Author Topic: MBE (Mini Black Egg) Project (Read 40990 times)

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #280 on:** October 09, 2010, 09:26:15 PM »

Last pie of the night.

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #281 on:** October 12, 2010, 06:32:45 PM »

Made a few 10 hour caputo pies in the MBE. Was shooting for a bigger oven spring and I think I got it...

What do you guys think about the crumb?

dellavecchia · « **Reply #282 on:** October 12, 2010, 07:12:29 PM »

Perfection on the crumb. Just spectacular.

John

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #283 on:** October 12, 2010, 08:25:53 PM »

Thanks John. I thought the pies were pretty good.

gtsum2 · « **Reply #284 on:** October 12, 2010, 08:59:39 PM »

I would concur..they look very nice! What was temp and how long did you cook them for? I am going to order a bag of Caputo here this week..which one do you use Chau...the Red or Blue bag??

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #285 on:** October 12, 2010, 09:07:39 PM »

Thx Shaun, glad you guys appreciate a good crumb.

I use the blue bag (pizzeria). The red bag is Chef's flour that can also be used for pizza making. This batch was actually 2/3 blue bag and 1/3 red bag. That's the SECRET ratio.

Just kidding. I had a bit of the red bag left over so I threw it in.

Just be aware though, that if you like a "crunchy" rim, caputo may give you a bit less crunch. It'll still crisp, but BF or HG flour will give you more crunch. You can do this crumb with the HG flour you have right now. Look at the crumb in reply #280.

Chau

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #286 on:** October 12, 2010, 09:13:57 PM »

Oh whoops, I forgot to tell you the temp. I believe these were loaded at a hearth temp of 600F and baked for about close to 3 min. As always, I don't know the true temp of the MBE. Depending where you measure on the hearth you can easily get varying temps. I'm working on a hinged cover for the front lid vent. Stay tune...

buceriasdon · « **Reply #287 on:** October 13, 2010, 08:52:54 AM »

Chau, I tried some cover ideas for the vent but my burner then starves for oxygen but I have only the front vent. Good luck

Don

Quote from: Jackie Tran on October 12, 2010, 09:13:57 PM

Oh whoops, I forgot to tell you the temp. I believe these were loaded at a hearth temp of 600F and baked for about close to 3 min. As always, I don't know the true temp of the MBE. Depending where you measure on the hearth you can easily get varying temps. I'm working on a hinged cover for the front lid vent. Stay tune...

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #288 on:** October 13, 2010, 09:51:58 AM »

Quote from: buceriasdon on October 13, 2010, 08:52:54 AM

Chau, I tried some cover ideas for the vent but my burner then starves for oxygen but I have only the front vent. Good luck

Don

Thanks Don, with some initial test yesterday I noticed the same thing. Heat up time is much slower, BUT here's what I'm thinking. A hinged lid. Open for quick (normal) heat up times and closed only for the first 1-2 minutes while the pie is in. This maybe a fluke, but I've been noticing bigger oven spring with this method. It makes sense b/c that trapped heat creates an environment similar to a WFO. The surrounding heat gives the lift, then open the vent lid and allow airflow again to char the rim to finish the pie.

I'm also toying with the idea of a perforated lid cover. So that during the first 1-2 minutes of the bake, the vent hole isn't completely shut off. The airflow would just be decrease enough to trap the hot air in the lid and just long enough for initial oven spring. After the rim is set, the vent lid is lowered for normal MBE/LBE baking.

Chau

PaulsPizza · « **Reply #289 on:** October 13, 2010, 09:57:55 AM »

Chau, those pies look very very tasty!! awesome work as usual

I think I may mix up some dough tonight now, you have made me hungry!

norma427 · « **Reply #290 on:** October 13, 2010, 10:25:54 AM »

Chau,

Your recent pies look delicious.

Your crumb looks fantastic!

Norma

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #291 on:** October 13, 2010, 10:50:47 AM »

Thanks Paul & Norma. Paul I would love to see some of your recent work.

PaulsPizza · « **Reply #292 on:** October 13, 2010, 11:44:08 AM »

Quote from: Jackie Tran on October 13, 2010, 10:50:47 AM

Thanks Paul & Norma. Paul I would love to see some of your recent work.

Chau, I am making pizza on Monday so I will dust the camera off and take some pics for you.
I have been so busy lately, sorry for the lack of pics.
When are you next making pizza?
Paul

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #293 on:** October 13, 2010, 11:58:03 AM »

A few days from now, and ill try to do the same crumb structure with AP flour.

