Author Topic: 2nd time pies with my DIY WFO (Read 3597 times)

jon7821 · « **on:** July 08, 2012, 09:42:41 AM »

Today I am going for my 2nd bake on my converted WFO. I have a char-griller smokin pro charcoal grill that I converted by making a removable insert brick pizza deck. Pretty simple, just an angle iron frame with some wire mesh and cross braces to support the deck, and a small basket on the side to hold the fire. I also put an enitre chimney of charcoal underneath the deck to keep the bricks hot. On my first run ( my neighbor coached me on that one, tonight I am solo for first time) the deck held pretty steady at 600 to 650 and the dome went well over eight hundred.

On that first run, pies cooked in about 3:30 to 4:00. Cooked really(surprisingly) even, and tasted great. Here's the rundown for tonight:

Dough
- 50/50 caputo and KABF
- 63% hydration
- .5% ADY
- .5% salt
- 48 hour cold ferment

Sauce
Classico crushed, fresh pack tomatoes, garlic powder, Italian seasoning

Pies
BBQ chicken (BBQ sauce, grilled chicken, bacon, red onion, cheddar)
Margherita
Classic pepperoni
Sausage, green pepper and ricotta

Below are some pics of the dough and my oven creation.

Jet_deck · « **Reply #1 on:** July 08, 2012, 11:01:36 AM »

If the pizza was grand as the smile, then you've got a winner.

Ev · « **Reply #2 on:** July 08, 2012, 11:22:20 AM »

I see an oven, but no pizza.

jon7821 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 08, 2012, 01:21:45 PM »

Sorry, pies are coming later today. Round sixpm mountain time.

Ev · « **Reply #4 on:** July 08, 2012, 03:39:32 PM »

Oh ok. So, around 8 pm est then?

Sorry. I didn't mean to seem pushy.

jon7821 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2012, 05:20:40 PM »

No Worrries Ev. I got a bit excited today and got ahead of myself and posted in stages. I am prepping now, should have pics-o-pies before long....

jon7821 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 08, 2012, 10:45:25 PM »

Here are the pics of our four pies tonight. Had a rough launch on the first pie, but that's okay. My daughters said it tasted "just fine daddy". Got the launch straightened out from then. all in all very good results, but now we are on to some modifications of the oven to try an get a better char on the crust and a slightly higher initial bake temp to get better oven spring. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

jon7821 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 08, 2012, 10:48:28 PM »

Here are the last of our pics. A few of the leoparding, etc.

. I would welcome any thoughts on a how to match the dough to the cook time, as i was about 6 minutes tonight (sort of cool and humid in denver tonight). Thanks for the thoughts, looking forward to the next bake!

Ev · « **Reply #8 on:** July 09, 2012, 12:02:48 AM »

Your pizzas look pretty tasty to me! I don't really have any suggestions for you. Perhaps someone with pizza grilling expertise will chime in.
Are you using gas under the bricks?

parallei · « **Reply #9 on:** July 09, 2012, 12:13:29 AM »

Good to see another Denver pizza maker here. Welcome. Tasty looking pies, and it looks like you have an appreciative audience!

jon7821 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 09, 2012, 08:18:53 AM »

Ev, I am using about a pound and a half of charcoal under the bricks. Seems to be working pretty well.

scott123 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 10, 2012, 09:47:43 AM »

Jon, for this particular oven setup, I don't think you're ever going to hit Neapolitan bake times. That being the case, I think you should embrace NY style wholeheartedly. Start off by losing the Caputo and the fresh mozzarella and going with a brick mozzarella that you grate yourself. 650 isn't bad for a hearth temp, but you might want to push it a little higher, if possible.

One of the big downsides to firebrick is that it sucks up a load of heat and takes a very long time to pre-heat. The more mass you have, the worse it gets. For a system with this much energy going into it, you shouldn't be using full size firebricks, but firebrick splits. Even splits will most likely take at least 90 minutes to pre-heat. Charcoal underneath helps, but you have to remember that, with full size bricks, the heat from the charcoal underneath is traveling a really long way, over a long period of time, due to the insulating properites/lack of conductivity of the firebrick.

Getting good undercrust browning in the right amount of time (4ish minutes) is the easy part. To achieve good top browning, you either need a lot hotter ceiling (1000ish), a lower ceiling and/or a ceiling with more thermal mass. Does the kind of grill have the capability to pump vast quantities of heat into the dome during the bake?

