Just saw this last night – print this coupon out, bring it to your nearest Harbor Freight tools and get a free nine-LED aluminum flashlight. A handy tool and good for dismantling and using for projects. Or use it as a bike light. I’ll be stopping by for mine later today. Offer good until Mar 24, or while supplies last.
Not a bad deal either: Thermo Tech infrared thermometer with a 12:1 distance to spot ratio and a top limit of 1022ºF – perfect for pizza ovens (my current IR thermometer craps out at 600º). 50% off today on Amazon. $39.99 final price.
Pizza: One of my favorite things to make. There are so many challenging variables in creating a perfect pizza, many that are nearly impossible to control completely. Oven temperatures, yeast activity, ambient humidity, protein content in the flour, etc. As hard as it is, even a failed pizza tastes pretty amazing. But when the variables all line up, it’s a truly magical experience.
I’ve worked in pizzerias in high school and college, taken pizza classes, and spent countless hours reading books and websites in search of the perfect pizza. And still, after many years of learning and experimenting and eating lots of great pies, I am still working to master many specific parts of the process. Currently, I’m working on using wild yeast for a rich flavorful sourdough. The first attempt worked out great–made the best batch of pizza I’ve ever made, but the second time the dough lacked the elasticity and strength to hold itself together well, and pulled apart easily while being shaped. Regardless, we cooked on the grill and the pies turned out very tasty.
Two resources that I’ve found that have been a good guide: the A16 Pizzeria cookbook (my favorite pizzeria in San Francisco), and S. John Ross’ Sourdough Bread: How To Begin website. And I just upgraded to a KitchenAid mixer finally, with 575 watts of dough-kneading power under the hood. I hope to have a solid grasp on the sourdough by the Spring. And then its back to the garden to grow those tomatoes…
Here’s a photo recap of four years of tasty pizzas I’ve cooked and enjoyed.
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As a pizza making fanatic, I love visiting well-regarded pizzerias to observe and sample their handiwork, learn some tips, and gather inspiration. During my recent travels to New York City, I set out on a pilgrimage to eat at some of the top pizza on this side of the Atlantic.
My pizza safari focused primarily on Neapolitan pizza, a style that I absolutely fell in love with during a visit to Naples in 2003. A blazing hot wood fired oven cooks the pizza in 2-3 minutes (sometimes faster), leaving a slightly charred edge and bottom, but springy and chewy in the middle of the crust. For ease of comparison (and personal preference), I stuck to the basic and classic “marinara” style: sauce, basil, garlic.
In seven days I visited six pizzerias. There are many NY spots still on my list, including Di Fara, Luzzo, Lucali, Totonnos (Coney Island, closed for renovation – I unknowingly tried to go there), Roberta’s, Salvatore’s (Staten Island), among others.
The most surprising discovery on my trip is that while the wood-fired oven is a staple for good pizza, it is not the only fuel found. Some of the top rated spots in NY use coal burning, oil burning, or even electric ovens. Secondly, the reputation of the location’s oven doesn’t always correspond with the outcome of the pizza. You’ll see this in my notes below. And, the locations that touted their use of fresh, organic ingredients stood out for the richness of their pies.
I made a quick video for each spot, to preserve the memory, show the ambiance, and take a good look at the all-so-important pizza oven. Here are the six place I visited and some of my notes. Enjoy!
A pizza peel (that’s the proper name) is a must-have tool for any pizza chef.
Most of the wooden peels you’ll find in the restaurants and stores have a wide paddle area with a simple tapered edge, extending about 3/4″ around the perimeter, top and bottom. The paddle itself consists of strips of soft wood, glued together, with an unstained finish. Sizes can vary from a few inches in diameter to rectangular beasts that are nearly 2′x3′, without the handle.
Constructing your own peel can range from relatively simple to beautifully hand crafted.
The fastest and easiest way to make a peel is with a piece of plywood.
• Find a scrap piece of quality plywood. 3/8″ or 1/2″ thick works well.
• Cut the plywood to the dimensions you require (my home-use peel is about 14″ x 14″, and overall length is 24″ – it’s shown in the top photo). Click to continue »
A few Holiday suggestions that I’ve been enjoying this year, for the science geek/builder/pizza fanatic in your life.
Tools
Flexible shaft precision screwdriver: Don’t tell Apple but I’ve taken my Macbook apart plenty of times, made easy with this mini-screwdriver. It has 6 double-ended bits: standard, philips and torx. The shaft can be extended out of the body to snake it around those tricky corners, great to remove that one metal strip that the RAM modules hide behind. I got mine at OSH.
Cameras/Video
Canon 7D: I don’t have this but I want it. Bad. Like, I might sell my Nikon gear because of this camera. Its the next step in the game-changing video enabled DSLR realm. And at $1699 for the body, you get access to film like effects that were only available on cameras costing over $100,000 a few years ago. Check out the sharpness and rich color.
Kodak Zx1: The Zx1 is Kodak’s response to the Flip. 720p HD video, and shoots 30 or 60fps. The video is sharp and clean, but like the Flip, the lack of image stabilization and optical zoom made me want something more. I got mine for about $100, but it needs an SD card so factor that in to the price.
I used it to film this clip of a catapult launching a bowling ball. Here’s another good example of its quality.
Panasonic FX37: I bought this directly from that desire for image stabilization and optical zoom. I dig this camera because it’s got a wide-angle lens that is fairly fast – more useful for low light conditions than the Powershots that I always buy, although not as impressive as the amazing Panasonic LX3. This FX37 is being phased out, so you can get some good deals on it. I got mine for $169 at Sixth Avenue Electronics.
A side-by-side comparison of these two cameras is on its way.
