Just like the perfect storm, perfect home-made pizza requires just the right set of variables to align. I haven’t got there yet - but one day I will… maybe the answer’s simple: a trip to Italy is needed.
Anyway, I’ve been playing with a list and plan to refine this over the next few weeks.
1. Go Woodfired!
Surprise surprise. I tried for 10 years with a conventional oven only to learn that a clay or brick oven at twice that temperature is the only way to go. Do this one thing and you will get a 500% improvement in your pizza.
2. Fresh is the best
Kinda speaks for itself - dough, sauce, cheese, toppings - buy fresh, prepare just before use. Make your dough and sauce from scratch - it’s easy and the pay-off is huge. Both sauce and rolled out bases will freeze (my sauce recipe is great for pasta too), but they are never as good as fresh. I know I said the sauce freezes well before, its fine, but just, well not perfect - and that’s what we’re after here.
3. Topping sympathy
Simple one this, don’t overdo it. If you’re making thin crust pizza (the only option imho) you don’t need handsfull of mozzarella and buckets of toppings - go easy.
4. Heat - Touch, Feel & Breathe
My hypothesis is that there are 3 kinds of heat happening in a pizza oven. Now these probably won’t stand up to any scrutiny by a Physics teacher but here’s my commonsense thinking…
Firstly conductive heat - the dough in contact with the oven;
secondly ambient heat the air temp;
thirdly the radiant heat created by the wood fire itself (embers and flames).
In an open Pizza Oven (ie with no door) you need a well soaked (fully heated up) oven - each will be different - for mine it’s about an hour, hour and a half; you need it hot hot hot, and you need to keep a fire going - with flames. You need to get these 3 heat types working well together for perfect pizza and I’ve found this tricky. Trial and error is the only way.
5. Damp Dough
I like my dough slighty wet to the touch. You can flour it up to stop it sticking. My unproven theory on this apart from the fact that it’s easier to roll is that it creates more steam, more quickly when it hits the floor of the searing oven. This creates that lovely crispy outside and soft inside.
6. Post Oven Trimmings
Can add a lot - a sprinkle of freshly ripped basil or rocket, prosciutto, a twist of pepper. If you can resist diving straight in, which is tough - let me tell you, a lot of value can be added at this point.
7. Scoff Immediately
Not one that troubles my household this one.
From table to hand to mouth within two minutes - the only way. It’s why for me delivery pizza - even gourmet thin crust, never lives up to expectations (apart from costing three times what it does at home).
That’s it for now - any feedback greatly appreciated, tell me what you think makes a perfect pizza - I want this list to get better!
Greetings,
I came across your website looking for sites on how to build my own portable wood brick oven. I love cooking and especially pizza, I have been working on a whole wheat pizza recipe and I thought if I could create a portable wbo, I could sell my pizza at the farmers market using the fresh produce at the market and make a fresh healthy pizza. I was looking at your steps, do you have any advice for a true novice, I’m not much of a builder but I like trying to do things myself, especially when it comes to saving money. Any help would be greatly appreciated, even a list of materials. Thanks for the site and the photos.
Cheers,
Sergio
Hi Sergio, I’ll try and get to the materials list at some stage soon. The farmers market idea is great, been thinking of that myself… this oven though is unsuitable for that. I think you need a trailer-based solution. Send me some pics when you get there. Cheers
Simon