Ben' 39" performance Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Ben' 39" performance in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hi, everybody, I could not be more thrilled with my ovens performance! I have been so busy building away that ...

[captkingdom]

Hi, everybody,
I could not be more thrilled with my ovens performance!
I have been so busy building away that I really haven't done any posting, but after my first weekend of cooking I wanted to post a quick Report.

I started firing up at 4:00 Friday for a 6:00 pizza party with 3 other families from my neighborhood. My wife thought I was nuts inviting so many people on the maiden voyage but I was too excited for restraint.
We did 11 pizzas which were nearly perfect (I left a few in a bit too long, but all was eaten with relish), had a great time and put the door on at 10:00 after burning the paper plates and sending rocket-like flames out the top of my 5' chimney and recharging a bit to 950F or so.
Saturday morning I got up at 6:00 to set out my dough and check temp when I found it to be still around nearly 650F!
I left the door off for a while and after returned to bake 11 loaves of bread in 4 batches. Concluding this I still had nearly 500F. It was my intent to through a roast in for sunday dinner before bed but with the temp at 10:00 pm (24 hours after fire!) at around 450F I decided to wait until morning.

This morning (Sunday) I was still at 375F on the dome, so I left the door off for a while, sprayed in some water, and got the temp down to 330 or so. I threw in the roast at 8:45(complete with potatoes, carrots, onions and tomatoes) shut the door and went to church.
We ended up not eating until 6:45 pm because we took a drive through the mountains to see the leaves with the kids and their friends, but it was all fabulous (though slightly overdone but still fork tender).
I just closed her up for the night with a remaining 265F! I told my wife how completely gratified I was to still have so much heat 48 hours later and she insisted I hurry and post this note. In reality if I had been at 275F last night I would have considered this a real success. 24 bonus hours can not be beat!
Now I have 5 nice cherry logs kiln drying for our next adventure!

I love my oven and I love this forum and website.
P.S. I cant wait for my 55 lb of Caputo 00 from Forno Bravo to show up this week!

[SCChris]

Too Cool!! I can't wait to get to the cooking.

Chris

[Dino_Pizza]

Ben, I'm with you, it's ok to experiment on your friends and neighbors! We do it all the time. I think it's great to have the confidence to try new foods or 1st time cooking with friends or neighbors. Share the experience I say!
I've also got the 55lb bag of Caputo from FB and love it. I just follow the formula in the download-able pdf they have (as well as tweaks from the forum) and it works great. I've also found freezing extra pizza dough balls works great for at least 2-3 weeks.
Your enthusiasm is great and it's nice to hear you're enjoying the oven. Happy Cooking, -Dino

[nissanneill]

Ben,
great work and now you can really start to enjoy your efforts.
Building he oven is just the start of a much larger and expensive adventure. Now comes the outdoor kitchen to help share the outdoor enjoyment of the oven.

Cheers.

Neill