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Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

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Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#51

Post by jrs95 »

dahlueblojen wrote: post #45
MisterTea wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New Yawker here: It's mainly a NY thing (and probably throughout the northeast) used to describe a whole pizza vs individual slices. Though it's rare to hear someone use the phrase "pizza pie" as it gets shortened to "pie". When I order pizza I always ask "gimme a pie to go" and I get a whole pizza.

You know I love what your city did with pizza. I love how much it has influenced pizza around the world. However I'm getting tired of seeing NY-style pizza shops opening up here in central Ohio. Some chain that focuses on NY-style relocated their headquarters here (from previously being in NY!). We've already got our own style (central Ohio, wider Ohio region as far as I know). I don't want poor imitations of NY styl…

Sure Sbarro’s are starting to pop up more but that’s largely just because they want to compete with the other chains. The only one of those doing an Ohio style pizza being Donatos.

Decent NY style pizza can be found here as well though. Sarefino’s at North Market does a pretty good job. There’s not any risk to Ohio style pizza as far as I can tell though, the overwhelming majority of independent pizza places still serve this almost exclusively.

Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#53

Post by littleweep »

dopeboy wrote: post #48

The guy quoted, Kenji, contributes to Serious Eats and is active on reddit and twitter. He's done a lot of work on comparing different flours, comparing different pizza ovens, and also has good recipes. If you're a pizza buff, it's well worth your time checking out his work. I've made his hacker free pizza [0] which turns out decent. The hard truth, though, is that you're never going to get the chewy, moist flavor fr…

I read your blog articles then read more articles on your site. I'm impressed with your writing style and you've inspired to write up some of my own experiences. Thank you very much for sharing.

Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#55

Post by joseph »

justsomedood wrote: post #11

Another option is to use a Kamado grill with a pizza stone. They can get very hot, and with the charcoal it gives it a nice smokey flavor. You can add wood chunks for extra flavoring as well. It's hard to eat pizza from the oven now after we have starting cooking them this way!

This is what I do as well, and the results are amazing. Another benefit is that with the right dough and temperature, the pizza bakes in two minutes or less.

Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#56

Post by dahlueblojen »

jrs95 wrote: post #51
dahlueblojen wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know I love what your city did with pizza. I love how much it has influenced pizza around the world. However I'm getting tired of seeing NY-style pizza shops opening up here in central Ohio. Some chain that focuses on NY-style relocated their headquarters here (from previously being in NY!). We've already got our own style (central Ohio, wider Ohio region as far as I know). I don't want poor imitations of NY styl…

Sure Sbarro’s are starting to pop up more but that’s largely just because they want to compete with the other chains. The only one of those doing an Ohio style pizza being Donatos. Decent NY style pizza can be found here as well though. Sarefino’s at North Market does a pretty good job. There’s not any risk to Ohio style pizza as far as I can tell though, the overwhelming majority of independent pizza places still se…

"the overwhelming majority of independent pizza places still serve this almost exclusively"

The old neighborhood independent ones, sure. But newer developments (that aren't just catering to campus) are seemingly all NY-style.

To be honest I'm probably less annoyed with having the option than I am with that we have our own stuff, so let's celebrate that instead of copying NY and LA and being a purely derivative culture.

If I want NY-style pizza, I'm going to NY. Anything else is a poor imitation.

Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#57

Post by davymac »

aequitas wrote: post #28
radicalbyte wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just buy a pizza steel (like this: https://pizzasteel.com/ ). Warm it in an oven at max for 45 minutes, then turn the grill (broiler) on for 15 mins to get it as hot as possible. Then bake your pizza on it with the grill still on.

Or make your own using a slab of stainless like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldo56hGAzHA I can recommend Alex's channel for the more hacking/DIY minded chefs.

+1 I love Alex’s channel. Highly entertaining!

Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#58

Post by dopeboy »

evgen wrote: post #6
Rjevski wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming you have an “outdoors”. When living in an apartment this isn’t possible.

Check out uuni pizza ovens. They use wood pellets for fuel and in 10 minutes of pre-heat mine gets to the necessary temp to cook a pizza in a minute or so. Small enough to put on table on a balcony or fire escape and you can even pack it in a carrying bag and take it on the road.

Thanks for the suggestion. How do you like the uuni pizza oven? Also, does using the wood pellets get you a smoky taste to it?

Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#59

Post by MisterTea »

So the whole thing can be reduced to the fact that the brick supporting the pizza transfers heat to the crust slower than steel. This allows the crust to cook at an even pace with the water rich toppings.

It sounds like if you want brick oven pizza you don't need the entire baking chamber to be constructed of brick. You simply need a brick platform on which to place the pizza. The brick needs to be heated to temperature first though.

Re: Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake the Perfect Italian-Style Pie

#60

Post by awinder »

dopeboy wrote: post #48

The guy quoted, Kenji, contributes to Serious Eats and is active on reddit and twitter. He's done a lot of work on comparing different flours, comparing different pizza ovens, and also has good recipes. If you're a pizza buff, it's well worth your time checking out his work. I've made his hacker free pizza [0] which turns out decent. The hard truth, though, is that you're never going to get the chewy, moist flavor fr…

this is fantastic, thank you for the great writing & information! I was curious, is there a reason you go for KA over caputo? I migrated from KA -> Caputo after getting into the recipes from https://www.amazon.com/Flour-Water-Salt-Yeast-Fundamentals/d..., I perceived a positive difference, but it was anything but a blind experiment :D.
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