preparing Pizza outside - when its cold!

[blackjack]

I was out pizza making at the weekend - the cold's not a problem when the oven is going full blast. I build the pies inside then take them out and hang around for the 1 minute it takes to cook.

[builder brad]

a big Thank-you! to everyone who answered my question.

It was a relatively mild night in the end. All of our previous Pizza parties have either been totally outside in the Summer, when I have cooked 30+ Pizzas, or smaller more intimate occasions when the weather is not so nice and all of the preparation is inside.

The girls were all indoors and us Guys managed to cook nearly 40 Pizzas in about 1 hour - all outside in a kind of production line. Someone even made some stuffed crust Pizzas with thinly sliced Chorizo Iberico de Bellota and crushed pepper corns, that was well received.

Now its time to think about my TURKEY!!!


Brad

[Spunkoid]

If you truely want answers about cold weather outdoor cooking, you have to ask Canadians! A cold day down under is pretty warm to us.
I cooked about 20 pizzas for a little party we had Wednesday night. About 30 people, with the temperature was hovering between -8 and -10 C. Warm for this time of year for us actually. At this time of year, it gets dark very early as well, just around 6 pm.
I heated the oven slowly by starting a smaller fire and building it slowly. Got the oven really hot, let the fire die down and scraped the coals to the side. Just in case you have not cooked in the dark, when you get your oven really hot, the bricks under the fire are glowing when you scrape the coals to the side. This explains why many burn thier first pizza!
I found that the first few pizzas cooked quickly but the oven started to cool a lot faster than when the outside air temp is warmer. I kept a low fire going on the side and still found the cook time for the pizzas slowing. The crust was cooking fine on the bottom but the cheeze was slower melting. To speed the process up, I had to build the fire up a little more.
Time was also a factor, I have not cooked this many pizzas at one time, so the oven was open for a longer period. With colder outside temperatures, especially if there is a little bit of a breeze, the oven tends to cool much quicker.
Just for info, I have 4-8 inches of vemiculite around the oven for insulation and a 4" insulated slab under the firebrick hearth.

Rick