminum foil, (see previous pics in this thread), when I wanted to do some grilling, as in steaks, and have to remove the pizza grill, then put everything back.
4. In the rain or cooler months, I can move the pizza oven to my garage and have pizza whenever I wish, this part is just great!
5. You use less propane as you are only dealing with a single burner, instead of multiple burners, which most grills have today.
6. No messing with charcoal, who wants to wait an hour to make a pie, I sure do not, 15 minutes and I am sliding my pie into 800F, 3 minutes later I am pulling out sheer bliss. (See previous pics in this thread of some of my NY Style).
7. Portability, I could take this setup anywhere, camping, friends house, etc, and be making pizza in minutes.

I absolutely love my pizza oven, and feel the only thing better will be a wood fired brick oven. Just keep in mind, that high heat, especially on the stone means you MUST have high hydration in the 62-64% range, else you will burn the bottom of the crust in no time. With this range of hydration, you will achieve beautiful leoparding on the bottom. There is a little learning curve with the pizza grill or oven vs. the home oven as you are now dealing in higher heat and things happen fairly quickly, but that is part of the fun, you really begin to understand pizza and the technique behind making it. I really struggled with my NY style in the regular oven before getting my pizza oven, while it was good, I was not getting that slight crisp on the outside and tender, soft inside. I did not know what was missing, until you begin to cook in high heat, you just really do not think much about heat and how it relates to the final product. I understood with my first pie in the pizza oven, it was that first bite that told me I had achieved what I was searching for. And in the end the answer was the high heat. I know it sounds so simple and a normal person would not think it would play that much into the finished product, but I am here to tell you it does. I am sure the other pizza oven, or pizza grill, or wood fired oven owners would agree.

If you have any more questions, I am happy to try to answer them.

Mark

[chrishay99]

Thanks Mark!

[2stone]

Anybody want to look at this .....
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/atd-701.html

At $41.24 it seems like a good deal.
It's rated at 1022F

willard

[2stone]

This was 100% Caputo "00" pizzeria flour.
5 hr. bench / 72 hr. fridge / 1 1/2 hr. bench
1-1/2 min 2stone oven bake.

[hopgeek]

Thats a hell of a nice looking pie Willard!  I need to get some 00 pizzeria dough.

I used my 2stone pizza oven for the first time yesterday and was really pleased with the results.  Unfortunately I have no pics, but i baked about a dozen sourdough flat breads using 50% caputo farina 00 and 50% king arthur bread and 63% hydration.  The dough balls were 85g each and I just topped them with some olive oil and salt.  I brought these over to Thanksgiving dinner at a friends house.  I later received what I consider to be a hell of a compliment -- a friend's date saw my flat breads and asked if they were wood fired pizza breads?  I told her that I didn't have a wood burning oven, but that is what I was trying to emulate.  She mentioned that she grew up in Naples and visits at least a couple times a year.  She said they looked like real Neapolitan crusts!  That made my day.

[mmarston]

I'd like to cut some quarry tiles so they will fit properly in my 2stone oven.
Any suggestions that use commonly available tools?

[2stone]

Hi Michael,

You can also get an extra cheap 13" stone at Target or Walmart
I made it so it would fit another one. If you want to cut the tiles you
have, just take them down to Lowes or Home Depot they usually have a setup
you can rent cheap all set up at the store. You may still find it cheaper to pick
up an econo stone.

Hopgeek,

I have never tried doing just skins before, but it sounded real good
so I happened to have about the same mixture 50 % Caputo 50 % high gluten
and this is how they turned out. Brushed on extra virgin olive oil / sprinkled with sea salt.

very tasty,
willard

[mmarston]

Well, I for one am glad we've put this turkey thing behind us (I made pizza tonight and it did not have leftover turkey on it!)

Michael

[2stone]

I hear you Michael,

By the way if you want to try some pita bread sometime, the 2stone really kicks em out
fast and good. I've done it 3 or 4 times now with great results.

willard

[mmarston]

Those flat breads look great. I'd like to find some recipes for a light appetizer pizza with just a bit of cheese and herbs.

Michael

[MWTC]

2stone,

I just wanted to share some of my first results with the 2stone Oven.

These were baked in a 1-1/2 inch tin steel pan.

The oven was preheated for 20 minutes with the gas maxed out. The bottom stone was 750 degrees.

I am really impressed with the improvement of the entire pizza as a whole. The high heat really improves everything, even the cheese and toppings including the dough. WOW !!!   

