Author Topic: Pizza Ruby, A Little Black Egg & Pizzas (Read 15786 times)

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #60 on:** September 19, 2011, 10:31:08 AM »

Quote from: dellavecchia on September 18, 2011, 04:08:09 PM

(Dahhhhn - da da - Dahhhhhhhn. Da - dahhhh - dahhhhhhh.)

John

PS. A gold star if you get the ridiculous reference.

The A-Team.

CL

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #61 on:** September 19, 2011, 10:34:49 AM »

Good looking maranara there Kelly. Very nice.

CL

Mmmph · « **Reply #62 on:** September 19, 2011, 11:34:52 AM »

Yeah, baybee! Looking good. Keep'em coming.

I questioned the regulator, but it was the tank. Whodathunkit?

Jet_deck · « **Reply #63 on:** September 19, 2011, 01:51:39 PM »

Good to see that top heat is now available.

pizzablogger · « **Reply #64 on:** September 19, 2011, 03:26:29 PM »

Thanks everybody....I really appreciate it.

I've cut the new airflow director to hopefully get some more heat directed onto that transition area from top of the body to where the rise to the rim/cornicione begins....and hopefully knock some time off as well. We'll see.

I'm also going to do my first trial run with my Square pizza in the LBE...maybe this weekend.

Now that I'm much closer with the top heat, I can go back to my usual dough management and the toppings that I normally use. Thanks for the encouragement! --K

I may very well look to do a once or twice a week pizza pop up at various locations in Baltimore if I can get this dialed in better. Would love to have one LBE for regular whole pies and another to cook Squares and sell those by the slice/square. We'll see.

pizzablogger · « **Reply #65 on:** October 03, 2011, 01:22:32 PM »

Been very busy, but did get a chance to do some more test pizzas. Focusing now on where exactly is the best place to put the stone, where on the stone is the optimal launch point for a pie and how long to wait before rotating the pie for the first time and about how long between rotations from that point.

At this point a launch temp of 640° to 650° (F) seems to be working for 3:00 to 3:30 bakes with the top being done at the same time as the bottom, with the first turn coming around 1:15 or so after launch and rotations about every 30-35 seconds afterwards or so.

Because of the longer bake time (I still haven't installed a test airflow director to shorten bake time and get the inner rim/lip more brown), I used a mix of 80% MC00 and 20% KABF. Interesting that at even just 20% KABF cut in to the formula, there is a noticeable drop in extensibility as compared to my usual Caputo pies. Granted, I did not attempt to find the optimal mixing and fermentation regimen for this dough mix as I only had a set window of time to get the dough made, so I kind of guessed. Total of 23 hours (shorter than my norm) all at ambient per usual, 14 bulk and 9 balled for this batch.

As you can see, the inner portion of my lip/rim is still very pale. The outer lip/rim is getting a better bake than previously and the buttocks are okay as well. Once I get more comfortable with the bake routine, I'll return to my usual ingredients and workflow.

These were not ideal, but much better than previous attempts with my LBE. I burnt the upper edge of the outer rim of the Red & White pie as you can tell. Back to the drawing board. --K

dellavecchia · « **Reply #66 on:** October 03, 2011, 01:29:07 PM »

That crumb is outstanding Kelly. Beautiful pizzas.

John

FacciaPizza · « **Reply #67 on:** October 03, 2011, 02:47:16 PM »

Love the bottom char and crumb

pizzablogger · « **Reply #68 on:** October 04, 2011, 06:19:53 PM »

Thanks John and Faccia.

I had too much Aglianico that evening and went to bed without putting the cover on the LBE. Of course, it poured down rain that night and the cast iron cajun cooker, the screws and a couple other places already have some rust on them!

Got the steel wool out and cleaned 'er up and am getting ready to drill in an experiemtal air-flow director to see if I can get that inner end-crust more cooked.

Back to it! --K

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #69 on:** October 04, 2011, 06:32:54 PM »

Looking good Kelly!

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #70 on:** October 04, 2011, 09:51:31 PM »

Class A pies there Kelly. Very easy on the eyes they are.

I've been using Rustoleum high heat spray paint to keep the rust under control on my smoker. They have 1200F and 2000F versions.

CL

spbrez · « **Reply #71 on:** October 21, 2011, 05:39:08 PM »

Those pies look great

pizzablogger · « **Reply #72 on:** November 01, 2011, 02:13:03 PM »

Thanks for the Rustoleum tip Craig. I picked some up. Once I get the "final" configuration of the LBE in place (is there ever a "final" version of anything pizza related?) I'll give 'er a nice coat of it.

I went to the Clay Supply store in town and picked up a 20" round x 3/4" thick untreated cordierite kiln shelf. It's pretty heavy and I added some thicker bolts to hold it as a cooking floor.

I see many people successfully utilizing 16" round pizza stones in their 18" LBE set-ups. This means there is only a 2" opening between the back of the stone (assuming the front of the stone is flush with the front of the LBE where the side vent is) and the back of the grill for air to come through.

So, I imagine my 20" kiln shelf (which would leave the same 2" gap at the back of the LBE) will not leave enough space for heat to come out of the back of the LBE and over the pizza. Since a 22" grill is 22.22% larger than an 18" model, my gap would need to be at least 22.22% larger than the 2" gap successfully utilized by some here in their 18" LBE set-ups. This would mean I would need to cut a small amount off the back of my kiln shelf to make the gap 2.44" (2 x 1.2222) between the back of the stone....if the stone as is does not work, I'll cut off 1/2" from the back to start.

