My finished Casa 90

[Irv Mac Dowell]

We've had a few imperfect, though delicious pizzas so far. Looking forward to perfecting my dough technique and baking bread. Thanks for all the help from those who answered my newbie questions.

Best regards,

Irv

[asudavew]

Nice.

How long have you had it?

And how long have you been cooking pizzas in it?

Did you put it together yourself?

I'm nosy.

Dave

[Irv Mac Dowell]

Dave,

I did all of the oven except the masonry base. I purchased the kit in April. I finished curing the oven about a week ago, and have achieved temperatures around 900 degrees F, with no cracking anywhere, even around the chimney. It's working perfectly, finishing pizzas in under two minutes, though I have a lot of work to do on the dough technique, especially in achieving very thin crusts. I think the recommendation is for credit-card-thin crusts; mine are about magazine thin, especially on the edges, which requires more care to avoid burning.

One other thing I lernded recently from my mason who runs a truck-borne, WFO pizza operation here in NJ- don't rush the heating. My oven can achieves dome temps in the 850 range in about two hours or so, but the floor takes much longer to heat adequately for rapid crust cooking.

By the way, the truck is a 1949 REO Speedwagon with a full brick oven aboard. Check it out at nomadpizzaco.com.

Thanks for your kind comment.

Best regards,
Irv

[krosskraft]

Good job! I have the Casa 100 and what I have recently learned is that my dome and floor are too hot at the max! I have to bring it up to "plasma" fire and then let it relax to about 800. Otherwise my pizzas are too charred. As far as the pizza dough, I really recommend the Caputo flour sold by Forno Bravo. It makes a very elastic dough. You may be overworking it when you form your circles. Learn to let gravity do most of the stretching so you rarely have to punch down or roll the top. You will get better at it I promise.