Portable Outoor Wood Fired Pizza Oven with Propane

[Jackie Tran]

How much do these ovens cost with the stand and where can members get these ovens from?

For anyone interested, these ovens can be found at http://www.norcalovenworks.com/.

[Pete-zza]

Following up on a recent post in this thread, and in my capacity as a Moderator on this forum, I did a Google search on sacwoodpusher, and the results seem to suggest that he may be affiliated with norcalovenworks. We have had members before try to conceal their connections with vendors with whom they are affiliated in order to market and generate sales of their products to our members. That is usually a losing tactic, and one that does not go down well with our members once they discover the deception. If what I have found is incorrect in any way, then sacwoodpusher should feel free to clarify his position and set the record straight.

Peter

[Tscarborough]

And just to clarify, I am in the industry, but I would have to sell about 500 oven's worth of material to equal just one of my normal commercial projects.  I will be happy to help anyone and even give good pricing but the reality is that I am here 'cause I likes me some pizza!

[Mipizza1]

Following up on a recent post in this thread, and in my capacity as a Moderator on this forum, I did a Google search on sacwoodpusher, and the results seem to suggest that he may be affiliated with norcalovenworks. We have had members before try to conceal their connections with vendors with whom they are affiliated in order to market and generate sales of their products to our members. That is usually a losing tactic, and one that does not go down well with our members once they discover the deception. If what I have found is incorrect in any way, then sacwoodpusher should feel free to clarify his position and set the record straight.

Peter

According to his post on Texas BBQ Rub, it was designed by him from the ground up.   

[sacwoodpusher]

And nowhere on any blogs have I attempted to sell these ovens.

Now, this week I am building a tandoor and a barrel vault oven. Building ovens is addictive. Also, regarding heat distributon, I have been cooking in the oven several times per week.....and monitoring the temperature around the oven with the IR thermometer. Yes, I have been playing with various levels of firing, and yes, I have been playing around with Reinhart's pain la ancienne......I made a batch of dough last night, and will make some pizza and some bread today.

By the way, I have been learning to put the fire into the "corners" of the oven. I do not use the propane burner for anything but lighting the fire, because propane gets expensive. I have a source of free wood that I burn. The temperature gradients across the oven seem to depend a lot on firing......Now, if you don't have a perfect firing, I see no issue with doming a pizza for a few seconds.

The reason I started making ovens is that my son cannot even breath the vapor of boiling pasta of baking bread without having an asthma attack, so I have to mix dough outdoors, and bake outdoors. My main profession is running a computer training company....and Jet_Deck mentioned googleing my e-mail address, where he found my name on a list of approved vendors for computer training. So? What's the issue there? I did not create that webpage, in fact, I didn't even realize that that list existed on the web.

[buceriasdon]

Sir, Quite simply your intro story was a dishonest fabrication,at worst a lie, at best one big fib. If you were to tell me the sun rose in the east and set in the west, I'd go out and check for myself.

And nowhere on any blogs have I attempted to sell these ovens.

Now, this week I am building a tandoor and a barrel vault oven. Building ovens is addictive. Also, regarding heat distributon, I have been cooking in the oven several times per week.....and monitoring the temperature around the oven with the IR thermometer. Yes, I have been playing with various levels of firing, and yes, I have been playing around with Reinhart's pain la ancienne......I made a batch of dough last night, and will make some pizza and some bread today.

By the way, I have been learning to put the fire into the "corners" of the oven. I do not use the propane burner for anything but lighting the fire, because propane gets expensive. I have a source of free wood that I burn. The temperature gradients across the oven seem to depend a lot on firing......Now, if you don't have a perfect firing, I see no issue with doming a pizza for a few seconds.

The reason I started making ovens is that my son cannot even breath the vapor of boiling pasta of baking bread without having an asthma attack, so I have to mix dough outdoors, and bake outdoors. My main profession is running a computer training company....and Jet_Deck mentioned googleing my e-mail address, where he found my name on a list of approved vendors for computer training. So? What's the issue there? I did not create that webpage, in fact, I didn't even realize that that list existed on the web.

[Cass]

I will be happy to help anyone and even give good pricing but the reality is that I am here 'cause I likes me some pizza!

Props.........

[Ronzo]

Pizza cookies.

+ 1.

[4D55 Performance Inc.]

Hey I think your missing a very important fact about this oven. It uses propane. Propane is the worst fuel you can you to cook a pizza because the bi-product of propane is water. You are literally steaming your pizza and in my opinion water and pizza do not mix. In the BBQ community using propane is strictly taboo because it ruins the product. And like Hank Hill will proclaim, propane imparts a special flavor in the food through this steaming process and while it's faint, it's still a less desirable flavor than charcoal. Take it for what it's worth, but I would avoid propane at all costs.

[Jackie Tran]

Hey I think your missing a very important fact about this oven. It uses propane. Propane is the worst fuel you can you to cook a pizza because the bi-product of propane is water. You are literally steaming your pizza and in my opinion water and pizza do not mix. In the BBQ community using propane is strictly taboo because it ruins the product. And like Hank Hill will proclaim, propane imparts a special flavor in the food through this steaming process and while it's faint, it's still a less desirable flavor than charcoal. Take it for what it's worth, but I would avoid propane at all costs.

I make great pizza in my LP MBE oven.  You don't think that the steam would be evaporated by the intense heat or find it's way out of the openings in the oven? 

Chau

[buceriasdon]

Well gollygeewillikers , all this time I thought steam was generated during the baking process no matter what the source of heat.
Don

[Jet_deck]

Well gollygeewillikers , all this time I thought steam was generated during the baking process no matter what the source of heat.
Don

Not to mention the fact that professional (bread) baking ovens inject steam.?

