Convection - yes or no?

[pythonic]

I have a brandnew kitchen aid oven myself and I can frequently do 5:15 pies with the stone all the way at the bottom.  I preheat the stone with convection for only 30 minutes then switch it off.  I've also done the convection midbake but it takes a minute for the fan to come on.

Nate

[Skee]

Last night I re-positioned the racks and stacked the stones, then used convection-bake set at max temp of 550F.  After an hour I started taking readings and watched it slowly rise from 575F in the center of the stone to just over 600F at about the 75 minute mark and then stay there for another 15 minutes.  I needed to shut it down and go to bed at that point, but it seemed stable.  Looking forward to doing a trial run on Sunday!

[scott123]

Britt, first of all, just to confirm, you've got the flat sides of the stones together, not the grooved sides, right?

While a reading for 600 is highly encouraging, I think it's important to bear in mind that pizza bakes with stored heat, so in order to get the best possible results, the stone needs to be 600 all the way through, inside and out.  When you have two stones stacked, it's going to take at least 90 minutes for the heat to travel to the center of the mass.

Have you had the single stone in this lower rack position before, and have you given it 90 minutes?  If not, then I think it might be worth trying unstacked.

600 gives you more flexibility when it comes to stone shopping. As I said before, there's a good chance a high alumina kiln shelf might give you a 4 minute bake and you don't have to mess with the weight of steel.

Bake a pizza on this stacked setup with a... 100 minute convection preheat and then try a single stone with 90. Also, it won't be easy, but try, if possible to lift the fully pre-heated top stone and get a reading of the center area between the two stones. This should all be very useful data.

[Skee]

Yes, stones are stacked flat sides together (the top stone has no ridges).  I was thinking the same thing about using just the one stone - didn't realize that the convection would cause the burner to cycle more often which ought to help it recover the heat faster and brown the top at the same time.  When I tried the stone on the bottom shelf without the convection, when I first got the oven, I couldn't get it to brown correctly unless I moved it to the top stone under the broiler which isn't always kind to the cheese.

I'll take some readings with both stones and check the core temp as well as the temp recovery time before cooking a pizza, then pull one stone out, recover the heat, and cook a second, see if there's any difference.  I would prefer to have the second stone on the top rack for finishing one pizza while another goes in the bottom.

[Skee]

Had a couple of people drop by on Sunday, so in the interest of time I skipped the experiment with the two stacked stones and just set it up with one on the bottom and one at the top.  With convection running, measured temps as high as 630F on the bottom stone after ~50 minutes, so obviously the stacked stones take much longer to fully heat (and aren’t worth the effort).  Made three 12” with times ranging from 3:30 (cheese) to 4:30 (spinach and olive) – the crust again did not rise as much as normal but it was very light and crispy.  Only got one good picture.  Next time I’ll try turning off the convection for cooking and then flipping it back on to re-heat the stone.

[scott123]

Congratulations, Britt, you are one of an extremely small group of people lucky enough to have an oven that runs hot enough for 4 minute bakes on a regular baking stone.  630 is definitely not something you see much in an unmodified oven and, at the temp, you don't need steel plate.

Did the company cramp your style? You had a little more bowling (thin towards the center) than on your previous pies.

Now that you've got your oven setup in order, I think your ready for better flour. Where abouts are you located?

[Skee]

I think it's just how I'm holding the pizza flat in my hand rather than with the index finger pushing down to make a "V" and hold the point up but yeah, having hungry people standing around in the kitchen can throw off the timing a little, and the faster cooking time with only one peel was keeping me hopping.  630F was a huge surprise - I'd been making pizza in a Kenmore for years and been unhappy with its performance both as an oven and as a stove (just no power) and this Kitchenaide is pretty impressive for under $1000.

I'm in Austin, Texas.  Not sure what flours are available commercially here but I can get the 50# KASL with out too much difficulty.