These ovens are made specifically for Napoli style pizza dough. They cook REALLY HOT AND FAST. The dough in your pre-made pizza is much too dense. This is why a dough that has been properly proofed and has incorporated the gasses throughout the gluten structure, can be cooked in one of these. It doesn't need an extended amount of time in the heat to cook the center of the dough. With dense dough, it needs a lot cooler oven to properly cook the dough without burning the outside. *PRO TIP: Invest a little bit of time learning about Neopolitan style pizza. Maybe find an authentic Naples style pizzeria in your area, try their pizza and pay close attention to the dough. It's literally EVERYTHING, when making pizza!!! If you don't start your pizza with the absolute best possible dough, it doesn't matter what toppings or what type of oven you cook it in, you will end up with subpar pizza! There are numerous RU-vid videos explaining the basics of Naples style pizza with very easy to follow recipes. Watch a few, learn a good recipe, try some pizza from a good, AUTHENTIC Napoli pizzeria, and for the love of God, USE A PIZZA PEEL!!!! I promise you won't be let down! Cheers and happy eating!
Not sure what you're talking about but you CANNOT cook a neapolitan in one of these. The temperature is too uneven and if you put more wood on the bottom it will char even worse than it did. Even if you can put more wood you can't get the proper temperatures with this oven.
They used a prebaked pizza, and didn't pre-heat the oven enough.. You can buy raw dough in any grocery store and get a much, better result than this pizza. Pizza is all about how you execute it. That is the only reason to build a brick oven. It's kind of disappointing that they spend a bunch of money and labor to bake a pizza from Sam's club. Why bother?
Use a metal pizza screen to stop the bottom from burning. I worked at a brick-oven pizza place for nearly a decade. When the bottom is done, or close to it, throw a screen under it- it will let the rest keep cooking without burning the bottom anymore.
If the bottom of the pizza is finished before the top, you can use your pizza peel and raise the pizza up towards the ceiling of the oven to get a broiling effect to finish the top!
Once the wood is burning well, move it to the back of the oven so the pizza isn't essentially cooking over direct heat. It's supposed to be more from circulating heat than direct. Also, it needs to be hotter, not cooler. Pizza ovens like that are supposed to cook in just a couple of minutes, generally over 800F. Other than that, if you want to try charcoal, use lump charcoal instead of briquettes. They burn hotter and the flavor is better (in my opinion). And for heaven's sake, take this advice with a grain of salt. I'm not an expert by any means! My experience with fire management comes more from the barbecue side, but I've done a lot of pizzas in my smoker and on my Weber kettle.
This type of design works well. It takes about 1 hour for everything to heat up to 700 and use lots of wood...I used fire brick with a pizza stone for placing the pizza on. I would be hesitant to use pavers and such since they are made from pot ash and who knows what else. Traditional clay red bricks work well too. I had a leather glove i use for the BBQ for getting the pizza in and out. Corm meal on the pizza spade helps sliding the pizza off also and do not forget to turn it while cooking. Enjoy it is fun!
I agree with you on using red clay bricks, I was thinking of using a thick piece of granite, that way I can put the pizza directly on it and I can use it as a flat top for burgers
Nice build! May I add 2 tips to baking the pizzas: 1. Wash the surface with a wet piece of cloth. It should not be dripping wet, but definitely not too dry either. Put the cloth on a stick, and quickly wash the surface of ashes and such. 2. Use thin-crust pizzas. The thinner the crust, the faster it will bake. And the less time it will spend on the hot surface. When the crust is done, if you want the toppings to get a little more, then lift up the pizza and hold it just under the roof of the oven. That is where the most heat is.
Build the cooking surface higher (2 more levels of bricks) to get it off the flame. Then, lift the pizza up with your peel to finish the top by putting it up close to the top of the oven ceiling. You have to work it a bit to get the bottom and the top perfectly cooked.
We've been playing with an oven configuration like this. I let it get hot for a couple of hours on our second try and we think it may have gotten up to 800 - 900 degrees. You need a pizza peel with a fairly long handle. You can pull the pizza out after a minute or two and set it on that hot roof to look at it and see how it's doing. When the crust started getting dark I used our peel to put it back in and keep it raised toward the ceiling to get the toppings brown. I'm using a metal peel and a long pair of tongs to reach in and turn the pizza with. I also wear welders gloves. When the oven is hot these pizzas cook fast. Between cutting wood and getting the oven hot this can keep you busy for an afternoon.
