Comments!

I appreciate all comments and thank all of you that write them!

Now go out and get some good pizza!

P.S. Most of the pictures of pizza seen on this blog are ones I have made. 

Dough Change!

Hello: 

Just a short post to tell everyone I have started using a different pizza dough recipe.  And this recipe is in some ways so much better tasting and easier to make than the one I posted a few months back.  It's Roberta's Pizza Dough, from the restaurant in Brooklyn.  Check it out here here: Roberta's. Watch the video--- I did---several times too. The recipe makes two 12 inch pizzas so if you want more---double the recipe.  I do give it a 24 hour rise.   

Another really cool Roberta's connection is that in Pittsburgh there's a mobile pizza oven, Pizza Boat, next to Bar Marco in the Strip.   Those guys used to work at Roberta's.  They make a pretty awesome pizza too.  It is my go-to place when I am craving a pie. So visit them some weekend evening and follow them on Twitter and Facebook to see when they are firing it up! 

UNDER THE DOME

FINALLY!

Earlier this summer---first fire!

I finished the oven--- I put on the final layer of refractory mortar called "Heat Stop." This stuff is expensive and heavy but one 50 pound bag did the trick.

Looking more like a "real" wood fired oven!

Winter Slumber!

Some Pizza Fun!

In the winter---I bake pizza inside in my oven at 500 degrees---using a stone.  Still good!

WINTER OVEN---Brrrrr

Wow! What a winter--- here's the oven under the snow and ice.  I've got it covered with plastic---so it should be in ok shape.

 I can't wait to fire it up--- hopefully  by Easter?   I probably will have to do a slow heat to burn off some of the moisture from the weather. 

The oven is still not quite done. I have one more layer to put on --- a heat stop---for more insulation.  

Think warm, think pizza, think NOW!

I am getting better...

...at getting the oven fired up!  Tonight I  cooked five pizzas in the oven.  And each one was different and of course all of them delicious.  And I am getting pretty good at making the dough too.  Whenever time allows I do the 24 hour dough (recipe below)--- letting it rise in the refrigerator, removing it and forming the individual balls a few hours before fixing 'em up.  Tonight the oven got totally saturated with heat--- the walls were cleaned, not a soot to be found.  The floor was about 700 plus degrees and the walls 890 degrees.  The pizza cooked so fast I had to keep my eyes peeled, one look away and a crust got burnt.  And everything was homemade and home-grown tonight--- the basil, the tomatoes, just yummy.  Right now the oven is cooling and I am roasting a pan of beets.  I love beets, I will sort of pickle these--- in a vinaigrette of chopped onions, garlic, apple cider vinegar, salt and a hint of smokiness too.  

Did I mention...

...that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did an article on backyard wood fire ovens?  Check it out here "Build a pizza oven in the backyard."