Author Topic: Making a LBE or home made gas pizza oven (Read 7432 times)

barryvabeach · « **Reply #20 on:** August 17, 2011, 09:03:16 PM »

Adam, can't guarantee anything, but the corderite kiln shelf that I have, which is about 5/8 thick, IIRC, goes right on a Summitt Grill with no problems. If you use one of the cheap thin ones that might crack without some diffuser.

Martino1 · « **Reply #21 on:** August 25, 2011, 08:37:05 PM »

Hey Adam,
Nice construction ! I am eager to see the outcome.

My thoughts
- the movable burner is a great idea, because IMO once yo have the stone hot, you need the top heat.
- I wonder whether the heat gets a bit trapped and released to the back of the stone. It might be you will have to turn the pie to get an even browning
- here the front seems a bit load, could be difficult to launch the pie and later turn it.

I am looking forward to seeing the pie... Enjoy

Adam T · « **Reply #22 on:** September 08, 2011, 10:07:11 AM »

Thanks for the input all.

I found out yesterday the pizza stone I ordered 7 weeks ago, the one that should have been here last Friday at the latest, never was ordered by the distributor. She didn't realize I wanted to complete the order despite the fact that I called her, gave here my credit card info, and said, "yes, please order this for me now thank you."

I guess I'll try again today.

Adam T · « **Reply #23 on:** August 08, 2012, 10:01:32 AM »

Well it's been 11 months since I put in another order for a kiln shelf. I bought a 1" x 16" x 16" corderite kiln shelf. I needed to cut it down to 14" x 16" but I hated to cut it down without baking a couple of pizzas in my home oven on it... Then I was distracted by baking sourdough bread in the oven on the 16" x 16" stone.... Then I was distracted from the pizza oven by coaching Little League baseball this spring.

Last night I cut the stone down to the required dimensions and test fit it in the pizza oven assembly. Tonight hopefully I'll be able to make the final adjustments to the oven assembly, fill up the propane tank, and bake the stone again to slowly release any moisture the stone might have collected during the cutting process.

If I can find a dough recipe to start with maybe Saturday I can do my first test run.

buceriasdon · « **Reply #24 on:** August 08, 2012, 11:08:22 AM »

Welcome back Adam.
Don

Adam T · « **Reply #25 on:** August 09, 2012, 07:22:43 PM »

Thanks Don

Quote from: buceriasdon on August 08, 2012, 11:08:22 AM

Welcome back Adam.
Don

DenaliPete · « **Reply #26 on:** August 10, 2012, 09:24:06 AM »

Very eager to hear your results adam. Please keep us posted.

Tampa · « **Reply #27 on:** August 10, 2012, 11:04:14 AM »

Love the moveable burner idea. Great addition to the art - imo. I think you will have good results but agree with the early post that tweaking is to be expected for optimal performance. I'm looking forward to the results.

I'm traveling for a few weeks but will try to check back.

Dave

Adam T · « **Reply #28 on:** August 13, 2012, 06:11:09 PM »

I finished the oven far enough to do a test cook this past weekend. It took about 30 minutes to heat the top of the stone to about 725 degrees. I cooked 3 8" pizzas that were supposed to be 11" pizzas

The dough was definitely not what it should have been. The oven put out a lot of top heat when the burner was moved to the back. The pizzas weren't too difficult to launch and turn even with the low ceiling.

This was a very quickly put together first run and now I need a good recipe for this kind of heat. The quickest flour for me to run another test with is KABF so if anyone can recommend a recipe using KABF I would be grateful. It's been too long since I sorted out all the ins and outs of what I needed to do for a successful high temp pizza I really need to research it all again. Maybe it's time to get the frozen starter out and bring it to life again.

Here are some pics of the assembly for the first test run. I'll post some pics of the first pizzas when I get a chance but they aren't much to look at. More testing is required

Tampa · « **Reply #29 on:** August 13, 2012, 09:19:06 PM »

There are a lot of dough recipe's on the forum and many have shared recipes producing success w/ KABF. It would be helpful if you posted a top-side pie/slice picture as well as a bottom-side slice picture.

I don't have my notes handy but I'm pretty sure I've scorched 00 flour on a cordierite stone at 750F in a few minutes. Keep in mind that the cordierite conducts better than most firebrick. If you are going to throw a pie on at 725F (measured by an accurate IR thermometer), just pick it off inside the first minute and move it a bit. If you are still having a problem, put a screen under the pie to finish it off, then next time, throw the pie at a lower temperature.

That's one big, thick slab of cordierite. You must really be throwing the BTUs on it to get to 725F in 30 minutes. I'm assuming that you heat the stone then rotate the burner to blow up over the top of the pie and use the residual heat to cook the bottom. (True?)

I only use a 1/2" thick stone (x ~15" dia) and when heated to 700F ish, I can turn the underside burner off when the pie is thrown and cook equally well just with topside heat - so your 1" should be more than enough to cook a pie (or maybe 2).

One shouldn't assume that the rectangular stone, heated by a round underside burner, results in a uniform temperature across the surface. You might want to map several points on the stone and check the gradient. If you get something interesting, pls post.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this works out.

