It just seemed too small to get it done. the pizza basically sits in the mouth (about 4-5" from that very front lip) and has no heat at all coming from one whole side (and low heat from the others it seems) and you have to keep rotating it (he rotates it he says about 6 times in the video). The charring is not a "blistering" or leopard effect really but more like a burn on that side and the crust seems to be more dried out and crispy on the outside but still nice and fluffy inside. He doesn't show a complete cooking cycle because of the video editing but the part I saw, it was in there for 40 seconds before he even turned it once and it still looked raw everywhere, except it was cooked/charred on the side that was about 2" from the fire. He claims "2 minutes to cook" in the video but I don't see how.
Honestly though, after I get better with my own dough and after watching things like this, the more it becomes more apparent to me that neapolitan pizza is all smoke and mirrors. If Tony was able to win that competition just be practicing with a hobart mixer and this little oven that is just about the opposite of a "proper" neapolitan oven as you can get, then it seems to support that. It's almost like he was practicing for a race with a minivan and got pretty good and then on race day stepped into an F1 car. Granted he has years of experience making pizza and handling dough, so that helps him tremendously. But it took him what, a year of part time practicing with this style to beat the entire italian field of competition at their own game? Suspicious. Flame on if you must.
- aba
