YouTube Video - Can you see the Leoparding?

[Bill/SFNM]

Here is a new test video I have uploaded to YouTube to test 2 things:

1) Can I shoot video without a camera operator? In this test, I mounted the camera on a tripod and aimed it towards the spot in the oven where I would be baking pies. Seems to work well. Next time I'll see if I can juggle the peel and the remote control to zoom in and out during the bake.

2) Is the YouTube resolution (640x480) sufficient to see details like leopard spots being formed? On my hi-res monitor I can see all kinds of interesting details, but a lot is lost by the poor resolution. I can barely see the spots in the YouTube version. The lighting from the flickering flames of the fire doesn't help. I'll keep working on it.

Here is the link: 

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=WNqqoSyeoww" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://youtube.com/watch?v=WNqqoSyeoww</a>

Bill/SFNM

[ma71supra]

I can see the spots forming. I believe YouTube uses some sort of compression on videos you submit to them, resulting in the pixelation that makes it hard to distinguish details

[Bill/SFNM]

Do you know of some other host that supports higher resolutions?

Bill/SFNM

[2stone]

Hey Bill,

I think youtube did some serious compression,
not as clear as your first one. So it's kind of hard
to see.... But what impressed me was how the
dough expanded. that was quite something...
What is your hydration?

willard

[Art]

Do you know of some other host that supports higher resolutions?

Bill/SFNM

Not sure of the resolution, but give this one a try.
http://photobucket.com/

[Bill/SFNM]

I have temporarily put a higher-res copy of this movie in my .Mac gallery. Not sure if I want to use this site for movies, but this should be an interesting test. You should be able to clearly see what is happening in the oven, even in the dim light. Let me if you have problems viewing it on your browser. Not sure what plug-ins, if any, are needed.

(edited to remove link - see below)

Bill/SFNM

[Bill/SFNM]

What is your hydration?

willard,

62% including water in starter

Bill/SFNM

[2stone]

Bill,

It was much better,
and fascinating to watch.

willard

[Bill/SFNM]

I had to remove the link. I got a warning from Apple that my semi-monthly data transfer quota (50GB) was close to being exceeded. Glad to see so many folks interested in viewing the video. I'll move it over to my main web hosting service which has monthly quota of 10TB. That should be enough! I'll post a new link once I get around to uploading it.

Bill/SFNM

[scottfsmith]

Your video was very helpful to me -- there is nothing better to get an idea about how a woodburning pizza oven cooks than watching it!

Scott

[Bill/SFNM]

I've put a hi-res version of the movie on my main server: http://www.extremecookingblog.com/


Bill/SFNM

[grovemonkey]

I just saw the Hi-Res video.  That was some wild amount of dough rise.  I've never seen that before.   You can definitely see the leoparding.

[scpizza]

Thanks for posting.  Great to see a wood oven video that close up and high res.

At the time the video ended the top of the pizza wasn't done relative to the bottom.  I'm assuming you were lifting it up to the dome to finish it.  While lifting is also done in Neapolitan pizza ovens with the lower dome, I wonder if that top/bottom heat disparity is greater in your general purpose oven with the higher dome.

[Bill/SFNM]

At the time the video ended the top of the pizza wasn't done relative to the bottom.  I'm assuming you were lifting it up to the dome to finish it.  While lifting is also done in Neapolitan pizza ovens with the lower dome, I wonder if that top/bottom heat disparity is greater in your general purpose oven with the higher dome.

scpizza,

There are a couple of things going on here. First of all, the fire has died down a bit in this video. When I tried to film with a full fire, the foreground (pizza) was inadequately illuminated. In the future, I'll increase the exposure and/or try some fill lighting and maybe a slightly different angle. The pizza will cook faster and there will be no need to dome the pie at the end. No question that an "official" Neapolitan oven reduces the need for doming the pie. This is a much bigger consideration in a commercial environment.

