Pizza oven thread

[jaredoconnor]

Ok, here is the review. I’m pretty happy with it, for my needs.

Below is the product link, if anyone’s interested. I previously ordered a Cuisinart one, off Amazon. However, Jeff sent me a used one, so it went back. This new Charbroil one was announced around the same time, so I bought that instead. The Cuisinart one has more insulation inside, but it doesn’t have any convection vents in the bottom. My guess is that the Charbroil one is better.

Universal Pizza Oven Grill Accessory

Master the art of pizza making with the Char-Broil® Universal Pizza Oven and your grill for pizzeria-style pizza with crispy crust cooked to perfection.

www.charbroil.com

My grill has two burners and is 18,000BTU. I would not use it with a grill that has less heat output than 9,000BTU, per burner.

Preheating takes about 20 minutes, with both burners at 100% and the lid down. That gets the pizza stone to about 650f. The air temperature sits around 450-550f, depending on how often you open the lid. 550f seems to be the absolute maximum air temperature that I could achieve. You could preheat longer, but the stone will get too hot and the base will get over cooked. Keeping the lid closed, while cooking, keeps the air temp higher.

I didn’t time how long the pizzas took to cook, but my guess is around 5-7 minutes. This is my first time ever making pizzas and I didn’t screw up too badly, so I’m calling it a success.

 

[Yard Sale]

Looks great, especially for having watery tomatoes on it.

 

[jaredoconnor]

Looks great, especially for having watery tomatoes on it.

I dried them with a paper towel, before putting them on.

I once heard someone say you should roast all your watery veg, before putting them on. Bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc. I might try that, next time.

 

[Buzzy]

Ok, here is the review. I’m pretty happy with it, for my needs.

Below is the product link, if anyone’s interested. I previously ordered a Cuisinart one, off Amazon. However, fuckin’ Jeff sent me a used one, so it went back. This new Charbroil one was announced around the same time, so I bought that instead. The Cuisinart one has more insulation inside, but it doesn’t have any convection vents in the bottom. My guess is that the Charbroil one is better.

Universal Pizza Oven Grill Accessory

Master the art of pizza making with the Char-Broil® Universal Pizza Oven and your grill for pizzeria-style pizza with crispy crust cooked to perfection.

www.charbroil.com

My grill has two burners and is 18,000BTU. I would not use it with a grill that has less heat output than 9,000BTU, per burner.

Preheating takes about 20 minutes, with both burners at 100% and the lid down. That gets the pizza stone to about 650f. The air temperature sits around 450-550f, depending on how often you open the lid. 550f seems to be the absolute maximum air temperature that I could achieve. You could preheat longer, but the stone will get too hot and the base will get over cooked. Keeping the lid closed, while cooking, keeps the air temp higher.

I didn’t time how long the pizzas took to cook, but my guess is around 5-7 minutes. This is my first time ever making pizzas and I didn’t screw up too badly, so I’m calling it a success.

Interesting product JO'c, thanks - 624F, much hotter than our house oven. I wonder from the wood fire (@mcswny) experts - how hot are your ovens when you slide pizza in.

 

[jaredoconnor]

Interesting product JO'c, thanks - 624F, much hotter than our house oven. I wonder from the wood fire (@mcswny) experts - how hot are your ovens when you slide pizza in.

I believe pro pizza ovens are 700f+.

 

[iveofione]

I once heard someone say you should roast all your watery veg, before putting them on. Bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc. I might try that, next time.

Good call. A watery pizza or a well done T-bone both have failure written all over them. Another thing that can help prevent a soggy pepperoni pizza is placing the pepperoni between paper towels and warming it for a few seconds in the microwave. A lot of oil will bleed out. This eliminates that greasy soup that sometimes appears on the surface and ruins the bite.

While on the subject of Pepperoni, if you live in the Spokane area try some from Eggers Meats. It is a relief from the usual paper mache consistency of the sliced packaged product found in the supermarket. I buy it in roll form and slice it thinly with a mandolin. Good stuff.

 

[krusty]

These sort of threads make me feel like a complete Philistine; I've had all sorts of salmon labored over for days by salmon aficionados, kobe beef steaks in Japan prepared by expert chefs, beers brewed by master brewers, and pizzas made by experts from superb ingredients in home pizza ovens....and I'm just not gettin' it. I'm just as happy with a steak I burn the shit out of on my Weber, a cold PBR, or a takeout pizza from Papa Murphys. It's just fukin body fuel.

You guys must be detecting something with your exotic flyfishing taste buds I just don't receive. Maybe I was a mangy coyote that enjoyed a good ripe roadkill in a previous life. I dunno.

