HOF
Posted 27 October 2016 - 11:17 AM
Got some new toys for using my kettle grill as a coal & wood-fired pizza oven. Gave it a whirl for the first time last night. Thermometer on the unit goes up to 700 which I blew past once I added the wood.
I need to get some pizza spinners to be able to cook more evenly, but this baby cooked up in about 3 1/2 minutes.
Grill stayed super hot for well over an hour. Time to host some epic pizza parties!
HOF
Posted 27 October 2016 - 11:41 AM
HOF
Posted 27 October 2016 - 11:56 AM
Yep, exactly. I didn't buy all the pieces at once (got the basic kit as a wedding present last year), but I basically have it all now including the larger grate that allows for refueling and the steel piece to go on the top to keep dome temps really high.
HOF
Posted 27 October 2016 - 01:44 PM
Cool.
If I had a kettle grill, I'd have one too.
I did used to have a grill pan and a venting platform to sit it on to keep the circulation going, but it sat outside for too long and rusted. It made some decent pizzas on a gas grill. Wish I still had it but our pizzas in my oven are better.
HOF
Posted 23 November 2016 - 09:35 PM
HOF
Posted 28 November 2016 - 09:30 AM
Had a lot of family over for pizza Friday night. I used just bread flour to make the dough instead of Tipo 00 italian flour that I used previously. Was still quite good, but I think there was a noticeable improvement in using the 00 flour. I used a neopolitan dough recipe that's supposed to be super thin and crispy, and it's pretty simply 1 part flour, 2/3 part water, and then small amounts of salt and yeast. Definitely seemed to get more oven rise with the finer, 00 flour. It can be tricky to find, its not at most grocery stores, though DiPasquale's near my house sells it at very reasonable prices. I just didn't have the chance to get there before they closed at all last week to grab it. However I'm kind of glad to find out that I think the juice is worth the squeeze moving forward.
Also found that freezing and thawing out the red sauce I had leftover after a previous attempt (san marzano tomatoes pureed with a little bit of salt, no cooking) doesn't really work. It got really watery once it thawed. Freezing and re-thawing a white bechamel style sauce worked just fine, a little bit of separation but still good for pizza sauce. Same for leftover shredded mozzarella cheese.
Sean, how did your dough work out using the mixer. When you say mixer, do you mean a stand mixer to knead it like for making bread dough? Or something else? I've read that a food processor is a great too for kneading pizza dough.
HOF
Posted 28 November 2016 - 10:05 AM
I need to use 00 flour again. I've tried it before, I'd like to use it again.
I followed these directions and measurements.
http://www.101cookbo...ves/001199.html
It used a mixer with a paddle attachment to mix in all ingredients -- flour, salt, yeast, water, olive oil -- for like 3 mins then switched to a dough hook to mix the dough for 5 mins. Then I kneaded it for about 5 mins. It was obviously easier mixing the dough than doing it by hand and the dough came out much more sturdy, but it also wanted to shrink when I tried to stretch it out on the pan. It was a little frustrating and the dough came out thicker than I would have liked but it was still very good. My family really liked it.
I may buy a mixer so I can try this at home more often, with 00 flour. I do need to try to make the dough more pliable and elastic. I also skipped a step I usually use, where I let the dough sit for like 20 mins before I knead it. I'm not sure if that made much of a difference but that does allow the dough to rise slightly before kneading.
HOF
Posted 28 November 2016 - 10:19 AM
That's a very low amount of yeast. Recipes I've seen (and used) call for between 1.5-2% compared to the weight of the flour. That recipe is 0.5%. Did it rise enough for you? If not, I'd try doing the same recipe but just double or even tripling the amount of yeast.
HOF
Posted 28 November 2016 - 10:27 AM
That's a very low amount of yeast. Recipes I've seen (and used) call for between 1.5-2% compared to the weight of the flour. That recipe is 0.5%. Did it rise enough for you? If not, I'd try doing the same recipe but just double or even tripling the amount of yeast.
I usually do add more yeast, usually twice the amount. I used different yeast this time, a fast rise for 6 pizzas and a fast instant yeast for 3 others. The 6 dough balls sat for two nights and rose a bit, but not as much as the instant ones.
