Michigan WFO Brick Oven Photos Discuss Michigan WFO in the Good Background Information forums; Originally Posted by james I think you should shoot for 750F and bake some pizzas! At what temp does the ...

[mfiore]

Originally Posted by james

I think you should shoot for 750F and bake some pizzas!

At what temp does the soot burn off the dome?

[Frances]

I don't know - and I don't care. As soon as the soot burns off I consider it hot enough and start baking pizza - it works, so who cares what the thermometer says?

But at a wild guess it'll probably be around 750 F.

[nodoubt68]

Love ya style Frances..lol

[mfiore]

Eventually, I won't care either. Right now, thought, I've been increasing the fires by 50-100 degrees each day. I'm wondering when I should expect to see it happen.

[mfiore]

I put 3 rolls of FB blanket on my oven yesterday. That's plenty. At least 3 inches all around, several more on top. It now looks like a big marshmallow puff.

I fired up my 8th curing fire yesterday, 650-700 degrees. I guess I don't see any benefit in waiting longer. I think I'm going big today to try to burn the dome clear.

Then pizza. I've been holding off on baking anything other than pizza during the curing fires. I promised the little guys that the first thing I would make was pizza. My family ordered carry-out Papa-Johns Pizza earlier this week. I think that was their cruel attempt to motivate me to get this thing done.

[christo]

That does sound cruel....

Take pics of the first pie - even if you burn it or it does not quite make it off the peel intact.... Don't get downhearted if your first bakes do not live up to your expectations....

You will be happy you have all that insulatoin!!!

Good luck with the first pies.

Christo

[Derocherconstruction]

Sounds like the oven is ready for pizza to me Mike. Let all of us know when pizza day is, you have a big following, and we will all come over for the first pizza party! I think the family ordering pizza for the last time - get the dough mixed!. Such anticipation for the actual event, the first pizza's. I got to cook pizza #1, and then had the peel taken away from me by my buddy who cooked pizzas 45 yrs. ago in Dearborn, MI. as a young teenager... Gimmee that peel, have another vino, look out.... We have cooked almost 200 pizzas this summer, - friends, neighbors, business customers. Once you start, it will snowball [ good term for the weather we have been getting ].. Good Luck, you have done a Primo Job on that oven, now enjoy.... Jim

[mfiore]

Jim, I really appreciate it. I'm not sure how much more we will accomplish this year (stinkin' cold out!). Next spring, watch out! We should definitely host a Michigan WFO party! I won't have 200 pizzas under my belt yet, but I'm good for the vino!

[Derocherconstruction]

Did you fire it up today and get the dome to go white Mike? You are probably so close at 750 degrees. Once the temp is high enough it takes about 30 minutes for most of the dome to go white, top to bottom. When I make pizza I let the dome go white and then just keep feeding the oven for a while, no rush, have another vino! Once everything is ready temperature wise it's easy to stall till everyone has arrived, a game of Bocci maybe, etc, etc. We sometimes cook 5 or 6 pizzas, spread the coals out on the hearth and eat, and then start over, that way you start with a real hot cooking surface again, hearth temp of 750 to 800F or so. Keep the fire going, maybe another round in a half hour or so...The cold weather makes it more of a challenge, but here in Michigan now we have no choice! Jim

[mfiore]

I did fire it up today, Jim. It took a while, but the dome did go white. Well, mostly white. I had a limited supply of good, dry wood. Most of what I burned was hardwood scraps (cut offs of oak and walnut from a wood worker). I have quite a bit of apple wood and oak, but it's not dry enough. The dome seemed to start going white at 900 degrees. It got white most of the way down, but I was running low in wood, so I pushed ahead with the cooking.

Here's some photos for those that love fire.



The dome just starting to go white:



Here you can see the soot is mostly burned off when I moved the fire over to the side.