Has this been done before??

[james]

How many fires have you had? You might want to consider going through a curing process, as the oven has probably absorbed a lot of moisture through the move and installation process.

When it is really dry, you will see less smoke out the front of oven -- and more up the chimney.

James

[PizzaPolice]

This is somewhat of an art. It takes awhile to get the hang of it.
Late last night, about 70 percent of the nasty soot was burned off. I bought it this way and it was pretty thick. You are right, James. It must be still drying out. Each pizza came out faster and faster as the night progressed.
Since it was a trial bake, I didn't use the Caputo, good mozzarella or my 6-1 sauce. Instead, I used frozen Tiseo pizza dough, bagged mozz and just threw the sauce together. The picture shows a garlic white pizza. (BTW, Louis Tiseo is a good guy and makes a wonderful consistent product.)
The oven did a nice job despite the frigid temperature and WIND.
The wood chunks need to be split again. It seems these big hunks don't have enough surface area exposed to the heat. This retards the heating time required to burn quickly. So, for the first minute or so, unburned hydrocarbons smoke up the interior.
I was advised to leave the cracks in the floor alone by the M.A.M. guy in CA. However the cracks are right in the sweet spot -center of the oven. I'll tough it out until spring and look into finding something to fill it with. I can't imagine what kind of abuse the former owner inflicted on this nice oven.

[maver]

The interior of that oven really does look nice. It's a shame there was a coat of soot on the inside when you received it, it sounds like it was somewhat abused with low temperature use. I think the fact that pizza were cooking better as your bake went on may suggest that this commercial oven may need a longer preheat than your average home oven - although James is right, you'll see those preheat times drop if there is any moisture to drive out of the oven. I think by the looks of the crack, you should just leave it alone. It will fill with ash and should not interfere with cooking. If you try to fill it with anything that hardens you have potential to put an obstacle to your peel on the oven floor. The only reason to mess with it I can imagine is if the two sides do not match up, in which case you could consider grinding it level, but only after you have used it for a few months and are sure it is not going to shift on you.

[PizzaPolice]

Some 15 hours after baking the last pizza, my brother came over with a steel steak grill he welded together. He stuck it in the oven and we had a few beers. A little later he tried to remove the grill. Yeow! It's hot!
It's getting there.
How's the wall look, Maver?

[james]

I think Maver has it right on the floor. If it is catching your peel, you can grind it, but otherwise, see if you can leave it as is and let the crack fill with ash, that you brush away before cooking.

Now, it will just get better and better. Especially with better ingredients!
James

[maver]

Originally Posted by PizzaPolice

How's the wall look, Maver?

I think the Clinker brick with the roof you used looks great. I'm envious of how quickly you have finished your brick work. We're having unusually cold weather this past 3-4 weeks in the northwest so I have put brickwork on hold, although the oven is still being used

It looks like you're seeing some cold yourself.

Do you have your countertop material ready to install?

[PizzaPolice]

It's a crisp 20 degrees right now so the counter top can wait. I can't believe the oven is still warm (Tuesday night)
My buddy fabbed out a stainless door for the cause. So far, there are 6 people who get "free pizza for life".
Saturday is the test with Caputo and the good ingredients. I don't want to see those rolling eyes again. Ha Ha.
Stay warm and BTW, at least you are in zone 8. It's tough getting the good stuff to grow around here.

PizzaPolice