Do you keep the top closed during the bake? You might be able to aid top browning a tiny bit by covering the lid with some heat proof insulation, but, generally speaking, thin steel domes of that height are a recipe for failure. A stone ceiling would go a long way in aiding top browning, but the ceiling has to be bigger than the hearth so that it collects the heat coming up from below. Without a second stone, you're going to need a massive amount of heat coming from the side. Does this grill have any kind of forced air option?

Btw, raw flour is very bitter. Generally speaking, you should use one peel for launching and one for retrieving, but, if you only have one peel, clean it carefully after launching so you don't get flour on the finished pie.

jon7821 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 10, 2012, 10:11:04 AM »

Scott,

Thank you very much for your thoughts. I am definitely thinking along your same lines. My hearth is currently made of the splits, so it's about as thin as it can get for now. My next thoughts are to ditch my little fire basket section, fill that with Fire bricks, then make a LOT bigger fire in teh center of the hearth, and then push it to the side for baking. I am also "engineering" a way to drop the dome about 40%. Not 100% sure how to do so right now, but necessity is the mother of invention.

I also agree that while I certainly hopeful to get neopalitan style, i just don't think my heats are going to quite get there. No worries, pizza is great in all it's different forms, right?!

Again, I really appreciate your feedback. Look for me posting again, maybe over on the NY Style thread!

jon7821 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 10, 2012, 10:57:03 AM »

Scott,

I forgot to mention, there's no forced air mechanism on my unit. Just normal drafting. I am going to figure out how to get the dome lowered this week and give this another try on Sunday.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #14 on:** July 10, 2012, 11:19:53 AM »

Quote from: jon7821 on July 10, 2012, 10:57:03 AM

Scott,

I forgot to mention, there's no forced air mechanism on my unit. Just normal drafting. I am going to figure out how to get the dome lowered this week and give this another try on Sunday.

Hi Jon- nice pics, happy family!
   If you are looking for ideas:
  1st, split your FB hearth, leaving 2 open areas on the sides. Use a easily movable blocking brick or metal box to close off the right side when you heat up, so that the firebox heat can travel the length of your bottom hearth underside until it is heated to temp. When the hearth is heated up, move the block to the other end.
   Mount some angle-iron brackets in the lid that can hold a large rectangular stone about 2-3" above the level of your hearth. Use wingnuts on top of the stone so it will stay in place when you lift the lid. Position it so that it is all the way to the right over your heat inlet / fire area. Leave a gap where the chimney is, on the left side. This will create a direct path from the firebox to the chimney, right through the cooking area.
  Depending on how hot a fire is in the firebox, you could possibly hit NP temps.

Good luck!
Brian

jon7821 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 10, 2012, 11:34:11 AM »

Brian,

Awesome idea. That is just the kind of mod I was thinking of. Any good ideas on where to get a good stone that would take the heat?

scott123 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 10, 2012, 11:43:22 AM »

Firebrick would take the heat, but it would also take ALL the heat. If you're willing to wait a few hours for the oven to pre-heat and have access to plenty of fuel, firebrick (supported by angle iron) would work. Steel would probably work well, as long as it was thick enough- maybe 1/4". Cordierite would also do the trick.

If you could lower the ceiling to within 3" of the hearth and heat it to 900, with a hearth temp of 800, you can do Neapolitan. Without forced air, though, I don't think you'll be able to do either, though.

Still, a lower ceiling with some thermal mass will go a long way for your NY bakes.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #17 on:** July 10, 2012, 11:52:05 AM »

Jon,
Try this place to source cordierite stones. http://www.axner.com/cordierite-kiln-shelves.aspx

As far as forced-air, if you have a little bit of electrical skill, you can easily add on a rheostat-controlled electric leaf blower to your firebox. Mount it at a distance using a stainless duct so it doesn't melt

I think I've seen kits for sale as well.

scott123 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 10, 2012, 11:54:35 AM »

An electric leaf blower, Brian? I was thinking about something along the lines of a hair dryer or, for a little more umph, an airbed pump.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #19 on:** July 10, 2012, 11:58:58 AM »

Overkill FTW!!!!!

LOL!

But it would be controllable using the rheostat... And if you wanted to smelt some metal or fire some pottery, you could crank that puppy up!

ok, ok... doesn't have to be that strong (mumbles)

Author Topic: 2nd time pies with my DIY WFO (Read 3597 times)

parallei