Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The physics of baking good pizza

arxiv.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 159 posts

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#121

Post by chaosbutters314 »

imh wrote: post #67
chaosbutters314 wrote: post #42

This paper is so oversimplified. If you're actually curious in the physics of food, check out the journal of food engineering. We use much more complex physical models to simulate the physics of food. Fun note, this is my job and it is pretty cool to really dig into the science behind cooking and then apply that to an industrial scale.

Any specific fun recommendations for a similar target audience as OP?

oh god, I don't think the only thing close is Alton Brown's good eats. It is the closest thing to food science classes you'll get that are general and simple to understand

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#122

Post by chaosbutters314 »

panabee wrote: post #83
chaosbutters314 wrote: post #42

This paper is so oversimplified. If you're actually curious in the physics of food, check out the journal of food engineering. We use much more complex physical models to simulate the physics of food. Fun note, this is my job and it is pretty cool to really dig into the science behind cooking and then apply that to an industrial scale.

this is very cool! 1) what's the most helpful physics-based cooking tip most people aren't aware of? 2) are there efforts in food engineering to apply machine learning to recipes in the same way some projects are trying to automate other creative functions like graphic design?

1)how to optimize volumetric versus surface heating versus air/water heating of food. Once you understand enough about heat transfer, combining microwave, broilers, hot air and sous vide type cooking let's you create food textures that are better suited for your personal likes. Like cooking a turkey, people that complain about it being dry don't understand the difference between heat transfer and mass transfer.you don't have to dry out meat when heating it.

2) this is for food science, not food engineering.But yes, my this is a new area food companies (and specifically my boss) is getting into is to use AI/ML for understanding process and recipes to design new foods or troubleshoot problems

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#123

Post by krzat »

shaklee3 wrote: post #11
Tomte wrote: post #5

I relented and bought a pizza steel. Best thing ever. And not as over the top as a dedicated wood-fired oven (single use: pizza) for garden or balcony. It's my 80% solution.

Check out pizzamaking.com. It's probably the central place to chat about all things making pizza. While a home oven will get you decent pizza with a good stone, there are outdoor solutions that aren't too expensive. I got the blackstone oven, and it makes Neapolitan-style pizza in about 90 seconds, just like a large wood oven does. The difference is it uses propane with a giant flame arching over the pizza, and it ha…

$400 oven is pretty expensive compared to a steel made from scrap. And steel is way easier to use.

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#124

Post by jazoom »

roel_v wrote: post #120
jazoom wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It won’t be there by the time the dough is fired. In my dough it most certainly is, and it makes a big difference. Olive oil does not caramelise.

... your dough caramelizes? How much sugar do you put in?

Probably not as much as you're imagining. I like just a little bit of caramelisation.

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#125

Post by stevesimmons »

majewsky wrote: post #116
keypress wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cook from fresh every day. Now granted I'm not the fastest cook - but it can take anything from about 20mins to an 1h 30mins to prepare dinner. While I'm cooking I'm cleaning and doing other tasks. Left overs carry over to lunch or another evening meal. If I were to use a frozen meal, I'd have to defrost, and then cook, and likely would want something alongside it - like veg or salad. Unless Chef Mike (Microwave) i…

> I find it hard to see this being that much quicker. A part that's much quicker is that you just grab a frozen meal from the store, rather than first figuring out what to cook and then searching for ingredients at various sections of the store.

Once you cook regularly, "figuring out what to cook and then searching for ingredients at various sections of the store" takes next to no time. Most of what you buy are the regular weekly standards. Just spent two minutes writing a shopping list before you leave home.

Then for the first few days after you shop, cook the meals you planned. And towards the end of the week, open the fridge/cupboard and think "what needs to be used up?"

The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#126

Post by stevesimmons »

flukus wrote: post #99
unwind wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, off-topic but as a non-native speaker, is that use of "capsicum" standard? Where are you located? I had to look it up to make sure you meant (US: bell) peppers.

Capsicum is the standard name in here (Australia) from wikipedia: >The large, mild form is called bell pepper, or by color or both in North America and the United Kingdom, but typically called capsicum in New Zealand,[8] Australia, South Africa, Singapore, and India. It does seem strange that even anglosphere countries in the eastern hemisphere ended up with a different name for some reason. Presumably it was also ca…

I grew up in Australia calling them capsicum. Now I live in the UK and the Netherlands, it is pepper/paprika respectively.

Some other differences in Australian and UK usage are zucchini vs courgette and eggplant vs aubergine. Not much of a French influence down-under. And Italian immigrants dominated Melbourne's fruit and veg trade in the 1960s.

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#127

Post by mkingston »

flukus wrote: post #99
unwind wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, off-topic but as a non-native speaker, is that use of "capsicum" standard? Where are you located? I had to look it up to make sure you meant (US: bell) peppers.

Capsicum is the standard name in here (Australia) from wikipedia: >The large, mild form is called bell pepper, or by color or both in North America and the United Kingdom, but typically called capsicum in New Zealand,[8] Australia, South Africa, Singapore, and India. It does seem strange that even anglosphere countries in the eastern hemisphere ended up with a different name for some reason. Presumably it was also ca…

> Presumably it was also called that in the UK at some point too.

Perhaps it became common in all of these countries at the same time, long after colonisation, leading to different marketing/naming between these countries.

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#128

Post by dboreham »

bobbybroadcast wrote: post #33
makmanalp wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a pizza steel which I've wanted to try forever: https://slice.seriouseats.com/2012/09/the-pizza-lab-the-baki... ... not a perfect neapolitan but looks good enough for me.

My wife and I just made 4 pizzas on this last night. It is great but the edges around the pizza were golden brown and not that bubbly crispy crust you get in pizzerias. I am convinced now more than ever that the dough is the critical procedural element we were getting wrong. She used a 1 hour dough where even the pizza steel recommends a 72 hour one. Needless to say, she has one in the proofer for Wednesday night.

Indeed. Although Physics is important in the cooking process, Pizza is all about Biochemistry. Since flour and water have essentially no flavor, all the taste comes from what the yeast makes as it metabolizes the flour and other carbohydrates present. More metabolic activity == more flavor. More time == more yeast output.

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#129

Post by rubidium »

amelius wrote: post #96
chaosbutters314 wrote: post #42

This paper is so oversimplified. If you're actually curious in the physics of food, check out the journal of food engineering. We use much more complex physical models to simulate the physics of food. Fun note, this is my job and it is pretty cool to really dig into the science behind cooking and then apply that to an industrial scale.

What is the most prominent journal for this field?

"journal of food engineering"

Re: The physics of baking good pizza

#130

Post by pathsjs »

culturestate wrote: post #104
jacques_chester wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The American concept of "a touch of sugar" is different from most places', so for that audience the advice is pretty sound. I moved to the USA from Australia. If I want bread that doesn't taste like cake, I actually have to bake it myself.

As an American who lives abroad...I hear this about American bread all the time but I've yet to discover what's actually different. Supermarket sandwich bread is just about the same everywhere. Perhaps the rest of the world is just used to buying from a bakery, rather than the supermarket?

Well, it's the other way round. In Italy supermarkets evolved to contain bakeries, because otherwise people would not buy supermarket bread. Nowadays you can find pretty good bread at the supermarket, but it is all fresh
Post reply on HN