Everything sounds the same

[Bob Stern]

8 hours ago, gmgraves said:

The buffalo I saw in the region of Italy south of Salerno around Paestum

 

Cool that you visited Paestum.  It's a shame that most tourists who visit the Amalfi coast and Pompeii don’t realize Paestum is nearby.

[Bob Stern]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

Many home ovens don't really get hot enough to do pizza properly.

 

10 or 15 years ago, I recall pizza ovens were introduced using high intensity infrared lamps similar to those used to heat silicon wafers to 800°C in semiconductor manufacturing.  Did those ever trickle down to home appliances?

[PeterSt]

2 hours ago, firedog said:

Many home ovens don't really get hot enough to do pizza properly.

 

Make that all of them.

If you find yourself to cook a pizza for 9 minutes or so, you'll know. 90 seconds ? then you're good.

 

A 900F+ oven possibly isn't even allowed in your kitchens. 

[Superdad]

5 hours ago, PeterSt said:

A 900F+ oven possibly isn't even allowed in your kitchens. 

 

Most home ovens have a “self clean” mode where they super-heat to burn off all drips and stains.  I suppose one could try scorching a pizza with that setting—though as I recall, my oven physically locks its door during the self clean cycle for safety. 

[wwaldmanfan]

33 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

Most home ovens have a “self clean” mode where they super-heat to burn off all drips and stains.  I suppose one could try scorching a pizza with that setting—though as I recall, my oven physically locks its door during the self clean cycle for safety. 

 

I know your comment was facetious regarding cooking a pizza, but I dropped 7K on a Wolf double wall oven as part of a kitchen renovation, and was strongly advised by them, as well as others in the know, that "self-clean" will shorten the life of any oven. Avoiding this feature makes sense to me. If your oven is dirty, use oven cleaning spray.

[gmgraves]

8 hours ago, firedog said:

Many home ovens don't really get hot enough to do pizza properly. Most charcoal grills can get very hot; I've done pizza on a grill and it works very well. You just have to be careful b/c it is ready much faster than in most ovens. 

I'd say most home ovens don't. What would be good for home pizza cooks would be if there were some way to interrupt an electric oven's self-clean cycle. On my stove, for instance, the oven has a special lever inside the oven door. When you throw that lever, and close the door, the oven goes to close to 1000 degrees F; perfect for pizza - except for one thing. When you close the door it locks and you can't open it again until the clean cycle finishes. If you put a pizza in there, by the time the oven let you back in, that pizza would be ashes. However, if you could place a pizza stone in the oven, and if you could modify the system so that the door doesn't lock when self cleaning, you could bring the oven up to full cleaning temperature, open the door, slide the raw pizza onto the stone, close the door, time out about 90 seconds open the door and slide the now cooked and slightly charred (desirable) pizza onto a pizza pan for slicing!

Kinda risky though. And it would certainly void your stove's warranty (and probably your household fire insurance!).

[gmgraves]

1 hour ago, Superdad said:

 

Most home ovens have a “self clean” mode where they super-heat to burn off all drips and stains.  I suppose one could try scorching a pizza with that setting—though as I recall, my oven physically locks its door during the self clean cycle for safety. 

Yep, That's what They do. You can't get to cleaning temperature without throwing the lever inside the oven door, but throwing that lever locks the door shut until the cleaning cycle is finished. Lessee, cooking a pizza for 15 minutes at 900-1000 degrees F? I don't think so.

Even professional electric or gas pizza ovens from companies like Blodgett or Wolf don't go much above 600 degrees F. 

[mansr]

27 minutes ago, gmgraves said:

What would be good for home pizza cooks would be if there were some way to interrupt an electric oven's self-clean cycle.

Why not simply modify the thermostat to raise the temperature in normal operation?

[Hugo9000]

I used to bake bread at home all the time, and talked to numerous people who rigged their ovens so they could make pizza and breads that are best baked at high temperatures.  I was always afraid to try it myself, especially after talking to others who had parts failures in their ovens from using the self-cleaning feature as intended by the manufacturer.  Apparently those temperatures are too stressful for a number of expensive components in a modern home oven, so many people don't recommend using the self-cleaning cycle at all.

 

This is similar to the method of home pizza making that a friend taught me years ago, which was good enough for me (but then, I'm not really a pizza snob, I just want it to taste good):

 

https://slice.seriouseats.com/2010/09/how-to-make-great-neapolitan-pizza-at-home.html

[Ralf11]

11 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

I suspect the difference in what the animal eats and how the cheese is cultured outweighs the difference between cow and buffalo.  I say this because I taste little difference between cow and buffalo mozzarella here in the US, yet I had mozzarella on pizza in Rome and Napoli that was enormously more strongly flavored than any mozzarella I've had in the US, even at the most acclaimed pizzerias.

 

p.s.  Some of the high end pizzerias here have started calling cow mozzarella "fior di latte" to make it sound special.  Not to be confused with San Francisco restaurants that think "hen" sounds classier than "chicken".

 

according to the book on cheese I am reading right now, both species and forage are important

 

I eat the imported Italian bufalo mozzarella, or smoked US mozzarella

[Ralf11]

11 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

10 or 15 years ago, I recall pizza ovens were introduced using high intensity infrared lamps similar to those used to heat silicon wafers to 800°C in semiconductor manufacturing.  Did those ever trickle down to home appliances?

 

I've seen that technology used for BBQ but not for inside use; could be a safety issue

 

 

this thread forced me to eat a pizza last night...

[marce]

7 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Most home ovens have a “self clean” mode where they super-heat to burn off all drips and stains.  I suppose one could try scorching a pizza with that setting—though as I recall, my oven physically locks its door during the self clean cycle for safety. 

Does it work, just got one of those and reading about the cleaning cycle is a bit worrying.

[wwaldmanfan]

14 minutes ago, marce said:

Does it work, just got one of those and reading about the cleaning cycle is a bit worrying.

 

It does work, but will burn out the oven components. Appliances are made like crap these days, and most only come with a 1-year warranty. I've been through more than my share, and I don't tend to abuse things.

[mansr]

14 minutes ago, marce said:

Does it work, just got one of those and reading about the cleaning cycle is a bit worrying.

Try it and find out.

[Andyman]

On 10/3/2018 at 11:15 PM, mansr said:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

 

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

Peter will love these

George won't... 

 

[kumakuma]

4 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

 

according to the book on cheese I am reading right now, both species and forage are important

 

 

When it comes to cheese, everything matters.

[Ralf11]

18 minutes ago, kumakuma said:

 

When it comes to cheese, everything matters.

 

including affinage

[AVphile]

Actually, I have one of those ovens with the high-intensity lamps (migrated from the semiconductor industry's rapid thermal processing).  It is the GE Advantium.  I have never made pizza with mine, but here is an article by someone who has: https://consciouskitchenremodel.blogspot.com/2009/10/advantium-first-review.html.

[Ralf11]

Advantium is spendy - how do you like it?  (as vs. a conv. toaster oven for example)

 

and - to stay on topic - does it sound different?

[Bob Stern]

14 hours ago, AVphile said:

I have one of those ovens with the high-intensity lamps (migrated from the semiconductor industry's rapid thermal processing).

 

Since you use the term RTP, did you work in semiconductor manufacturing?

[AVphile]

I like the Advantium very much, as it can, say, bake a potato in 10 to 11 minutes.  However,  it is NOT a traditional oven.  Using that potato as an example, it does not provide as crispy a skin as 450 degrees for 55 minutes would.  The Advantium is for convenience, not cuisine.