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #294 on:** October 13, 2010, 09:22:48 PM »

Got the top vent hinged cover done tonight. Confident it will work well but need to do further testing. Initial test from using the peel to cover the vent has shown some postive results. Won't get to test it out for a few days though.

Eventhough it looks like it covers the vent fully, there is still a bit of a gap at the top.

c0mpl3x · « **Reply #295 on:** October 14, 2010, 12:25:50 AM »

chau all you need now is fluxcore and rust and you have another c0mpl3x fabrication thread!

buceriasdon · « **Reply #296 on:** October 14, 2010, 08:13:07 AM »

Chau, I am most interested in your results. I too have pondered this same modification to the front vent. With my LBE setup I can see my flame go down when I have placed a curved piece of metal over the vent, which for me defeats the purpose of not losing heat. Good luck. I even thought about having a rectangular vent fabricated that could be pop riveted in the opening and extends out a few inches.
Don

Quote from: Jackie Tran on October 13, 2010, 09:22:48 PM

Got the top vent hinged cover done tonight. Confident it will work well but need to do further testing. Initial test from using the peel to cover the vent has shown some postive results. Won't get to test it out for a few days though.

Eventhough it looks like it covers the vent fully, there is still a bit of a gap at the top.

Jet_deck · « **Reply #297 on:** October 14, 2010, 10:32:22 AM »

Quote from: Jackie Tran on October 13, 2010, 09:22:48 PM

... Confident it will work well but need to do further testing....

For what its worth, these are my thoughts on your MBE. Your walking on a slippery slope. A black egg with no vents gives the heat no place to go but out the bottom. A poorly designed black egg without channeling the heat to the rear, up over the stone, and out the front, gives you a charred bottom pizza with no top heat browning. But in your situation, with the new door on the front, I believe that the only way it will work the way you want it to is if the 'bit of gap at the top' (front vent) is large enough to continue to let enough air flow out the front. I can't wait to see your results.

Jet_deck · « **Reply #298 on:** October 14, 2010, 10:38:38 AM »

Woops, forgot to say that the pizza looks very good as usual. What is your favorite suggested "recipe" for using HG flour? I now have a 25# bag of Kyrol and some cake yeast and I wanted a recipe for when the 10stone gets put back together. Thanks Chau.

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #299 on:** October 14, 2010, 11:16:54 AM »

chau all you need now is fluxcore and rust and you have another c0mpl3x fabrication thread!

Absolutely Jon.

I've been really enjoying the pies that have been coming out of the MBE lately for many reasons. It's much more of a challenge to make a great product with a less than ideal setup/conditions. Lots of manipulations have to be made which requires an understanding of what one is doing.

I too have pondered this same modification to the front vent. With my LBE setup I can see my flame go down when I have placed a curved piece of metal over the vent.

Don & JD thanks for the feedback. Though I didn't make a post of it, I did do the exact same test with a curved piece of sheet metal covering the lid vent opening completely . I too, noted the same detrimental effect. Heat up times were maybe tripled from the poor airflow. So I quickly removed the strip and went back to blocking some of the airflow with the metal peel. In the few times I've done this I did note an increase in ovenspring in a bigger portion of the rim.

This actually make sense especially given the newer mods done lately. With my current set up, all the airflow is direct to the back and over the pie out the front vent. The airflow is so forceful that it is bypassing the sides of the pie (to a certain extent) and I'm only getting great spring in the back. If I turn the pie 180' after 30sec, I may get some additional spring to the front of the pie(now towards the back) but it's not great. So the result is one portion of the rim has great ovenspring and the rest of the rim (60%) has mediocre rise.

You can see this effect in some of my previous pies like the one in reply #271. It could be the result of uneven stretching of the skin, but it's more likely due to the uneven heat distribution.

BUT with blocking the vent using the flat edge of the peel, I was able to successfully slow down the airflow while still preserving the majority of it. As a result, in 4-5 pies made this way, I noted a bigger portion of the rim getting great rise. Thus leading to the current lid vent mod.

I absolutely agree JD. I can't block off the vent completely as noted in reply #294. I have to preserve a % of the airflow for it to work. How much? Dunno yet. A few test should show me how much venting is ideal. Again, my goal is to only block about maybe 60% of the airflow just to preserve more heat in the dome. Theoretically this will create more top heat to aid in ovenspring across more of the rim and not just the back.

I have some AP doughs fermenting right now. If I can get off work early enough tonight, I'll run the test. I'll do 1 pie with using the new mod and one with to see if there is indeed a difference.

Author Topic: MBE (Mini Black Egg) Project (Read 40990 times)

buceriasdon

PaulsPizza

PaulsPizza

buceriasdon