Any ideas if this pizza oven would work?

[Tampa]

Thx pcampbell, i guess it was flyboy4ual that had the rear IR burner.  For less than $30, an IR thermometer at Harbor Freight is a great value.

Tranman - good point about firebrick being more forgiving than cordierite.  Everything is a tradeoff.  I'm trading quick warm up/cook time against possibility of burn.  An IR thermometer saves me most of the time, but I can certainly understand the preference for a more forgiving environment.

Carbon - good strategy going high in the oven mitigating the need for an upper stone/thermal mass.  One forum member used thermal blankets to plug the vent holes to increase the inside grill temp.

[norma427]

I am going to try another pizza on the BBQ grill tonight.  I made some modifications, so maybe the top firebricks will get hotter.  This is where I posted on the lower temperature of top firebricks    http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11085.msg101079.html#msg101079    The first modification was I took a stainless steel shelf apart.  I put that under the firebricks.  Then I took the piece of galvanized steel and cut it with the shears.  I am not sure if this will help the top bricks get hotter, but the back is slanted down to the grates.  This is just a rough cut, but I’ll see if it works tonight.  Another thing I did was took a plastic container opener my dad made me years ago, to open syrup cans, and placed that on top of the steel pan (with the firebricks on) to see if that would also help get the top firebricks hotter. 

Norma

[norma427]

rest of pictures

Norma

[norma427]

The pizza is finished on the modified BBQ grill oven.  When I made this pizza today, I changed how I was going to go about baking it, since my crust almost got burnt the last time.  With the new modifications, the temperature came up a lot faster on the hearth and top firebricks in the steel pan. It only took 35 minutes to get to 667 degrees F.  I then turned off the grill, because I had seen before, in the test of temperatures of the hearth and top firebricks in the steel pan, that the top loses heat, slower than the bottom hearth. 

Norma

[norma427]

more pictures

Norma

[norma427]

more pictures

Norma

[norma427]

last pictures

Norma

[scott123]

Wow, Norma, that's looking good!

How long did you turn the grill off for before putting the pizza in? Any idea of a final hearth/ceiling temp?

[Pete-zza]

Norma,

Was that one of your Ultra-Thin clones ? And how did it taste?

Peter

[norma427]

Wow, Norma, that's looking good!

How long did you turn the grill off for before putting the pizza in? Any idea of a final hearth/ceiling temp?

scott123,

I turned the grill off and waited until the hearth was 640 degrees F.  I didn't take the temperature of the top hearth when I baked the pizza, but took it when the hearth was 667 degrees F.  The firebricks temperature was 570 degrees F. 

Norma

[norma427]

Norma,

Was that one of your Ultra-Thin clones ? And how did it taste?

Peter

Peter,

Lol, No, that wasn't any of the Ultra-Thin clones. It was the preferment for the Lehmann dough.  It weighed 205 grams and the pizza was 8 1/2". 

In my opinion this was the best pizza I have made to this date.  It was crunchy on the bottom and light and airy.  I think you deserve a gold star for helping me with the dough.

I never thought this dough could taste so different.  Even when I tried to bake the same dough at market at higher temperatures, the pizza never came out this way.  My bottom would also get burnt before the top was finished baking.

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

Norma congrats.  The pizza looks good.  Even with my MBE not working right I've notice a better oven spring than the home oven.  Your pie looks like it has great oven spring.  That's from having sufficient top heat?   So this one was bake for around 6min?  Did you have to rotate the pie at all? 

Also I'm not quite sure I understand the new mods you made and how it help. 

Sounds like it's time to take the grill to the market.

[norma427]

Norma congrats.  The pizza looks good.  Even with my MBE not working right I've notice a better oven spring than the home oven.  Your pie looks like it has great oven spring.  That's from having sufficient top heat?   So this one was bake for around 6min?  Did you have to rotate the pie at all? 

Also I'm not quite sure I understand the new mods you made and how it help. 

Sounds like it's time to take the grill to the market.

Tranman,

Thanks for the congrats.  This pie had a better oven spring than the others.  I am not sure about the top heat or shutting off the grill, so the bottom heat wouldn’t go higher. I should have kept the lid closed more, but I wanted to see if the bottom was burning. The pie only took about 4 minutes to finish in the BBQ grill oven set-up.  The pie was rotated different times.  I didn’t comment on this before, but I finished this pie in the broiler, in about another minute.  If you look at the one dark spot, the rim caught on fire, because I touched the rim with the broiler in my house oven.  Boy did I blow that out quick.  I thought I didn’t want to ruin this pie since it had done so well in the BBQ grill oven set-up. I also wanted to be able to taste this pie.

I am only starting to experiment with the BBQ oven set-up and don’t understand if these modifications helped or if the turning the grill off was what made this pie better.  You know how it is to understand all these variables.  Too many possibilities.