Great video, I love how you made it look nice and raised it off the ground. This is a Neapolitan style pizza oven, which is high heat 700+ for about 90-180 seconds. Will prob require you to turn it at least once. Also the dough works better if it is made with a Neapolitan ratio. Good luck! Will also prob work for other types of pizza but a lower temp control will be harder than maxing out the heat.
@@citygirlmeetsfarmboy I was going to say something similar; the pizza you are cooking is designed to cook for (I'm guessing) 20 minutes in a 400º oven... whereas your pizza oven is probably running closer to 750º. A Neapolitan pizza will cook in one of these ovens in a couple minutes, so make your own Neapolitan dough, get your oven up to temp, and have fun experimenting. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the video. You can try a pizza screen (less than $20 on amazon) like most pizza restaurants use. If the top gets close to done before the bottom gets done you slide it off the screen onto the stone just for a bit to brown up the bottom. Easy peazy. Did over 10 years in the pizza biz....keep trying until you perfect your technique on your stove. Have fun.
@@citygirlmeetsfarmboy When you pound out and stretch your dough you put it on the screen. Don't push the dough into the screen, just lay it on there. Then put your sauce/cheese/topping on it. The screen with the dough will go on the stone piece. Its almost like a pan but made of mesh. As your pizza is cooking it keeps the dough off of the hot surface but close enough to cook it. If the top of the pizza gets done before the bottom gets done to your liking, you can remove the pizza from the screen and place the pizza directly on the stone for just a little bit to finish the bottom. Here is a link to the screens...the same company makes all different sizes too. Hope this makes sense. Let me know if I can help. smile.amazon.com/New-Star-Foodservice-50677-Commercial/dp/B00EAXVURK/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=pizza+screen&qid=1603895496&sr=8-8 Enjoy
You might consider buying a large kiln shelf to span that distance instead of cooking your dough on concrete. Common pizza stones are made of the same material, but far thinner (and not as durable). A kiln shelf would get good and hot much quicker b/c might be approx 1" thick, and there would be no seam to contend with either.
I made one similar to your design and kept burning the crust. Then I changed the oven floor to a one piece brick cause there was too much heat and smoke coming up between the bricks. Now I have perfect pizza
CORNMEAL!! Get the pizza dough a little off the cooking surface and check frequently for browning. Also, when the bottom is done and the top is not quite done, put the pizza peel under the pizza and lift it, INSIDE the oven, to touch the toppings to the hot underside of the cooking chamber.
The bottom surface is to hot and the top is to cold, you have a grill more than an oven. so you need more hot air moving to the top. once its real hot and the wood burns down some, move the coals to the sides so its not directly under the pizza. even move coals to the top slab. Also make a door for the top. once the heat is balanced right it will cook real fast so check it constantly and rotate it.
Open up the back of the space 3 inches to let more heat so it will heat the top of the oven so it acts as a broil . It will even out the heat in the.Cooking chamber . Top and bottom of both slabs
Bit late response. Read some good feed back. I wanted to let you know. So the pizza doesn’t burn. Let the fire die down to get temp around 400-450 and pizza from papa Murphy’s should cook in about 15-20 minutes. Great video by the way! Oh... if you don’t have one.. get a digital temp gun. Harbor freight about 30 bux or so.
That increased airflow on the fire level will raise the heat big time. I would recommend logs that are about 8-10 inches long and have more of a coal bed and a bit less flame to have a more controlled heat. And yeah use that peel more to flip around the pie to keep from.charring the bottom
Fun project! I saw this ChefSteps idea a while back. I'm glad to see an example of this brick oven being done by real people. If you get a piece of cordierite, the material many pizza stones are made out of, to put on top of the cooking surface that may slow down the bottom getting cooked too fast. The cordierite will probably also be a nicer cooking surface. You can also try using a pizza screen to put the pizza onto when backing to reduce the heat on the bottom of a pizza. I don't think you need the paper bottom of the Papa John's pizza when cooking with a brick oven. I would cook the pizza without that paper bottom.
Yes this is where I saw the idea, on Chef Steps! I am going to try and find cordierite, I really appreciate the ideas because I hadn't heard of it before!
