Propane fired pizza rotisserie, 10 stones on the cheap

[Jet_deck]

My home made pizzas have always been terrible.  I did two things to fix that.  One, I bought a gram scale so that I could reproduce all these fine recipes.  Two, I built a propane fired oven with something that I already had... I have this 2 burner gas cooking cart from Academy.(Item#: 14006555,Style#: OGDBC-01,SKU: 0267-40037-0001) The first test was a great tease.  The bottom crust looked very promising, but the top was not done (doughy, toppings were barely warm, just terrible) The video below shows the early version of the 10 Stone, the 6 Stone.  I found a burner tube from a gas range, and used it to heat the top stone (a broken fireplace surround).  The stone on the rotisserie is a Primo pizza stone. The burner setup is exactly like it comes, except I removed the screw in venturi from the right hand side burner and pointed it up into the gas range burner. The cooking cart already had seperate L and R controls. This setup could be easily adapted to a single burner that some of you may have also. With my trusty Harbor Freight IR Thermo, I have done some quality cooks.  The kids enjoy building their own, I enjoy cooking outside and Mama Bear likes the Chicken/ Artichoke Heart/ Black Olive pizza.  I have $56 into this build, and I would like to help others build their own.  Glad to be able to contribute, I will need your help soon on another project.

(http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/jet_deck/th_VID00011.jpg)

(http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/4663/pizza2001.th.jpg)

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(http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/3331/pizza2005.jpg)

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(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2874/pizzaoven002.jpg)

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[Jackie Tran]

Welcome Jet_deck.  That is a very cool looking pizza oven.  I love the idea! 

The pizza just looks ok to me.  I think you could tweak the oven a bit and turn out some really nice looking pies. 

I have a Primo oven as well and I like those stones as they can take a ton of heat.  I bet the makers of Primo had no idea their stones would be a part of such a contraption. 

Anyways, welcome and I hope you post up some more pictures.   

[scott123]

Jet_deck, I'm really liking the recycled inexpensive DIY approach.

The fireplace surround... do you have something underneath that?  It looks a little fragile. If a piece broke off and fell on the pizza (and you didn't notice it), that would be bad.

Have you played around with dropping the ceiling a bit?  It's a little harder to work with, but you should get better top color on your crust.

[Jet_deck]

The pizza just looks ok to me. 

JT, I appreciate the honesty on your original post.  I agree 100%, they were less than desireable.  At that time I was using the Mario Batalli 'white wine pizza dough'.  It was easy to make, and I though it would be a good one.  Well, maybe good for some, but not good enough for me.  I then switched to the FB 'Perfect Dough by weight' recipe, substituting KA Bread flour for the 00 stuff I don't have and can't find.

500 grams Caputo Tipo 00 pizza flour
325 grams water (65% hydration)
10 grams salt
3 grams active dry yeast

The family voted, it was the best so far, so it is the dough for us at this point.

(http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/jet_deck/th_10Stone005.jpg)


(http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd178/jet_deck/th_10Stone006.jpg)

The fireplace surround... do you have something underneath that?  It looks a little fragile. If a piece broke off and fell on the pizza (and you didn't notice it), that would be bad.

I agree that it that it looks pretty rough, but it is very solid.

[Jackie Tran]

JB I'm glad you didn't take it personally. I hope I wasn't rude about it.  If you are interested in improving your game this is the right place to be. But even ok looking pizza can really taste great. I'm really glad you posted your pizza oven. Great ingenuity!

JT

[Jet_deck]

My little rotisserie motor of 8 years died last night.
Poor little pastic gears just couldnt take it anymore.  Thankfully it was after the last pizza when it bit the dust.

[Jet_deck]

I managed to cook a couple of good pizzas on the 10stone, and wanted to share them.  Toppings were Jimmy Dean Sausage, garlic stuffed green olives, muenster cheese and fresh cracked malabar pepper.  The 10stone will be out of pizza service for a while, as I am going to hook up the kettle korn pot.

[Jet_deck]

I have been toying with the 10stone a bit over the last few days.  I decided that it seemed that JT has more top heat, and gets more oven spring than I do.  My oven should be able to produce more top heat since I have the extra burner.  I don't think that the fireplace surround that I have on the top does a very good job of heat retention.  Its like it just reflects the heat and provides no inherent thermal mass.  First I used one of JT's tricks by taking the metal peel and holding it up to the front of the oven.  It really makes the pizza's puff up quickly and nice little spots begin to appear on the crust.  So I cut a piece of 14 guage steel and made a temp. door to hold some more of the heat in up top.  I guess I held in too much heat as the oven scorched a caputo crust in 1 minute    I need to try again tonight...

[buceriasdon]

I have this thread in my favorites as I have a plan to mount a overhead burner as well as a burner below the baking tile in a grill. Just have to find the time to do it.
Don

[Jet_deck]

Last nights caputo pizza with poolish.  My first sub 2 minute pie!
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/8136/nov10stone001.mp4

[scott r]

I have the biggest smile on EVER right now.   Just the sound alone had me laughing so hard.   

[Jet_deck]

This one finished at 2:30 or so and was better than the other.  The other one was charred on the bottom a bit to much, this one wasn't.  In fact, at the end, that is actually steam coming off of the pizza.  Just like the pros.  The video will take some time to load, because of the size.  You might want to let it load, then play it again a second time through.

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/1063/3f1.mp4

[shuboyje]

This is just one guys opinion, but I would try a higher hearth temperature.  From what I could see it looked like you were running the hearth around 600F.  Compared to a WFO the oven looked out of balance to me.  The top was bubbling liquid long before the bottom was done.  I'd bet with the hearth closer to 800F the top and bottom would be ready about the same time.

[Jet_deck]

  ...The top was bubbling liquid long before the bottom was done.  I'd bet with the hearth closer to 800F the top and bottom would be ready about the same time...

I would agree but in the first video, I scorched the bottom of an all caputo flour dough, no sugar added in less than two minutes.

[Jet_deck]

This was my best yet.   

[Jeep Pizza]

What changes if any did you make to get these results?

[Jet_deck]

What changes if any did you make to get these results?

A minimum 2 day cold ferment, using a small amount of yeast and good top heat.  Both came out at 90 (seconds).  I'm not worried about the cheese, it is Polly O that is past its prime.  No big deal to fix that.

[Tampa]

Very nice.  I really like the photo of the upper burner and red-hot brick.  It seems like this is a good way to reliably adjust the upper heat (assuming the top burner has a dedicated control valve).  I assume you are finding, as I did, that having a rotisserie fixes all the problems with uneven heating.  No need to fiddle with the pie, just let it spin until you are ready to eat.

Good for you.

Dave

[Jet_deck]

I assume you are finding, as I did, that having a rotisserie fixes all the problems with uneven heating.  No need to fiddle with the pie, just let it spin until you are ready to eat.

Thanks Dave, you paved the way for me to arrive so quickly, no doubt.  Yes, I can't even imagine thinking about having to turn the pie on the stone while cooking.  I can barely get done what I do, let alone another step.

[TXCraig1]

Great looking pies, Jet.

Craig