Hello, I’m new to the Think Tank and I have a question for anyone using Caputo 00 flour. I have a customer that wants to cook a larger pie in his wood-burning oven. The only successful pizza I’ve seen from this style oven is the smaller 10-12 inch size. It seems to me that because the cooking temperature is so great 800F+, with the larger sizes he will be fighting his oven all night, the bottom burnt and the center uncooked.
Yes, we could run the oven at a lower temperature, but that defeats the benefits of using Caputo, it wants that high heat, 60-90 sec baking time to deliver the best result.
Does anyone out there use a wood-burning oven and cook pizza in the larger sizes? If so, is there a flour you’d recomment? If Tom Lehmann should happen to see this tread, I very much value your opinion, your seminar at PizzaExpo was very beneficial. Hey, you were sponsored by Caputo, do you have a solution?
Lombardi’s uses a coal fired oven and some good sized pies at high heat. Don’t know their flour, but they’ve been doing it longer than anyone in US, it seems.
Thank you Nick…I see that you are very active on this site and equally generous with your time and support for newbies…thanks again. I’ll continue to pursue this issue with the Caputo people.
I’m planning a visit to Atlanta on business in late July, I’d love to come by and taste your pizza.
It sounds like you might be in the Pittsburgh, PA area from the type of pizza you describe. Sure, not a problem with the larger sizes. Just be sure to use the same dough loading per square inch of surface area for the “big boy” as you do for your smaller pizzas. Don’t forget to get bigger peels, boxes, plates, etc. too.
To calculate dough loading figure the surface area of your present pizza. Lets say it is a 12-inch and you use 9-ounces of dough weight.
Pi X R (radius) squared wil give you the surface area.
3.14 X 36 = 113 square inches surface area for a 12-inch pizza.
9 diviede by 113 = 0.079646-ounce of dough per square inch.
A 20-inch pizza has a surface ares of 3.14 X 100 = 314 square inches.
The correct dough loading for the 20-inch pizza in this case would be 314 X 0.079646 = 25-ounces.
Di it this way and your oven won’t even know its baking the bigger pizza.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
If you make it, the pie is on me. I am actually about a hour southwest of Atlanta, though. I try to give and take from here equally. That’s why I spend so much time here. I take a whole lot of info, so I fell obligated to give back what I can offer . … sometimes it’s even useful.
My shop re-opened June 1 after a 7 month relocation process, so I am back in the saddle and working my butt off again. I spend a little less time here, but I still need ideas, so I come a bit still. I’m trying not to dominate conversations so other less frequent visitors don’t feel overrun. I’ve gotten some gems from some “guest” posters.