Also, I don't think it is possible is to make the statement that the top was underdone relative to the bottom. Visual cues can be unreliable for judging doneness. The pie keeps cooking after it is removed from the oven and, in my experience, if it "looks" done in the oven, it is very possibly overdone. There is a very small window, maybe less than 5 seconds, if all conditions are just right for the pie to be perfectly done - top, bottom, inside. The thing I struggle with the most is deciding when to pull the pie from the oven.

Bill/SFNM

[David]

Thanks for posting.  Great to see a wood oven video that close up and high res.

At the time the video ended the top of the pizza wasn't done relative to the bottom.  I'm assuming you were lifting it up to the dome to finish it.  While lifting is also done in Neapolitan pizza ovens with the lower dome, I wonder if that top/bottom heat disparity is greater in your general purpose oven with the higher dome.

I believe that there is some misunderstanding and confusion as to the need and purpose of raising the pie up during cooking,and that it is commonplace in neapolitan ovens for many reasons.From my own experience the deck temp will vary in different areas as you know.What also plays into this is the frequency of placing and removing pies from the same position,quickly drawing heat from the deck.In a commercial environment these factors added to the decision of how hot to run your oven and the juggling act of rotating each pie to compensate at different times is where the skill comes into play .If certain pies are left to purely cook on the deck alone they will almost certainly be burnt on the underside while appearing perfect on the top.Others at the same time will be perfectly cooked on the bottom and still appear pale on the top .To rotate each pie is one thing,but to rotate each pie and rotate the position within 45-90 seconds when you have five pizzas cooking is a different matter,hence IMO the required technique of lifting the pizza off the deck during certain cooking periods.I can confidently place a single pie in my oven after it has been heated for a few hours,rotate it , pull it out and be quite satisfied with the results.That straightforward,simple approach could never be achieved while cooking four or five pies simultaneously in a commercial oven that has been running for nine or ten hrs.and churning out hundreds of pies regardless of which style of oven you may have IMO.

[scpizza]

I can confidently place a single pie in my oven after it has been heated for a few hours,rotate it , pull it out and be quite satisfied with the results.That straightforward,simple approach could never be achieved while cooking four or five pies simultaneously in a commercial oven....hence IMO the required technique of lifting the pizza off the deck during certain cooking periods.

Can you clarify your comment?  It implies lifting is more needed when cooking multiple pizzas than when cooking a single pizza.  But the reverse would seem true.

Cooking multiple pizzas depletes the amount of stored heat in the deck.  Lifting compensates for a hot deck.  Thus lifting should be more needed when cooking a single pizza than when cooking multiple pizzas.

[David]

If certain pies are left to purely cook on the deck alone they will almost certainly be burnt on the underside while appearing perfect on the top.Others at the same time will be perfectly cooked on the bottom and still appear pale on the top .To rotate each pie is one thing,but to rotate each pie and rotate the position within 45-90 seconds when you have five pizzas cooking is a different matter,hence IMO the required technique of lifting the pizza off the deck during certain cooking periods.

It depends on the frequency / time interval between cooking and the ability (available space )to place the pie or pies where you want and how hot you are running the oven.

[pizzanapoletana]

I may add that in the same oven with the same condition you may not require to lift all pizzas. It depends on some factors that each good "fornaio" knows all too well. It doesn't really affect the cooking itself, the purpose of doing so is much different. If a pizza cooks unevenly top/bottom, the answer is not lifting...

Da michele has been often quoted as lifting their pizza but they do not do it all the time and they may be cooking 6 pizzas at anyone time and only one or two are actually lifted.

I disagree with David that the oven type as not an influence in his example because certain ovens cannot even cope with the output he was describing, whilst with the one pizza example I can agree.

Ciao

[ebpizza]

On the topic of leoparding....i've never been to Una Pizza Napoletana, but I have eaten pizza in Naples, does this seem like too much leoparding?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/slice/2048132358/


It seems too dark.

[scott r]

yes, especially for caputo flour.  I was recently commenting on Anthony's longer bakes in another thread where someone asked about if UPN was "authentic".  With his new oven I think anthony has a better chance of achieving the proper bake.  From looking at this I can tell you that it would be a tough pizza (with caputo).