Tonight's Pizza Stone Baking

[heliman]

Tried scaling the standard FB pizza recipe down to 2 pizzas and didn't feel like firing the woodfired oven up....so... pizzas stone it was.

Shots:
Work area.
Pizza preparation.
Double decker pizza stone.
Pizza #1 - Tiger prawns, mini Roma tomatoes, mushroom and hot chillies.
Pizza #2 - Anchovy, capers and mushroom.

[BrianShaw]

This is my second or third time back to look at your pictures. Haven't had time to leave a reply until now. Nice pies! I'll bet they were yummy!

How hot was your oven? How long was the cooking time?

[BrianShaw]

p.s. I burn my oven at 550 deg F when cooking with a stone. That is so hot that the varnish on the cabinet is flaking off (my oven is wall mounted in a wood cabinet) and the rubber door insulation/cushion/whatever-it-is droops.

[heliman]

Originally Posted by BrianShaw

This is my second or third time back to look at your pictures. Haven't had time to leave a reply until now. Nice pies! I'll bet they were yummy!

How hot was your oven? How long was the cooking time?

Thanks for the comments Brian ...

I was quite pleased with the overall results but still some work to be done on fine tuning the process. Can't beat the stone for a quick batch of pizza when feeling too lazy to crank up the WFO. I am using a standard, supermarket bought stone at this stage but don't believe that it is up to the job.

On the temperature - I turned the oven up as high as it would go (will give the exact temp when I get home tonight as I can't remember the sclae). Stone is positioned at about top 1/3 (and I have one lower down too with the theory that it will produce a more even heat distribution). I allow the oven to heat up for about 45 mins before adding the pizza and only open the door mementarily to slip the pizza in and remove it afterwards. I allow a good 15 mins in between each pizza to to build up heat again. Gives me a good excuse to eat the last pizza!!

Cooking time exactly 7 mins (turning at around 4 mins).

On a side note I am having someone develop a new pizza stone for me at the moment so will start some experimentation on baking on them soon. I have been given some samples stones already but time has been short for testing due to travels, writing a PhD thesis and working full time. Look forward to sharing my findings with others though as I reckon that the stone is a great alternative to a WFO and an excellent entry point for budding pizzaiolos and families wishing to experiment without the initial financial outlay of an oven.

Look forward to seeing your pizza stone results when available!!

Rossco

[texassourdough]

Hi Rossco!

I am finsihing up a thesis also. Mine is due Jan 8 so I am pulling hard. Still I need my breaks! And this is it.

Good luck!
Jay

[heliman]

Glad to hear that the end is in sight for you Jay! Mine is due for external examination on 1 November.

After those "academic diversions" are out of the way we will both be able to focus on real issues like pizza making!! Much more exciting I reckon!!

Keep at it - celebrations are looming!!!

Rossco

[texassourdough]

Oh boy! Examiners! And not long from now! I know what you are doing!

I passed my examination with flying colors but they really didn't like the dissertation so I got to do a major rewrite. But...it is good, as my advisor says, I have now written the guts of the book I write for the practitioners.

Study hard!
Jay