Get that fire going faster by using small bursts of a leaf blower on the wood. Partially block the opening with a wide snow shovel to prevent embers from blowing around
Bonjour ! Nice job, but you should check the temperature of your sole... It's possible that if you are at more than 450/500° C, you will burn the bottom of the pizza... You can also use durum wheat semolina, under the pizza and rotate it regularly to prevent it from burning ! Because, a pizza can be cooked in less than 2 minutes, if the stone is very hot ! You can also use a pizza stone, by putting durum wheat semolina between the pizza and the stone;
Maybe moving the fire of the center to the sides and allow the hot coal to cook the pizza vs the fire. Just a thought. Loved the idea of not having to make it permanent. Thanks
I was going to leave ac comment as to what I think was happening but I think you figured out at the end. I make my own dough, I have made alot of pizzas and the same temps i use for fresh dough would burn a premade pizza. I am researching making my own wood fire oven using mild steel and my welder and trying to get ideas from anyone making an oven. Good luck to you both and thanks for the video.
Looks like a lot more effort than I would want to do... I know DIY is fun but you have to look at the economics of the project too. I thought of doing about the same but then discovered a portable 15 inch wood fired grill from Walmart, for only $117.00! I've used it for the first time last week and it did a beautiful job!! I used lump charcoal and in it and did 2 pies without recharging with more charcoal.
Great job guys. However, I chuckled when I heard her say “ what did we do wrong”. What you did wrong was using the awesome high heat from your beautifully made pizza oven using a preservative loaded store bought pizza instead of the rewards making your own dough. Why would you need 700-1200 degrees to reheat frozen pizza? I don’t get it,
700 degree oven can cook store bought pizza just fine. Get a lid to cover the pizza oven. Cook for 5 min to 8 min when it first start at 500 degree. Or 2 to 4 min at 700 degree. Turn the pizza every so often to prevent one side being charred. The side that face the air vent has highest temp. The oven side with the most wood also has the most temp.
I would just leave the brick the pizza sits on completely off the back wall, 3” or so all the way across. I don’t think the little gap is enough draw to pull flame up to the top chamber to cook the top of the pizza as fast as the bottom will cook. Really the pizza should cook in a minute or two in a wood fire oven like that.
If you create a small lip hanging down over the fire area it will capture more heat and send it up through the back and create more air movement. Do the same to the top and it will create a hot area to finish off the cheese melting and browning when you raise the peel up.
So with their design it would be hard unless they doubled the size of the oven. But take a traditional domed oven shape that holds high heat in a pocket above the oven. With this design you could with a similar size oven just double the height of the upper deck cooking surface by ripping one or two of their long pavers with a demo saw into strips. Use the strips to raise the outer edges and because you’re not using solid pavers it would create the heat holding pocket in the gap in the middle. I would do a double height of strips to make a safety spot so you’re not slamming your cheese against the roof of the oven.
Basically a smaller, cheaper design for a half barrel style oven (squared dome). I made one for relatively cheap out of field stones and slate and started with a wooden half barrel that I made by bending green brush sticks and small tree branches that I later burned out of it after the mortar set. I coated the inside of the dome with clay ( about 2 inches thick) that I dug out of my yard and used bagged concrete mix for the outside and allowed it to set before I burned out the inside and checked for cracks. Turned out great and I’ve had it up to 500 without issues.
I made a similar style oven but my fire was about 7 layers lower than the stone my pizza cooked on and my bottom never burned. Yours might be too close to the fire. I also just let a big fire burn down to coals and just added kindling between pizzas to help maintain the heat. Mine was on the ground and I love how you raised yours up. I think that’s my next move. Thanks for the video!
Nice video. You mentioned that you saw parts of the design on other videos. I think you should add links to the videos that inspired you to make this. It's the moral thing to do and will also attract more traffic to this video. Neapolitan pizza js cooked within 90 to 180 seconds. Make the dough with high hydration, use strong pizza flour, no sugar, honey or any molasses, and cook it for 90 seconds and it you will get wonderful leopard crust. If the pizza is not cooked on the top after this time, use the pizza peel to lift it and cook it above surface while you're holding it in the air. Good luck!
how is it holdin up? great video, one of the best out therer, but did the pavers crack due to high heat, dont recall you putting FIRE BRICKS,...where the pizza lays so it dont crack
You have to turn the pizza every 2 minutes for even cooking if your cooking it for a total of 8 minutes and I would turn the pizza about 4-5 times and it should be cooked evenly, if that makes sense? Nice oven!