 

[Buzzy]

I These sort of threads make me feel like a complete Philistine; I've had all sorts of salmon labored over for days by salmon aficionados, kobe beef steaks in Japan prepared by expert chefs, beers brewed by master brewers, and pizzas made by experts from superb ingredients in home pizza ovens....and I'm just not gettin' it. I'm just as happy with a steak I burn the shit out of on my Weber, a cold PBR, or a takeout pizza from Papa Murphys. It's just fukin body fuel.

You guys must be detecting something with your exotic flyfishing taste buds I just don't receive. Maybe I was a mangy coyote that enjoyed a good ripe roadkill in a previous life. I dunno.

Surely you jest a bit, no? While my taste buds aren't as refined as many, for example - I roast coffee but this kind of description ain't me: "displays balanced sweetness and low tones, medium body, with notes of cooked sugars, chocolate-covered almond, and a long bittersweet finish." To me, coffee tastes good or even great or lousy or something in between; no way I can come up with all those words describing something I drink or eat. I'm curious about pizza because I do like some of the wood fired pizza I've eaten (in Redondo Beach a few weeks ago we bought a pizza called "Shitake Happens" (loaded with shitake mushrooms and it was delicious). I draw the line a burnt steaks. ;-)

 

[Matt B]

Surely you jest a bit, no? While my taste buds aren't as refined as many, for example - I roast coffee but this kind of description ain't me: "displays balanced sweetness and low tones, medium body, with notes of cooked sugars, chocolate-covered almond, and a long bittersweet finish." To me, coffee tastes good or even great or lousy or something in between; no way I can come up with all those words describing something I drink or eat. I'm curious about pizza because I do like some of the wood fired pizza I've eaten (in Redondo Beach a few weeks ago we bought a pizza called "Shitake Happens" (loaded with shitake mushrooms and it was delicious). I draw the line a burnt steaks. ;-)

I don’t know, @krusty has been pretty consistent with his culinary preferences over the years. They lean toward things that come in a crinkly bag, a can, or that soak through paper so you can see through it. Not a damn thing wrong with that. But if ever I were to go camping him, I’d probably plan the meals.

 

[mcswny]

These sort of threads make me feel like a complete Philistine; I've had all sorts of salmon labored over for days by salmon aficionados, kobe beef steaks in Japan prepared by expert chefs, beers brewed by master brewers, and pizzas made by experts from superb ingredients in home pizza ovens....and I'm just not gettin' it. I'm just as happy with a steak I burn the shit out of on my Weber, a cold PBR, or a takeout pizza from Papa Murphys. It's just fukin body fuel.

You guys must be detecting something with your exotic flyfishing taste buds I just don't receive. Maybe I was a mangy coyote that enjoyed a good ripe roadkill in a previous life. I dunno.

I believe it was g smolts friend of a friend of a friend that said “do you have a problem with excellence?”

But seriously, if you have to eat, you might as well enjoy it. But to each their own.

 

[mcswny]

Interesting product JO'c, thanks - 624F, much hotter than our house oven. I wonder from the wood fire (@mcswny) experts - how hot are your ovens when you slide pizza in.

Buzzy, it gets HOT. Honestly, im not 100% sure what temp because I stopped using my thermometer after I really just got the “touch” down. But I’m guessing the best pizzas come out when it’s roughly 900 degrees.

With that being said, it also really depends on the type of crust (sourdough vs yeast), and how thick your dough is.

 

[Evan B]

These sort of threads make me feel like a complete Philistine; I've had all sorts of salmon labored over for days by salmon aficionados, kobe beef steaks in Japan prepared by expert chefs, beers brewed by master brewers, and pizzas made by experts from superb ingredients in home pizza ovens....and I'm just not gettin' it. I'm just as happy with a steak I burn the shit out of on my Weber, a cold PBR, or a takeout pizza from Papa Murphys. It's just fukin body fuel.

You guys must be detecting something with your exotic flyfishing taste buds I just don't receive. Maybe I was a mangy coyote that enjoyed a good ripe roadkill in a previous life. I dunno.

"different strokes," as they say. My entire family is more like you in this regard. I started my food weirdness at a very young age and it confused the hell out of my family because it was something they had never known before. What 6yr old refuses to eat McDonalds? Yeah that was me. Granted, my options were limited growing up around Ephrata, WA in the 80s and 90s, but I made do.

Nowadays, making Indian food is our house's equivalent of "spaghetti night."

 

[Evan B]

On the topic of the pizza oven: Things slowed down for me the last week or so getting prepped for tuna and doing some steelhead fishing last weekend.

