Learning to walk before I run

themadvix

edinburgher said:

South_coast said:

I don't think you need to go that high, Ed. I cook mine at 220 fan, and like TCC I put the tray in while the oven is heating up and I am getting the rest of it ready (which could be anything from 15-45 mins, depending on whether I've pre-made the dough/get distracted by changing the music/singing/dancing/drinking Friday night wine etc 😀). I bought one of these a couple of months ago and no evidence of any deterioration so far: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1133024?clickSR=slp:term:pizza tray:9:209:1

I may have been inspired by a Reddit post that said "the temperature of the sun for 1 second" was ideal for pizza cooking 😂 It was very good at fan 250!

You’re right Ed, the hotter the better for pizza - that’s why pizza ovens (wood-fired or electric) get to around 300-500 degrees for cooking. A pizza stone is definitely a worthwhile investment if you’re going to make pizza regularly as it gives a much better base with the added heat it can absorb.

Greying_Pilgrim

I use a tray in the pre-heating oven, and then put the pizza in a pan (I mostly make Detroit/deep-ish pan pizza these days), on top of the hot tray.  The tray is the one I used to use for pizza.  I got it from teekaymaximum donkey's years ago.  It is a........ hard adonised??? (is there such a thing??) tray, and doesn't buckle, but gets very hot.  But I find making a pizza in a conventional oven is more difficult, as you can't "make" pizza on a hot tray.  So I compromise in forming the pizza in a 'cool' pan which the base has second proved in, and then sticking it into a hot oven, on top of the roasting hot flat tray.  I will be the first to say I don't get a crispy "wood-fired-brick-oven-esque" base, but I do get a good rise, and no soggy bottoms.  Which is enough of a compromise for me, when I know what ingredients I've used too.  Also, for the record, I use MrL strong bread flour, and it's consistently 👍

Greying X

edinburgher

Do you think a Detroit pizza would work well in a 12" cast iron frying pan @Greying_Pilgrim? Good to know re. Flour - it's about 1/3 the cost of my previous bag 😅

Greying_Pilgrim

The pans that I saw being used in commercial ovens on the internet were I think cast iron - or very heavy weight metal if they weren't cast.  The problem is that unless you're able to throw your pizza (made) into a pre-heated pan, you're not getting the instant 'zap' of heat.  The pan I use for my pizza is actually quite thin (think like a conventional roasting pan).  

I've never really used cast iron, but I would say 'yes' if you can pre-heat it, but 'no' if you're putting your pizza into the dish 'cold' and then putting a cold pan into the oven.  I think it would take too long to heat up and the top would be cooked/burnt.  But happy to be corrected on those assumptions!

Greying X

themadvix

Greying_Pilgrim said:

The pans that I saw being used in commercial ovens on the internet were I think cast iron - or very heavy weight metal if they weren't cast.  The problem is that unless you're able to throw your pizza (made) into a pre-heated pan, you're not getting the instant 'zap' of heat.  The pan I use for my pizza is actually quite thin (think like a conventional roasting pan).  

I've never really used cast iron, but I would say 'yes' if you can pre-heat it, but 'no' if you're putting your pizza into the dish 'cold' and then putting a cold pan into the oven.  I think it would take too long to heat up and the top would be cooked/burnt.  But happy to be corrected on those assumptions!

Greying X

This sounds right to me - you’d need to a) have a pan big enough to slide your ready made pizza into (and if you’re like me, pizzas are not a regular shape 😂) and b) have a peel/board to launch it off of (although that’s not a major issue - a wooden one isn’t expensive - the metal ones for ovens can be).

Suffolk_lass

On the rare occasions I make pizza I use a cast iron griddle on the floor of the hot oven, so the direct bottom heat emulates a wood fired oven. I allow a couple of extra minutes for the griddle to get hot as I form the pizza on it - I use Rosanna sauce (named after the Italian woman who used to run the kitchen at the County Hotel opposite the County cricket ground and taught Italian cookery classes at evening classes) - it's the base for all her tomato dishes - shout if you want to try it. I do make proper pizza dough using my Kitchenaid dough hook but we also make Jamie O's flatbreads and use these as pizza bases if we CBA to wait

edinburgher

Pizza thoughts. Tried again today for lunch with a preheated Pyrex baking tray underneath. Those beggars get uncomfortably hot if you think about turning on the oven! Slung the pizza on top and am not convinced it made any difference whatsoever. In fact, perhaps the base was a tiny bit less well done? I am guessing perhaps reduced airflow through the holes on the pizza tray undid the good of trying to put the pizza tray on top of something that must have been emitting a huge amount of radiant heat...Pizza was very nice all the same - thinly sliced turkey breast strips, yellow peppers, red onion, capers. We behaved ourselves and split one pizza between two adults, with a lunchtime walk to follow

beanielou

Pops to ed’s for lunch. Yum. 

edinburgher

Another day, another (little) bit of work started confidently and professionally, engaged with other teams and ate an acronym salad I might end up making myself useful at this rate

• £76.09 to Extension (decided to move a £69 overage from Childcare + some other wee bits)
• £5.91 to EF
• £5 from personal spends to personal cash savings, nearly up to £700 in there now

We are considering going away for next Christmas. Which is a nice thought, but the research is a hateful undertaking, as always

Willow1983

Thanks to everyone for the pizza making advice 😬