I haven't used the mud oven for a few weeks, and I was craving some pizza today. I fired it up just before lunch and started the dough inside. I started it using a small sliver of lighter wood from Clemsonfor. It worked really good to get the maple going. Trying out the moisture meter he gave me as part of the SS gift. The oven is eating well today. A nice rolling hot fire. This maple sounded like bowling pins when I split them down smaller. Soaking the floor with hot coals. The wood baking door is inside sitting in water waiting to cover the door to keep heat in. After the coals were raked out I put a cast iron trivet in to keep the bottom from burning. Halfway check. The foil cover was removed and olive oil basted on the crust. All done. This pizza had fresh ground sausage and sauteed mushrooms on it.
That looks great. I want to build one of those ovens in the new year. We eat a good bit of pizza ourselves.
I use the Devin's Chicago style recipe at pizzamaking.com. Spicing up your own plain ground pork for sausage is also an enhancement. I like the quick heat of baking in my well coaled insert,my substitute for a wood fired brick oven. no pics, but I most recently turned smoked pork butt leftovers into a deep dish pizza using sourdough started dough and a sweet barbecue sauce(Sweet Baby Ray's).
Your pizza looked yummy and you're saying you cooked it in your insert right? How do you know how long to cook it? Basically what is your technique, do need to keep the pan off the coals, and can you take some pics documenting the process as most wood burners could use this info? Thanks, Ray
I sort of rake the coals to the side, and set the pan down in the middle of the firebox. Usually about ten minutes. I take a look at it about 7 minutes, looking for browning edges, look at the bottom for the same. The sausage is already browned, Io dont put it on raw. the fast hot cook on the crust makes all the difference. I have thought of, but have not yet gotten a camp fire grill to keep the pan up off the bottom of the firebox. Not much of a process, just keep the coals to the side, direct contact would burn your pizza. I never know how hot it is in there, just wait till well coaled over and keep an eye on it for ten minutes. I haven't put a loaf of bread in there yet, but that would be easy with a remote probe thermometer to know when it hits 200 degrees.