Thank-you Willard.   I hope you sell a million of them. You deserve all the rewards of bringing this oven to the people. Its just what we needed to complete the picture. High heat.

MWTC 

[2stone]

Well thankyou MWTC,

Great to see your "fine" looking pie...
nice charring...and crust.
I have done my pies on a tin with great
results too.

regards,
willard

[2stone]

Hi there jimd

Thanks for the order,

willard

[MWTC]

mbusse,

It would be fantastic if you could use your testing equipment to give us a chart as to the temps that would be achieved at different stone temps. Maybe starting at 500 degrees stone temp and go up each 50 degrees. Getting the stone temp and corresponding air temps.

I get my bottom stone to about 750 degrees with the stone maxed out. With the 6 inch plate sitting over the flame. For 20 to 30 minutes, it seems to stay at that temp. no matter how long it burns. I wonder how hot the air temp is.

2stone,

Have you tried baking on the 2stone Oven with lower temps? If so, what have you experienced? For example a stone temp of 600 degrees.

MWTC 

[scottfsmith]

It would be fantastic if you could use your testing equipment to give us a chart as to the temps that would be achieved at different stone temps. Maybe starting at 500 degrees stone temp and go up each 50 degrees. Getting the stone temp and corresponding air temps.

MWTC, there is no easy relationship and also every grill is different.  If I let mine run forever I will get a stone temp of around 1000F and an air temp of around 1100F - no good for cooking pizza on such a hot stone.  I have found that the warm-up will naturally have the air about 1000F when the stone first hits 750F, *on my grill at least*.  If I leave the heat on between pizzas and the break is more than a minute or two, I will come back to a 900F stone and 1000F air -- also bad.  So I must kill the heat between pizzas.  If you don't want to buy an air temperature probe I would be very consistent in your timing of how long and at what gas level you warm up and the IR temp upon insertion, and use that as a guidepost for every run.  And, also be consistent on what you do between pizzas.

Hey check out my dessert pizza from tonight.  I got home too late to make pizza dinner but I wanted to do something with the dough. It was a winging-it recipe.  I was surprised how well the apples cooked in two minutes.

Scott

[2stone]

MWTC,

I think my comfort zone is around 700-750
Everything is more forgiving around there.
It seems like you have found a sweet spot
with the 6" baffle. If you want to bump it up
another 50 just pull the baffle toward the front
a little.

I just learned from the pizzeria owner that when you are
using new screens they have to be seasoned with a generous
coat of olive oil and left overnight in the oven. If you do that
once or twice he claims nothing will stick to them.


Scott,

Yet something else I have to try. Very tasty looking, that would be
good alamode I think. what do you have on top of the apples?

regards,
willard

[MWTC]

MWTC, there is no easy relationship and also every grill is different. 
Scott

Scott,

I am using the 2stone Oven. So the temps should be consistant with everyone using the oven, not different grills, like yourself and others. The oven is fantastic.

It might not be useful using different temps but I can imagine that it is. Like last night, I baked a fantastic pie but I pulled it out earlier than before and it was even better than the one baked longer. But that is to my taste, and everyone is different. This is just the beginning. It is going to be useable in many different styles of pizza making types. I am looking forward the experimentations that will follow in the years ahead. That is why I would like to have a chart to aid in the consistency with all the possibilities.

MWTC 

[scottfsmith]

MWTC, maybe I am not sure what you are asking.  Are you asking what the air would be if the stone temp was stabilized at say 750F (by cutting back on the gas)?  If the stone temp had stopped rising (or falling) there should indeed be a more or less fixed corresponding air temp.  On the other hand if the gas is hot enough that the stone temp is still rising there will be no fixed relationship.

Willard, I spread quince jelly on the dough, put the apples on top of that, and dusted with cinnamon sugar.  It tasted very good.  The one thing I would change is the crust was not sweet and that stuck out a bit.  I would perhaps roll it out to be flat and run the toppings all the way to the edge, or try adding some sugar to the dough mixture.

Scott

[MWTC]

Scott,

Yes, that is what I am asking for, like if the stone temp was 600 degrees what is the air temp. And likewise if the stone was 500 degrees what is the air temp, etc.? Just a reference chart. It would aid in consistency and help understanding.

MWTC 

[bambino32]

I have been following this thread about the 2stone. There are only a few actual owners of the 2stone posting there experience with the ovens.  Are there a lot of 2stone users here?  I would love to hear the likes and dislikes from more members that have the 2stone. I am considering the oven model for myself. I did get one response from MWTC from a posting in home ovens. I thought there would be  more 2stone users.

Thanks