Any idea on what the best way to cut a kiln shelf is? I plan to use a diamond tipped circular saw....any inherent dangers of using cut cordierite for cooking? Thanks as always. --K

pizzablogger · « **Reply #73 on:** November 19, 2011, 03:05:01 PM »

Haven't had a chance to get the new larger stone installed.

Fired up the LBE at a friend's house. Temps in mid 30s and learned that propane can freeze in the tank in colder weather when the tank is running for a long time. Had to resort to one person laying the tank on its side and rocking it with their foot to keep a more even flow of gas. Even still, I battled sputtering heat and some meaningful swings of heat when taking the lid off to rotate the pizzas.

Most pies took a full four minutes to cook, but given the cold weather and gas situation, it was nice to be able to make a decent product. Not nearly as good as I would have liked, but the pizzas did seem to disappear pretty quickly. 12 pizzas.

Friend had the wood-stove cranking and the dough was getting really warm and sticky, so we moved them outside where they quickly became quite cold and difficult to stretch....later pizzas ended up being between 10 and 11 inches as opposed to 12.

Gotta get the new stone cut and I have an idea for top heat that I'll post pictures of the LBE lid if it pans out.

A margherita, bianco-rosa and upskirt. The pictures speak for themselves with regards to uneven heat. Was tough to get an even bake!

dellavecchia · « **Reply #74 on:** November 20, 2011, 07:06:05 AM »

Kelly - Even with the obstacles you produced some great looking pies. I think the margherita looks near-perfect. But looks aside, the proof of success is how people ate them!

John

pizzablogger · « **Reply #75 on:** November 21, 2011, 09:28:07 AM »

Thanks John.

Those two pies are very representative of the range of variability in all of the pies that night.....and while I was often frustrated, everyone seemed to wolf down the pies.....at the end of the day that counts for something.

Definitely fun to cook that many pizzas.

pizzablogger · « **Reply #76 on:** December 04, 2011, 11:15:13 AM »

The carbon steel wok I have in my dome doesn't seem to be enough on its own, especially now that weather is getting colder.

This may be dumb, but I got a big bag of grill lava rocks, rinsed them well, air dried them and then packed as many as I could into the wok before affixing it back into the dome of my LBE. Hopefully this helps a little with the top heat issues.

To control one variable at a time, I'm gonna make some pizzas on Wednesday to see the impact, if any, of the lava rocks. After that I'll attach the air-foil/director I am constructing and see if I can get those cooking times down and a better overall top bake.

Probably should install a much thicker screw to hold the wok on as it is pretty heavy now. --K

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #77 on:** December 06, 2011, 02:30:47 PM »

If you beef up the screw, you could also fill in around the rocks with some play sand if you need a little more thermal mass.

CL

pizzablogger · « **Reply #78 on:** December 06, 2011, 04:36:25 PM »

Quote from: TXCraig1 on December 06, 2011, 02:30:47 PM

If you beef up the screw, you could also fill in around the rocks with some play sand if you need a little more thermal mass.

CL

That's a good idea Craig. Thanks.

Although the weight may be heavy enough at that point to just get a really big screw, set it in place and use the wok as a mold to construct a refractory cement-perlite mix mold that would take the place of the wok in the dome. Who knows (I obviously don't)

$:-\$

Back to work. --K

pizzablogger · « **Reply #79 on:** February 27, 2012, 07:50:28 AM »

What stinks about making pizza only about every 4-6 weeks is that I lose my rhythm a tad...my "touch". Akin to a drummer not being able to sit in the pocket as well as he could if he played more often.

This was a test bake of sorts. New 1" thick cordierite stone, lava rock filled wok in the roof, no additional air flow director. In the 22" grill size, I am now convinced it is impossible to get a dome mounted ash catcher, wok, pizza stone, etc hot enough to do really fast cook times in the LBE. In the dome, I've now fooled with the ash catcher, a cast iron skillet, a carbon steel wok and carbon steel wok with lava rocks and sand in it. Just not hot enough by itself and I wanted to prove if that was the case.

Next step is adding an air foil/directional attachment in addition with to the wok I already have in the dome. Chau's and Mmmph's LBE's have shown that by forcing air directly down onto the pizza, faster cooking times are possible. That's happening next bake.

Had some people over for pizza last night. It was 40°F outside by the time we cooked pizzas. Busy jamming out pizzas, I only got pictures of one pizza. My fussing to myself aside, they got eaten pretty quickly. All pizzas cooked between 3:05 and 3:25 and were getting a little tough on the outer shell. I think the air foil might dramatically drop cook times. We'll see in a few weeks at this rate.

Pics of a Bianco-Rosa from the pies last night (perhaps too many pistachios added a little too late in the bake....it was pitch black outside!). I didn't get pics, but the unquestionable hit with the people was the pizza most people questioned while making it, the Starita Limon: smoked mozzarella, sea salt, olive oil, freshly sliced lemons, basil and post-bake I added a little bit of Mike's Hot Honey to it. My first time adding MHH to this pizza and the sweet-spicy note it added helped make the flavors go off the chart.

I bet the air foil knocks a minute off of the cook times. I'll take 120 seconds at this point......would also allow me to cut down the percentage of malted flour I need to use in my formula with this application. It was fun to make pizza again...I miss not having as much time to make it.

BTW, the giant pizza dude in these photos says howdy to y'all. --K