I have a Baker’s Pride GP-61 propane gas deck oven that I am using to make a NY Style Lehmann recipe pizza. I now am using a hydration of 58% and my oven temperature is 525 degrees F. I have used Pillsbury Blancer, All Trumps, Kryol with good results. I now am using KASL to get away from bromated flours.
Could anyone tell me what oven temperatures they are using to produce a pizza such as mine?
Thanks,
Norma
Norma;
At 525F you are “spot on” in my book, but there are some operators that like to bake hot, and they can go as high as 600F in a conventional deck oven. All ovens are not created alike, even from the same manufacturer, so the best advice I can give you is to experiment with different baking temperatures until you find the one that works best in YOUR specific oven. I’d suggest working in 25F increments.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Hi Norma;
It is quite possible that you are not getting to the temperature you have your thermostat set for and or you oven is not holding temperature.
I have indicated before that those thermostats are a wish o stat ,you just wish the temperature of the oven is what you called for.
Your thermostat does not include a thermometer so you have not a good measure of what your oven temperature is at any particular time.
I suggest you get two thermometers. One a grill thermometer, that’s a hockey puck shaped unit that will tell you the surface temperature of your deck. The other an oven thermometer that can be suspender in your oven to indicate the temperature of the air above the deck .
I think you will find that the actual temperatures are often much different than what you have selected on the thermostat. This will be most evident during the busy evening hours. You can also use the grill thermometer to locate the hot spots on your deck.
If you will put that thermometer right on the center of the space where you just removed a pizza you can note the loss of heat in that spot and see how long it takes for that aria to return to optimum temperature
George Mills
Tom,
Thank you for your reply. It’s good to hear you think that 525 degrees F is “spot on”. That is the temperature I have been using. Do you know what oven temperature that most New York street pizzas use in a deck oven or does that vary greatly?
I will try 25 degree increments like you suggested.
Thanks,
Norma
George Mills,
I do have a hockey puck grill thermometer and a infrared thermometer. I don’t have a thermometer suspended from the top of my oven. That is a good suggestion and also to take different temperatures at different places so I can see where the hot spots are.
Thank you,
Norma
Norma;
“True” New York pizza is baked in a coal fired oven at temperatures of 800F and higher. If your deck oven gets this hot don’t worry about the pizza, you’ve got bigger problems. LOL
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Tom,
No, I didn’t mean the elite pizzas, I just meant the corner street pizzas…lol I know my oven never would get that high. I have been to New York many times because I have family living there, but I am always too busy to ever try a coal or wood fired made pizza. Next time I get there I have to experience that kind of pizza. I know I am missing out by never trying those pies. I have been to New York many times this past year and maybe in the new year I will finally get to one of those places. I was even at the Pizza Expo and Restaurant Show in Manhattan last year and because it was calling for snow my way, I wanted to get home as soon as possible.
Thanks for your reply.
Norma