Blackburn Mars 3.0 rear bike light: I wrote about this in Wired a few years ago. Still the best rear bike light I’ve found. $16. While at it, build your own mega-bright LED front light.
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This is a great, low-cost project for someone who wants to test out the ins-and-outs of brick oven cooking. Super fast and easy to build, and with minor modifications, it can be assembled semi-permanently and get you through a season of baking delicious breads and pizzas.
I attended a fantastic pizza making event at Machine Project (instructor: Michael O’Malley) that included the construction and firing of a DIY temporary brick pizza oven – the ultimate in pizza cooking. Hugely educational and inspiring, even for a committed pizza fanatic such as myself. The oven, built, fired up, and torn down over the course of an afternoon, worked amazingly well – I cooked the best pizza I’ve ever made, by far.
Here’s a basic rundown on how the pizza oven was assembled. Firebricks and fireclay are available at kiln and pottery supply stores. Use these over standard red bricks as the red bricks tend to pop or explode when reaching extreme temperatures. The metal table might be the most challenging/expensive component used – watch Craigslist for used welding tables. Pavers are found cheaply at Home Depot, Lowes, or gardening/hardware stores.
(Note: bricks are heavy, and brick ovens generate a lot of heat. Please use proper precautions to ensure that you don’t burn or crush yourself while making or using your oven.)
Firebricks, pavers, and a heavy metal table. All the materials needed for our oven.
Make sure the table is strong enough to hold the weight of the bricks and pavers, and can withstand the heat. Lay out the pavers first to create an insulating buffer.
This is the jig that will be used to form the archway.
On top of the pavers, lay down a tight-fitting pad of fire bricks. Keep them as even as possible–this will be the floor of the oven.
Build up the back wall, using half-sized bricks along the sides to keep everything fairly even.
With the back wall set, place a length of angle iron along what will become the side walls. The angle iron pieces are pre-drilled for threaded rod to extend across and keep the side walls fitting snug.
The side walls shouldn’t be too tall – you want to keep the internal heat contained in a low area. A standing brick is the right size. Continue these all the way forward on both sides, keeping the bricks as tight as possible.
With the side and back walls finished, it’s now possible to start sealing. A mix of fire clay and sand will keep in the smoke and some heat, but isn’t weather proof – this allows you to clean and disassemble the oven easily.
Apply the mix to the corners and all seams. Use a liberal amount of it to make sure no gaps form when it dries.
The archway is formed on top of the jig, starting from the back. Put the bricks on from both outside edges, moving inwards.
A small shard of broken brick helps maintain the spaces that occur by the curvature of the arch.
Before removing the jig, place another layer of bricks onto the sidewalls and lock them in place with angle iron, as done on bottom. Once done, the jig can be shimmied out to let the brick arch settle into place.
Three layers of bricks gives a fairly sizeable pizza area. You can see how they stack tightly.
Another piece of angle iron bridges the bricks on the side of the opening (large enough for a peel but not too large). Bricks on top leave a space for the chimney to vent from. Keep the chimney in front, to help pull the heat forward from the burning wood at the back of the oven.
Here is the front of the pizza with the bricked-in chimney and walls.
A healthy slathering of the sand/fireclay mix on the roof and chimney areas help seal everything from escaping heat and smoke.
The chimney and walls are now sealed.
Firing up! Start the fire small to let the heat build gradually, without blowing a ton of smoke out the top.
As the fire continues, soot collects on the interior of the dome. After the heat raises, the soot cooks off.
This design doesn’t have the same heat retention as a multi-thousand dollar commercial unit, so reaching the idea temperature can take 60-90 minutes or more. Once it’s hot enough, sweep the embers to the back and use a wet toweled stick to mop the bricks.
This is my pizza, about 2 minutes into cooking. The crust had a crispy exterior and a soft chewey interior, with the perfect char. Tastiest pizza I’ve ever made.
Finally, here’s a video of the oven we built in action. Enjoy!
Don’t forget, you’ll need to get a pizza peel and a decent slicer. I like to use a wood peel for preparation and inserting (dough doesn’t stick as much to wood), and a metal peel to take the pizza out. This design doesn’t need a very long handle, but larger ovens will warrant it.
The Mario Batali pizza slicer is the best slicer I’ve found. Cleaver-like satisfying heft, oversized sharp, smooth wheel and comfortable handle. It cuts through anything without dragging the pizza across the plate. I actually bring this with me to friends’ pizza parties now–it’s spoiled me.
If you have any questions, comments discoveries or discoveries, please post them in the comments.
Monthly Giveaway! Every month I’m giving away a nice prize for helping support DO IT and spreading the DIY love. Here’s how to get in on the action.
Great news from the tomato garden: three of the plants have started to produce fruit. They’re brand new, but looking good so far. It’s going to be a good summer.
Suppose you like to make pizza, so much so that you cook it a few times a week. At that point, you’re probably exploring all the tips and techniques to make all the ingredients fresh and delicious. Which is exactly why I decided to start a tomato garden.
Hi, I'm Mike. I’m the co-host of Science channel’s Punkin' Chunkin' and Catch It Keep It. I work on TV shows explaining and building the crazy machines that crush stuff, blow things up, shoot fire, all in the name of science.
You may have seen me on fuse TV's Rock and Roll Acid Test, where I helped put some of rock's biggest legends and lore to the test.
I've previously worked at Wired and ReadyMade, two awesome magazines that focus on technology and diy living.
This site is where I keep a list of instructions for fun projects I've done or am working on. I encourage everyone to get involved - get up and make something!
Monthly Giveaway! Every month I'm giving away a nice prize for helping support DO IT and spreading the DIY love. Here's how to get in on the action.