I have yet to see any steam damage to my pizza's from the propane burning 10stone I built.

[4D55 Performance Inc.]

Not to mention the fact that professional (bread) baking ovens inject steam.?

I have yet to see any steam damage to my pizza's from the propane burning 10stone I built.

You are very right, some bread require steam to be injected at precise times during the cooking process. But pizza is not one of those breads. Pizza requires a very hot and dry heat. For comparison a propane oven is like a steam room, an electric or wood burning oven is like a sauna.

[buceriasdon]

Rubbish. An opinion put forward as fact.
Don

Pizza requires a very hot and dry heat. For comparison a propane oven is like a steam room, an electric or wood burning oven is like a sauna.

[sacwoodpusher]

I have been learning with this oven.......

1)I do NOT use the propane burner for anything more than lighting the fire.
2)I purchased 1 cord of 2 yr. old oak for $380 total including delivery...expensive I think, but I'm in California
3)I think I must have a 2 year supply of oak based on 3-4 chunks being all I used to make pizza for 20 girls and 5 adults and I had a good hour of fire left to cook on. (I made 9 pizzas which they killed....in self defense, one of them was anchovy, which they allowed me to eat all by myself without complaint.)
4)I have heard lots about the propane burner. OK...OK....
5)I have heard lots about the shape of the oven.....but then I stick 3-4 chunks of wood on the burner side, light it, and then let it all catch....I have flame going 1/3 to 1/2 way across the flat dome. I have a 650-750 floor without pushing the wood over that area. The far corner of the oven is not as hot, based on the fact that the firebricks in the back corner farthest from the fire are the last to "clean". I usually cook 1 pizza at a time and it will be a while before I can make pizzas fast enough to keep 2 pizzas in a wood fired oven alone. I'm not fast enough yet.
6)Since I switched to seasoned oak, which I dry further by keeping about 1/8 cord on the porch underneath my tabletop, I do not have to dome my pizzas. I hate to admit it, but I was using scraps of clean doug fir left over from my carpentry projects....It burned hot, and short....but I did not taste any odd flavors.
7)I found that I had to reexamine my pizza making. It was easy to make pizzas in a 550 degree convection oven with a pizza stone, I did it for years. I had to relearn a lot of things when switching to a WFO, and I am still not done learning.

See the 85% hydration video from the thread in off topic foods when I made Chau-batta and pizza because I was imprecise on a thread and Jackie Tran wanted me to remove the uncertainty.

I think most of the pizzas made in the US are made using Natural Gas fired ovens or electric ovens.....Am I wrong? Not all pizzas made in non-wood burning ovens suck. I had a really good one on Sunday Night at One Speed in Sacramento. I went to observe their technique.....Same with the visit to Mazullo in Sacramento.

[4D55 Performance Inc.]

I am still not done learning.

Exactly, the learning process never ends. It's sounds like you have it figured out by using wood, but you may want to try Mesquite lump charcoal, its an amazing fuel source. It burns really clean when compared to wood and has less of a bitter taste when compared to oak. I know it's not realistic to get rid of all your oak, but I would remove the bark before cooking with it. The bark is the most bitter part of the wood. I would also recommend burning it to hot coals before introducing it to your oven. BTW, I think that's a pretty cool little oven.  I have been doing competition BBQ for a decade now and Fuel Source is everything and often it's the difference between winning and losing. Fuel source a great way to impart flavor for better or worse.

I am in the fortunate position that i do all the cooking in our home. My wife went to culinary school and I can cook circles around her. I think there is a lot to be learned about cooking pizza, but  unlike many members on this forum, I strive to be more than just a pizza chef. Every year I set a  new years resolution to develop my cooking expertise in a certain cuisine. In the past decade I have focused on BBQ/smoking, Dutch Oven, Breads, English cuisine, Tuscan cuisine, New England Cuisine, African Cuisine and of course Pizza. This year I have a resolution to learn authentic Oaxoca Cuisine. I pay a Mexican immigrant lady I know to give me lessons once a week.  We've started off with the easy stuff like tortilla's and pickled carrots, but soon we will be getting into the more complex stuff like Moles and barbacoa.

There is a lot to learn about cooking. Humidity and fuel source will greatly effect everything you cook. To say they don't is a sign of a less experienced cook.

[sacwoodpusher]

I generally try to use local ingredients. Oak is local to me. Someone has said that almond wood is good, but I have to use something affordable.

Sacramento has awesome vegetables, especially at the Asian grocery stores.

[sacwoodpusher]

Hey I think your missing a very important fact about this oven. It uses propane. Propane is the worst fuel you can you to cook a pizza because the bi-product of propane is water. You are literally steaming your pizza and in my opinion water and pizza do not mix. In the BBQ community using propane is strictly taboo because it ruins the product. And like Hank Hill will proclaim, propane imparts a special flavor in the food through this steaming process and while it's faint, it's still a less desirable flavor than charcoal. Take it for what it's worth, but I would avoid propane at all costs.

When you look at flames coming off of a log, you are seeing gaseous hydrocarbons burning. A major byproduct of this combustion is water. Yep, dihydrogen monoxide. There is no getting away from water in combustion. I would not call this water a contributor to "steaming", between 600 and 800 degrees, we are so far away from the saturation point, ie we are well into a region called super heated, that this does not contribute to moisture in food. You can actually ignite a broom handle with a high pressure steam leak from a high pressure line in a power plant....do not do this, it is foolhardy...but can be done.

[dellavecchia]

There is a lot to learn about cooking. Humidity and fuel source will greatly effect everything you cook. To say they don't is a sign of a less experienced cook.

How do you account for the millions of gas ovens out there (mine included) that somehow cook food really well - including pizza - every day?

John