Dave

Adam T · « **Reply #30 on:** August 13, 2012, 10:51:55 PM »

It was all kind of hectic trying to shape and dress the pies and run the oven for the first time. I felt like it was a success just getting pies in the oven and getting them turned and then back out

just as a proof of concept. The first pie I left unturned for at least 30 or 40 seconds and with the heat coming up the back it charred the back of the pizza pretty good.

These pictures are of the 3rd pie that I kept rotating. If you can see a bright white line under the cheese that is uncooked dough. The dough was not extensible at all and the skins were way to think. What should have been 11" was 8" or 9".

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #31 on:** August 13, 2012, 11:11:15 PM »

Not a bad maiden voyage at all....remember The Titanic...
love the topping selection, Adam, you'll get 'er dialed in fast.....

Tampa · « **Reply #32 on:** August 14, 2012, 01:17:48 PM »

Good stuff. For the underside burn, either throw at a lower stone temp (700F), or move the pie after 20-30 seconds, or use a screen. I'd take the first option.

I'm not sure how long you cooked the pie. The topside could use a bit more heat. Since you have a blast furnace for a burner, I'd bet tempted to install a radius piece that directs the upward heat flow towards the edge of the crust. You'll need to rotate the pie regularly but deflector should create nice char points.

Dave

Adam T · « **Reply #33 on:** August 25, 2012, 09:51:27 AM »

I haven't tried a second test run yet, I'm preparing my starter for the dough recipe. In one container I have my starter culture that has been dormant in the fridge for 7+ months. In another container I have some dried and frozen starter I'm trying to reconstitute. It will take a couple more days for one of them to get up to speed. If they both liven up I'm not sure which one I should keep. Maybe it doesn't matter.

Jet_deck · « **Reply #34 on:** August 25, 2012, 12:19:03 PM »

You can do what you want, but I wouldn't put the starter in for this early testing. The dough (as you said) is the most likely culprit of any problems. Make some more pizzas, 750 is getting pretty high for KABF or KAAP when made not to specs. And I'm not saying that I could do it correctly either.

Your design will work. Like suggested, make lots more dough, launch at a lower temp until you get a better feel for it. Get some dollar store ketchup for a topping save the cheese and meat for when you like how they look.

$.02

Adam T · « **Reply #35 on:** August 25, 2012, 11:17:15 PM »

Thanks for the advice Jet. I really like the ketchup idea, I'll have to try that.

Do you say to skip the starter because it sounds like extra work and it's tough for a beginner to work with a starter or because it is a tough variable to nail down when testing a new oven and different temps? A no knead, starter, 24 hour room temperature rise is the last pizza I had been making before my short hiatus and what I feel the most comfortable with right now. The recipe works for it's ease of preparation and for fridge space. Of course I was baking at 550 degrees last time. I've had some success with a Kitchen Aid knead, ADY, 24 hour cold ferment pizza in the past but to be honest I've never gotten the feel for proper kneading procedures in the machine (or by hand for that matter.)

I know you and others have experience nailing down new ovens and higher temps so keep the advice coming I appreciate it!

Quote from: Jet_deck on August 25, 2012, 12:19:03 PM

You can do what you want, but I wouldn't put the starter in for this early testing. The dough (as you said) is the most likely culprit of any problems. Make some more pizzas, 750 is getting pretty high for KABF or KAAP when made not to specs. And I'm not saying that I could do it correctly either.

Your design will work. Like suggested, make lots more dough, launch at a lower temp until you get a better feel for it. Get some dollar store ketchup for a topping save the cheese and meat for when you like how they look.

$.02

Jet_deck · « **Reply #36 on:** August 26, 2012, 09:00:48 AM »

When testing, I am just saying don't change to many things each time. Dry yeast is pretty consistent. A SD starter, not always. I like the oven and think it should do well. If not ketchup, a video I saw somewhere had the people using large cooked pasta noodles. Keep us posted.

Adam T · « **Reply #37 on:** September 01, 2012, 01:45:09 PM »

Test run #2 complete. The results were much better this time. I made a couple of modifications and it seems I am making progress with the oven design and pizza baking technique. The pies that turned out the best were on the stone 2:00 minutes and baked on the stone that was about 600 to 650 degrees. I needed to turn at least every 30 seconds or the crust blackens pretty well on the back side of the pizza.

KABF
65% H2O
7% Starter
2.5% Salt
1% Olive Oil

Pics to follow.

Jet_deck · « **Reply #38 on:** September 01, 2012, 03:07:11 PM »

Thats great news!

Adam T · « **Reply #39 on:** September 01, 2012, 06:10:45 PM »

Here are the four 8" pizzas I made today.

The underside pics are in order of baking. I was playing with temps and playing with the throttle on the burner to see if I could find a happy medium. The stone temp varies quite a lot from spot to spot, I may need to work getting more even temps across the stone.

Pizza #1 ~ baked 80 seconds and the stone was about 700 degrees

Pizza #2 ~ 2 minutes and the stone was closer to 650

Pizza #3 ~ 2:20, and the temp dropped to between 550 and 600

Pizza #4 ~ 2:35, about 600 degrees

I may be a little off on the temperatures, those are averages and I didn't write them down.