I actually re-set my walls up with some mortar along the bottom row to get them more perfectly level in all directions, and am putting wall ties around the corners since my 6" wide blocks don't stagger correctly around the corners. Next session, I'm firing up the concrete mixer again to pour concrete in to the holes of the cinder blocks. Then I'm building up my supports and forms to pour the hearth slab.

My goal was to have this done by September. That's looking ambitious now. I don't anticipate the igloo going very quickly.

 

[krusty]

"different strokes," as they say. My entire family is more like you in this regard. I started my food weirdness at a very young age and it confused the hell out of my family because it was something they had never known before. What 6yr old refuses to eat McDonalds? Yeah that was me. Granted, my options were limited growing up around Ephrata, WA in the 80s and 90s, but I made do.

Nowadays, making Indian food is our house's equivalent of "spaghetti night."

Fortunately my wife shares my 'fancy food' affliction. On those occasions we've eaten in upscale or exotic restaurants (not by choice but by necessity...the stringy Moroccan goat stew was heavenly and highly evocative of the rancid mutton served in Marine Corps mess halls!), we have to suppress our mirth when some silly piece of culinary art is presented to us with great fanfare. As long as we 'oooh! and aaah!' without making eye contact, and I refrain from eating my entire desert in one bite (apparently one is supposed to consume dainty fork-fulls of the minuscule thing because normal ingestion would result in an unbecoming orgasmic seizure of delight), we can keep it together. No need to hurt feelings.

Maybe, like people who are colorblind, we simply lack the sensory apparatus to develop into people of refined tastes. Perhaps that's why our home is filled with paintings of dogs playing poker, fishing, golfing and shooting pool. Still searching for the perfect Elvis foyer tapestry.

I'm just a guy who once bicycled much of the AlCan subsisting mainly on spooning Jiffy peanut butter out of the largest jars I could find along the way, while maintaining hydration with MSR filtered ditch water and whatever cheap beer was available.

 

[mcswny]

Fortunately my wife shares my 'fancy food' affliction. On those occasions we've eaten in upscale or exotic restaurants (not by choice but by necessity) we have to suppress our mirth when some silly piece of culinary art is presented to us with great fanfare. As long as we 'oooh! and aaah!' without making eye contact, and I refrain from eating my entire desert in one bite, we can keep it together. No need to hurt feelings.

Maybe, like people who are colorblind, we simply lack the sensory apparatus to develop into people of refined tastes. Perhaps that's why our home is filled with paintings of dogs playing poker, fishing, golfing and shooting pool.

I'm just a guy who once bicycled much of the AlCan subsisting mainly on spooning Jiffy peanut butter out of the largest jars I could find along the way, while maintaining hydration with MSR filtered ditch water and whatever cheap beer was available.

To each their own.

 

[Evan B]

Fortunately my wife shares my 'fancy food' affliction. On those occasions we've eaten in upscale or exotic restaurants (not by choice but by necessity) we have to suppress our mirth when some silly piece of culinary art is presented to us with great fanfare. As long as we 'oooh! and aaah!' without making eye contact, and I refrain from eating my entire desert in one bite (apparently one is supposed to consume dainty fork-fulls of the minuscule thing because normal ingestion would result in an unbecoming orgasmic seizure of delight), we can keep it together. No need to hurt feelings.

Maybe, like people who are colorblind, we simply lack the sensory apparatus to develop into people of refined tastes. Perhaps that's why our home is filled with paintings of dogs playing poker, fishing, golfing and shooting pool.

I'm just a guy who once bicycled much of the AlCan subsisting mainly on spooning Jiffy peanut butter out of the largest jars I could find along the way, while maintaining hydration with MSR filtered ditch water and whatever cheap beer was available.

I'm definitely not as in to the pretentious fancy stuff with artsy presentations and tiny portions. I find most of that to be mostly visual art. I mean, some of it is good, but it's not usually what I'm after.

But the food I like isn't necessarily "fancy" in that sense, more just bold, spicy, things like that. Less of the European-inspired pretentious stuff and more Asian street food.

But... this here is my favorite type of meal to make at home. I think sushi is still considered exotic among some folks.

 

[krusty]

I stopped eating sushi in Japan when many in our squadron started acquiring tapeworms.

 

[Evan B]

I stopped eating sushi in Japan when many in our squadron started acquiring tapeworms.

I've been eating it almost weekly for oh... 20yrs or so, and have yet to have any such or similar issues.

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Sushi is good.
Pizza is good.
Is there a sushi pizza?

 

[krusty]

I've been eating it almost weekly for oh... 20yrs or so, and have yet to have any such or similar issues.

Very high incidence in Japan, less so here, particularly if you follow CDC preparation recommendations (or dine at outlets that do so). A great many intestinal worm infestations are asymptomatic, depending upon the host individual's health and parasite species.