You state the back top lvl allows airflow, this could be your problem heat will take the most direct route so you are not get heat to cook top of pizza. Use thermostat to check the heat on top bricks front and back, I would think back bricks are getting some heat but limited and as you move to front it will get cooler.. Close off airflow to the back top this would force air threw pizza oven area and allow top of pizza to cook..
I did this oven works great but I used a pizza tin when I did it, made the bottom crisp but not black I also used a oven shelf so I could get another one on top 2 pizza at same time just swap then around half way took 10 min cooking
Thanks for the video. I like the air channels you incorporated into the base of the fireplace. I’m wondering though, does it tend to get clogged with ash?
I made a stacked brick pizza oven like this with a slab of bluestone for the cook surface. The whole thing was close to these dimensions. At just under 500° the bluestone exploded. I’ve read in multiple places that concrete pavers are also dangerous in this regard. Direct flame like that is risky. I wonder if you had any problems. Cheers.
@@crishamilton6678 I see these guys using cheap concrete pavers and I just don’t trust it. There are some designs out there that recommend using metal slats to support firebox brick instead. I might try that.
@@littlebob6962 ii just had a brainstorm. I looked up Kiln shelves. You can get all different sized. Not expensive. A 16x13 was only 30 something bucks. That might be an option
I was concerned that the bricks would explode. Fire brick are more expensive but safer to use.. I'd put the Fire where the pizza is (off set the wood fire) and for sure make your own dough let it rest for 24 hour minimum before making pizza with it
Yes you right. Store bought pizzas cook slower. Need to make fresh dough pizzas for high heat ovens. Store bought pizzas are much thicker than a home made pizza so it naturally takes longer to cook at lower temps. The funny example for the TV and movie dads, a turkey, we’ll say takes 4 hours to cook at 350’, so let’s cook it at 500’ for less time 🤔..ooh look can you say fire extinguisher 😂😂😂😂
That’s because the crust is already cooked before they put the toppings on u have to do that with a regular oven because the temperature isn’t hot enough to cook both at the same time conventional ovens at most get p to 500 degrees and fresh pizza cooks at 800-900 degrees (thinnish crust) for 45 secs to a minute 15 use a pizza sheet if u need it so u don’t burn the bottom and a turning peal
What went wrong with first one is it’s a frozen pizza it’s meant to be cooked at the temp recommended it burnt the bottom mostly on the second one because the stone is getting closer to 800 degrees
Ur whole build scares me I know u got this idea from chef step and thought u could make a better build if that exposed metal cracks from the heat and weight the center bricks on the ceiling and where ur pizza sits will fall in
@@djfernandovon here I uploaded a video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0JaJt9eq0eI.html Honestly I didn't expect this to make such good pizza, it's like a million time better pizza then with any oven with pizza stone or pizza steel
dunno if you guys gives a shit but if you're stoned like me during the covid times then you can watch all of the latest series on InstaFlixxer. Have been watching with my girlfriend during the lockdown =)
I'm thinking put your pizza on an unheated pizza stone then both into the oven. The stone will rise in temperature crisping the bottom while the top cooks.
The trick with good pizza is to cook it as little time as possible. It has to be well-done, obviously. But get it there as fast as you can. Preheated oven is the only way.
Just out of curiosity. No ill intentions. But i wanted to know is it normal for westerners to have their feet up on the table or platform that their food are placed on?
Watching professional pizza makers, when they take the pizza off the pizza tray and put it back on the hot surface, they only leave for a few seconds then test the bottom ( lift it slightly ) and maybe a few more seconds, not a minute or more. You burnt the bottom because you left it too long after you took it off it’s base
All those bricks on the bottom mean you have built more of a heat sink than an oven... I'd use only 1 layer of bottom bricks so you aren't building a huge heat sink. Also, to deal with the airflow (smoke) try to find an adjustable system if you can - maybe use a slab as a door, to limit the front air gap (actually increases hot-air flow) - it's a balancing act.
More of a how NOT to build a pizza oven. The inner layer of brick should be FIRE brick which is meant for fireplaces. And mortar should be fire rated too.
Oh shut up. This is kind of a myth. U can use clay bricks. Fire bricks are for longevity but clay bricks for a simple pizza oven like this will work just fine.