Weber Pizza Oven

[RobinC]

Did another round of pizzas tonight as the kids had some friends round to play. Really feel we're getting the hang of the whole pizza thing now as we were all pleased with the results (taste and appearance wise, we're definitely getting better at getting a circular shape). Chucked on a few wood chips whilst doing a couple of the pizzas and really liked the taste, wouldn't do this all the time but it was a welcome addition. Also made a few pitta breads which came out well - this has got us thinking about some sort of bbq starter with pitta breads and dips.

[derekmiller]

Robin.
What mix and method do you use for the base,
Cheers.
Derek.

[RobinC]

50/50 mix of "00" grade flour and strong bread flour, glug of olive oil, bit of salt, warm water and yeast. The thing with the bases is to roll them out very thinly, probably around 2-3mm thickness. They only take a few minutes to cook but you do need to rotate them during the cook to get an even crispness. Cause the cooking time is so short all your toppings need to be pre cooked (ie no raw meat)

The other tip I have is I use a bit of polenta flour (the stuff you put in corn bread) on the peel. This seems to be a bit more "gritty" than normal flour and seems to aid the pizza sliding off the peel better than the bread flour.

[biggus_richus]

I really want one of these pizza ovens.

Oh look, it's pay day

[derekmiller]

We do the same thickness, but we use Semolina flour to stop it sticking.
How long do you leave it to prove or do you just go for double the size. I am happy with what we produce, I am just trying to speed up the process. Currently we leave the dough to prove for about 3 hrs to get it double size, but this means you cant just suddenly want a pizza, it has to be planned in.
Cheers.
Derek.

[RobinC]

I'm getting it to double in size in probably a bit less than 2 hours. I've found that properly making sure that the water is warm helps reduce the time. And by warm I mean that once the dough has come together and before you start kneading it actually feels warm. Previously I was erring on the side of luke warm whereas now I'm nearer to the hot end of what I would call warm.

Good call on the semolina, though we quite like cornbread in our house so normally have stocks of polenta.

[derekmiller]

Cheers Robin, will give that a try.

Richard, you dont need the pizza oven, I turn mine out on the OTP or on the gas bbq with no problems.

[keith157]

Dereky Dereky Derek, can you hand on heart and wallet say everything you have is essential and not a jot of Want-It, Need-it, GOT-IT went into your purchases. I know some of mine have a hint of that in them

[derekmiller]

Weeeeeeeeeelllll.
Ok fair comment Keith. But my missus is a Weber nutter (thankfully she doesnt read forums, and keep Annette quiet ). But I have convinced her (so far) that we dont need one. Anyway if she did get one, she would have to get the OTP as well, cos she is not having mine.
Sorry Richard. Dont let me put you off from buying one.....
Derek.

[Gary Morris]

When I was in Italy the guy at the Pizza parlor made a rolled out 'round' of dough approx. 12" or so. He them crossed his hands (and probably his fingers:)) with the dough circle on top, then with an upward twisting motion launched it into the air, caught it and repeated it.

The dough is thinned and was kept in a somewhat circular shape by centrifugal force.

It looked hard to do, so i tried it at home. It wasn't too hard to twist and throw, catching the thing was a different matter.
With a little practice (same as the pancake comment) the end results were 'rustic' but looked the part and if you get good at it, it's nice eye candy.

(word of warning: the In - Laws place might not be the best place to start)

Gary