Greetings from Colorado

[brewncue]

Hi everyone, I'm Bob from Boulder, CO.  You've probably seen the news that there are a few fires going on out here.  It's hot enough outside to be living in a wood fired pizza oven.  I don't have one of those, but I do love making pizza.  When I found this forum, I got lost for hours.  You folks rock! 

Boulder was recently hit by a blitz of boutique wood fired pizzarias, including one, Pizzaria Locale, associated with Fransca's, the local fine dining phenom that has made it big.  They import everything from Italy - flour, oil, and other ingredients - and also imported the wood fired oven (I don't know if the wood is imported).  Pizzaria de Lupo and Pizzaria Basta all opened about the same time.  Their pies a good, but I want to do better in my own kitchen...with your help.

Looking forward to learning from you!

[buceriasdon]

Welcome Bob, In all honesty only with a highly modified kitchen oven can one match a WFO.
Don

[scott123]

Don, I'm not sure that I agree entirely with your assessment. From tracking home oven owners seeking WFO results, I believe it breaks down into three categories.

1. Potential WFO results in home ovens with extreme modifications (and pretty serious DIY skills): 10% of the population
2. Potential WFO results in home ovens without modifications (abnormally powerful broilers): 1% of the population
3. Home ovens that can't produce WFO results no matter what: 89%

Even though I believe that 10% of home oven owners have the potential to achieve WFO results with extreme mods, very few of these people have the DIY skills or the willingness to put their oven at risk, so even though the potential is there, it's a viable approach for very very few- perhaps .5%.

Summing up, when it comes to home ovens being able to produce WFO results, you've got the 1 in 100 lucky people with freakishly powerful broilers and the 1 in 200 people that are crazy enough to push their ovens to their limits. Everyone else- SOL.

I'm not really disagreeing with your sentiment that Bob's chances of matching a WFO aren't that good, just that high modifications are no guarantee either.

Edit: when I talk about 'WFO results,' I'm using it as a synonym for 'Neapolitan results.'  For NY-in-a-WFO results in a home oven, then you're talking about a large chunk of the population- anyone with an oven that goes to 550 and with a broiler in the main compartment.

[scott123]

Bob, welcome to the forum.

Lupo is one of palest Neapolitan pizzas I've ever seen, while Locale and Basta are firmly in the Neapolitan spectrum.  If you're trying to recreate something like this, then, as I said to Don, your chances aren't very good. If this is the route you wish to take, then you'll want to take a hard look at your broiler- find out the BTUs or the Watts, take a photo and post all the information here.  If you're one of those lucky 1 in 100, then you'll have a clear path towards a Neapolitan result.

If, on the other hand, the NY listed in your profile is closer to what you prefer, then it gets a bit easier. If that's the case, tell us about your oven- peak temp, gas or electric, if gas, is there a broiler in the main compartment?

Before you do anything, these are questions that you'll want to answer, because the answers dictate the style that you're able to produce.  Each style has a different approach, ingredients, etc.