I was impressed with the instant rise yeast...I made the dough in the morning and it was blowing the lids off the containers when I brought it in to warm up. So that was convenient, you don't have to plan for pizza a couple of days in advance. I think those pizzas turned out better and were easier to flatten out on the pan.
HOF
Posted 28 November 2016 - 10:33 AM
I think the long, slow rise is more for flavor development. You get a little bit of that kind of funky in a good way, almost sourdough type taste if you do a long slow rise in the fridge. Certainly rises plenty with a faster yeast at room temp if you decide you want pizza in a couple hours instead of in a couple days. I haven't tried making and then freezing dough after it's risen and proofed, but have heard that works really well.
HOF
Posted 28 November 2016 - 10:33 AM
HOF
Posted 01 December 2016 - 09:04 AM
I got a mixer, thanks to Mackus pointing me in the direction of a deal.
I'll be making lots more pizza now.
HOF
Posted 05 January 2017 - 05:53 PM
HOF
Posted 09 January 2017 - 10:14 AM
So the pizza turned out good, but the dough was different than I expected, or hoped for. It was crunchy, but still light enough not to fill you up, but I think the mixer made the dough tougher, which is good -- much easier to work with when preparing the dough for toppings -- but I still want that fluffy, crunchy crust. I'm going to give 00 a try with the mixer and see what happens. Still a work in progress but I am LOVING the mixer. Making pizza dough is super easy now whereas before I dreaded making it my hand.
HOF
Posted 05 June 2017 - 10:11 AM
HOF
Posted 05 June 2017 - 11:04 AM
Looks pretty neat.
The claim that it gets to 932 degF in 10 minutes seemed rather specific to me. Converted it and it's 500 degC, so that makes more sense as a general benchmark. Regardless, that's plenty hot to cook great pizza, even if it takes a while longer than the 10 minute claim to heat up.
I'd question if you get the same flavor with the wood pellets as with hardwood. But I've done some research into pellet smokers in the past, and most people seem to say you can't tell the difference in taste, so I imagine it'd be the same with pizza.
HOF
Posted 05 June 2017 - 11:58 AM
HOF
Posted 05 June 2017 - 03:25 PM
Thinking of buying this. For $300 it won't set me back if I'm less than impressed with it.
https://uuni.net/products/uuni-3
Watched some videos, read some reviews, seems worth it. It also seems like it could get me as close to making real neapolitan style pizza at home as possible. It gets to 900 degrees, pizzas cook in 60 seconds, the only drawback is you need to rotate them every 20 seconds so it all gets done evenly.
I was trying to avoid pizza and pasta for a while...but it always draws me back in. And after seeing the Uuni videos I am ready to go full tilt on homemade pizza.
http://www.thisisins...portable-2017-6
HOF
Posted 16 June 2017 - 08:11 AM
I used the Uuni oven for the first time last night. Assembly was easy. Directions were a little sparse but I watched a video on how to light it. Good thing I bought a blowtorch. The Uuni-brand pellets are like $30 to ship, which is a joke, so I went with some Traeger oak pellets. They created a lot of smoke, which gave the pizza a smokey flavor but it wasn't overpowering. Anyway, it worked great. I used store bought fresh dough since I really just wanted to figure the whole process out but it still came out charred, crispy and doughy inside just the way I like it. Pizzas cooked in about 90 seconds but probably could have been done closer to 60. Can't wait to make my own 00 dough and see if I can't get it closer to real neapolitan pizza.
HOF
Posted 05 July 2017 - 02:13 PM
Used 00 flour over the weekend to make my own dough and cook pizzas in the Uuni oven. Still having some trouble getting the pellets to light and get to 900 degrees -- took me an hour to get the oven hot, but I think I've figured it out now. Anyway, once I got it rolling, the pizzas were fantastic. The best I've ever made. Perfect texture and flavor for crust. I used the mixer to mix/knead the dough for 10 mins. I had previously been mixing it for 3 mins. I'm still fine tuning the actual dough process, but I've got it working pretty damn good. Can't wait to use it again.
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