Finally hit a home run

[Trogdor33]

@abilak

I don't blame you, I'd be using a screen if I were going that thin too...

@everyone else

more pics from the pies I made at lunch

[norma427]

Trogdor33,
Wow, that is one beautiful pie!    I really like your airy crust pictures. 
Norma

[Pete-zza]

Joe,

Very nice.

What brand of pepperoni are you using that doesn't oil off during baking?

Peter

[Trogdor33]

Peter,

That's GFS store brand pepperoni. I got a 5# bag on sale for $10. It has a very good smoky/spicy flavor and oils off very little compared to the grocery store brands I have used (it is much thinner than grocery store brands, so it didn't surprise me). Here was my post about it when I started using it: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9628.0.html

One thing on my "to try" list is to make a sauce-less pizza since I suspect that I am getting more flavor from the pepperoni than the sauce.

-Joe

[Pete-zza]

Joe,

I vaguely recalled you discussed the pepperoni before but I didn't recall seeing both a "before" and "after" depiction. It looks like you used close to 50 slices of pepperoni. They went from covering essentially the whole pizza to being surrounded by some space. But it is nice not to have to soak up the excessive oil after baking the pizza. What was the size of the pizza this time?

Peter

[Trogdor33]

Peter,

They were both 14" pizzas, but the first one stuck to the peel a little bit so it came out a little ovular. I did count somewhere near 50, but I did weigh the container of pepperoni before and after and came up with 2.9 oz. I have found that overlapping the pepperoni is the way to get the crispy and almost burnt edges that I like. They do shrink down significantly, but as I mentioned earlier, they are much thinner than other kinds I have used. The only thing that bothers me about the oil is that it makes the cheese not brown at all, but as long as I get that crispy pepperoni texture, it's worth it. Even with ~50 slices of pepperoni though, the oil is no where near the level I'd get with 20 slices of the grocery store stuff and yes, it is very nice to not have to waste 3 paper towels just to have edible pizza.

-Joe

[Avumede]

Just a note Trodor33, about your oven.  I have the same general type of oven.  If you just want to crank up the heat as high as it can go, you could just leave the broiler on.  Since the broiler is really just the gas heating element on the bottom, and it never goes off, I don't think you can get better heating.

Still, there's no guarantee your oven can handle such temperatures, so I would advise caution.

[Trogdor33]

Avumede,

Thanks for the tip, but I actually discovered that little trick as soon as I moved in and used the oven. On top of that, the thermostat on my oven is majorly screwed up so setting it at 350 puts it near 550. I have to use an oven thermometer to gauge what I am actually operating at. I usually pre-heat my stone at 550 and then crank it up to broil and bake my pies. It does warm the kitchen up quite a bit, but this time of year it feels nice.

-Joe

[BrickStoneOven]

What kind of ovens do you guys have that you can fit a 19' round stone in it. I have been looking at ovens because we might be switching to gas soon in my house so we are getting a new oven. I am trying to find one that is big enough to fit a big stone in it like a 19" or a custom one from fibrament.

[Jack]

What kind of ovens do you guys have that you can fit a 19' round stone in it. I have been looking at ovens because we might be switching to gas soon in my house so we are getting a new oven. I am trying to find one that is big enough to fit a big stone in it like a 19" or a custom one from fibrament.

My oven was greater than 19 wide, but only 18.75 deep.  The fibrament folks indicated that it would be ok to take a grinder to the edge of the stone to make it fit.  I took enough off a 19 inch round stone to leave 1/4 inch gap front and back. 

Jack