Nathan Myhrvold's Pizza Project

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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THe Premise:

PROBLEM #3: You love Neopolitan-style pizza, but don’t want to invest in a brick oven.

SOLUTION: Make an oven out of a steel sheet.

Get a ¼-inch-thick sheet of steel from a metal fabricator (Google a local one), have it cut to the size of your oven shelf and insert it in the rack closest to the broiler. Preheat the oven at its highest temperature for ½ hour, then turn on the broiler and slide your pizza onto the metal plate. It should emerge perfectly cooked in 1.5 to 2 minutes.



WHAT’S GOING ON: Pizza in a brick oven cooks at about 800 degrees—way hotter than the highest setting of most home ovens. The metal sheet is more conductive than a brick oven’s stone, so it can cook just as fast at a lower temperature.

oops need a cleaning… A

I said it couldn’t be done… ( stay tuned )

Quoted from WSJ:

"To call inventor Nathan Myhrvold’s “Modernist Cuisine: The Art & Science of Cooking,” on sale next month, a “cookbook” is akin to calling James Joyce’s “Ulysses” “a story.” The book is a large-scale investigation into the math, science and physics behind cooking tasks from making juicy and crisp beer-can chicken to coating a foie-gras bonbon in sour cherry gel. There is precedent in this genre—science writer Harold McGee has published popular books explaining kitchen science, and chefs Thomas Keller and Ferran Adrià have written about sous vide and other techniques of avant-garde gastronomy—but nothing reaches the scope and magnitude of Mr. Myhrvold’s book. While it will likely appeal to professional chefs, within its pages are insights that even the humblest home cooks can use to improve their meals. The book puts traditional cooking wisdom under scientific scrutiny, destroying old assumptions and creating new cooking approaches. "

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I would just like to add that this plate when warmed in the oven may also be used to keep your protein warm, in the resting period. Preheat oven to 160 ( or 200 ) warm for 20-30 mins. cook your protein and rest, prior to cutting/ serving on the pre-warmed plate.

Paul

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But when are you going to make Pizza?

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It will be a couple weeks… I got something going on this weekend.

Bill

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Tease! [smileyvault-ban.gif]

the plate looks good
What kind of steel?
( I want to sound like I know something when I call…)
Ballpark price?

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Mel…

This is 3/8 " Stainless ( is their a difference in SS… maybe …but dont know that much more ) !! Metal cost to me was 60$ plus beer!! My friend did it. It was 14" x 18 " which allows for added circulation in case I ever want it to dampin the effect of direct heating elements on cooking other food products. It is wide enough for me to use a pizza peel between the handles too.

I’m happy with it just setting around, but I have it on my cook top, and I could see its use in making stock or other direct fire foods… so you could actually have zone cooking, like a flat top.

Paul

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Anyone know what the distance from the broiling element he used?

Paul

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555 degree oven for 6 mins

the crust :



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That’s excellent, Paul. Finally broke down and ordered the book. (Of course I waited until the first edition was sold-out [head-bang.gif])

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Cool experiment; I am really curious as to what your findings will be… [welldone.gif]

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The Results:

The dough was made: 65 % hydrated

200 g OO Caputo Flour
130 g Water
1/2 t Quick Rise Yeast
1/4 t Salt
1/2 t Honey

I mixed the flour in 3 increments , allowing for complete integration before adding the next, once all was added to the Kitchen Aid mixer, I allowed it to knead for about 7 mins. Rested the dough @ 65 degrees for about 4 hrs. I usually do a slower rise but this will do.

The Oven:

I may have missed the boat a bit on the temp… I should have held the oven @ 555 for 30 mins… I bet I only did about 10 mins… but I had company comming over.

So in to the oven, she went: The Pizza dressing: White chedder from TJ, Rosemary dust, and Kalamata olives, drizzle of Galardi olive oil.

Things are smoking a bit now and I had to keep an eye on the pie, it was centered between two element. So the oven hit 555 Convection bake for 10 mins, I put the pie in and turned the broiler on, set the timer . About at the 3 min mark I began to rotate the pie, so one area wouldn’t burn. Finished Pie:




Now… Was the pie like brick oven pizza… Probably not. I think I’m going to tweek this a bit in the next few weeks… Stay tuned.

What I expected out of the pie crust was, something that would mimic a bit of a cracker type… crispiness and a bit of char. I got a good rise out of the dough, and some decent browning on the bottom in 6 mins, but the pie dough was a bit chewy… but very edible. First time experiment was pretty cool thou.

Paul

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It looks pretty nice from the pic. Any chance of a cross-section? I’d be very interested in the moistness / squishiness of the dough…

As a general comment: I always use a water/EV olive oil mixture instead of just water. Any particular reason that you didn’t include oil in your recipe?

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Paul You may need to to hit and keep that 555 even longer than the suggested 30min since your sheet is and 1/8 inch thicker than the one they worked with. The fact that you got the cracker like crisp after only 10 mins is very very encouraging.

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Freek,

Here is after punch down… the best I have for now. The mass was origanally twice this size.

The Dough!!

I am not sure what oil brings to the game… so I have never added it.

I am going to role with this in a different direction for now… I am going to have my friend build me a stainless Dome to go over this plate. Part of the problem cooking pizza is getting heat close to the top of the pie. What i’m going to do is take this out side on my grill… I have a webber and I can get about 650-700 degrees on mine. if I build a dome I can flash cook this sucker… and I think I can get some char… Baby [highfive.gif]

Any in-put from anyone would be appreciated

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Thanks Larry…

I think this might turn out… after all!!

Paul

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If you were to do the dome I would think you would need to preheat that as well. When you think about the cooking of the brick oven the deck will get to 700 but the dome often exceed 1000 degrees

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Un freaking Believable…

A failed experiment… but the end is near!!

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I have a Creuset pizza pan that I found on eBay (they are discontinued). Might I suggest that as an alternative, which seriously keeps the heat.

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That already looks awsome and very well edible!

I find that mixing about 1-2 tsp. of oil through the dough prevents it from drying out too much. But maybe this is not an issue with the very short cooking times that you are using with the Myhrvold-method.

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Chris…

I had ask my friend about cast iron, impossible to cast and enamel locally.

I have 1/2 SS plate that is fabricated too. I am now in the process of designing a hood or dome to be used in pizza making. I origianlly thought about a 6" height window. ?

Paul