As for taking this grill to market, that is too funny.  Ever year at market they have an event near fall, that is only outside on a Saturday, where they have many great crafts and only let so many talented crafters in for the show.  They also have many food vendors.  They asked me last year if I would make pizza there.  Years ago, when we had a concession trailer we had our caramel popcorn there.  I knew I couldn’t take my oven outside for this event, because it was too heavy.  I thought about it for awhile and since I am getting old and remember all the time it took to get ready for something like that, I thought I would give it one shot.  Well, I had two people working outside and took the heavy warmer, humidified unit outside and all the other stuff that would be needed.  Had to set-up on the macadam parking lot at around 6:00 a.m and it was a long day.  I really don’t know if people didn’t think we were making the pies fresh, (because I was making them inside the market and someone was taking the pies outside to sell), but it wasn’t worth all the trouble in terms of money or time.  The food vendors right next to me, were making a killing. The market asked me to come again this year and I said no  Another standholder just asked me to make pizza at a charity event, which he said will have over 10,000 people there.  I think this stuff is still in my blood for some reason (we used to sell caramel popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy and fresh lemonades at fairs and festivals in the concession trailer besides the markets), but I quickly squashed the temptation to even think about trying something like this.    If I was younger, I probably would have attempted it.  It would have been easier with a BBQ grill oven set-up.

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

Norma, it sounds like you baked the pie with the burners off correct?  You were baking on residual heat from the stones.  If you are happy doing the grill/oven broil technique then I would keep doing so for awhile until your desire to experiment overcomes your level of satisfaction. 

But to complete the grill bake using 1 oven and do it in style as Tampa, flyboy4ual, jgame, 2stone and others you should look into mounting a rotisserie in the rear. For the $40 or so, it is a worthwhile endeavor and investment to me.  Especially since you've already hand cut the firebricks.  In working with the Primo, home oven, and now the MBE my single biggest obstacle is to get a higher heat to the top of the pie.  That is extremely difficult to use 1 heat source and redirect the heat in such a way as to achieve an even bake.   With the addition of a rotisserie or a side heat source, that challenge can be mitigated.  Tampa and others have really done a fantastic job of figuring that out. 

As for taking your oven to the Market, at least you tried.  I've always had respect for ppl who try the seemingly impossible.  It's ok to say I've tried it and failed, but at least I stepped up to the challenge. 

[Trinity]

That looks fantastic!!!

[norma427]

Norma, it sounds like you baked the pie with the burners off correct?  You were baking on residual heat from the stones.  If you are happy doing the grill/oven broil technique then I would keep doing so for awhile until your desire to experiment overcomes your level of satisfaction. 

But to complete the grill bake using 1 oven and do it in style as Tampa, flyboy4ual, jgame, 2stone and others you should look into mounting a rotisserie in the rear. For the $40 or so, it is a worthwhile endeavor and investment to me.  Especially since you've already hand cut the firebricks.  In working with the Primo, home oven, and now the MBE my single biggest obstacle is to get a higher heat to the top of the pie.  That is extremely difficult to use 1 heat source and redirect the heat in such a way as to achieve an even bake.   With the addition of a rotisserie or a side heat source, that challenge can be mitigated.  Tampa and others have really done a fantastic job of figuring that out. 

As for taking your oven to the Market, at least you tried.  I've always had respect for ppl who try the seemingly impossible.  It's ok to say I've tried it and failed, but at least I stepped up to the challenge. 

Tranman,

Yes, I did bake the pie with the heat off.  I knew the firebricks can hold the heat for awhile, after testing them.  I probably will try this method again, to see if I can get the same results.  I usually stay on one course, until I think there could be a better way, or if something doesn’t work.

I agree Tampa, fly4ual, jgame, 2stone and others have made speculator pies with mounting a rotisserie in the rear.  I think their ideas are great.    I might have to try that out at some point.  I am different in many ways.  I first always try to use what I have at home.  Then if that doesn’t work out, I will pursue possibly, purchasing used or new items for experiments.

I wish you the best of luck with your MBE.  I have watched all that you have gone though.  I don’t think I would have been able to go though all those experiments, without getting frustrated.  I admire your determination in all you try.   

If I were younger, I would pursue making pizza at different events.  They are usually in hot weather, outside and you can never predict how the weather might be.  To get ready for all of that, takes a lot of time and commitment.  I have already been though all of that.  Steve (Ev) and I just talked to a woman at market the other week and she goes to events selling her pizzas on a BBQ grill.  She was interesting to talk to. 

Norma

[norma427]

That looks fantastic!!!

Trinity,

Thanks for your compliment! 

Norma

[sear]

Looks great , was their any sugar or oil in that dough ?

[norma427]

Looks great , was their any sugar or oil in that dough ?

sear,

Thanks for saying the pizza looks great.  This was the formula for the dough. The pie I made was from frozen dough and the dough ball was smaller than for a 16" pizza.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9908.msg90226.html#msg90226

Norma

[norma427]

Well...A change from making pizza on the BBQ grill set-up tonight.  NY strip steaks..boy of boy were they yummy..a nice change..by the “Light of the Silvery Moon”..steaks on the BBQ grill grates.  At least the firebricks are easy to remove.  Possibly in the next week I am going to try another set-up with the firebricks to see what happens. 

Norma