Blackstone Pizza Oven - Need a little set up help

[worktogthr]

Well, I got a blackstone pizza oven for christmas. First use I had some beginners luck and made some pretty good pies in just a few minutes. A lot of room for improvement but better than anything I have achieved in my oven inside. For that round of pies, I used the set up in the manual. Preheat on full blast for 10 minutes until it reads about 650 on the dome therm, then back it down to medium for 5 minutes. Dome probably read around 575-600 after backing it down. Now I know I should have a laser therm but I don't so I am making the best at with what I have.


So today I tried to make a couple more pies and I had the following issues.

1. Crust was puffing up so much that it was getting close to the top of the flame which deflects off the top and was burning at parts

2. A lot of bubbling in general

3. Crust was way too dark on the bottom.


Consistency of the dough was good, toppings were cooked well and not burnt.



So I guess my questions are..

How do you guys handle set up for the perfect pie. How long do you preheat, to what temp, etc.?

How long do your pies take at this temp?

Do you stop the rotisserie when loading the pie? Seems common sense that you should but I am a dummy and haven't so far which perhaps has led to sauce and topping shifting which leaves more crust exposed, hense more bubbling.

How high do you keep the red flame regulator?


I am sorry I have so many questions, but I am really trying to produce pies that look nice as well as tasting good. My wife and I love the well done crust but we are not sure guests will.

Thanks so much!

-Chris

 

[Norm]

Your stone temp is too hot. I only use the dome thermometer for reference and for me a 600° stone temp is 450° on the dome thermometer. I also do not run mine full blast unless at the end of the cook I want to brown the toppings some. I set mine to the first indent on the flame control and leave it there until the dome gets at my desired temp. Keep in mind that the regulator also controls how hot of a flame you have. I invested in an IR temp gauge and it has really helped.

Sounds like your dough was fine, just need to get a consistent stone temp. I use caputo OO flour which is made for high temp cooks. Good luck!

 

[Norm]

Missed a couple of your ?'s. I do stop the spinning when putting on and taking off the pies. Mine usually take 3-4 minutes but I go by what the bottom crust looks like at the end by lifting it up with a spatula. I think I keep my regulator about 3/4's open but after a while I've just gone by how the flame looks at the 1st indent on the flame control.

Hope this helps.

 

[worktogthr]

Missed a couple of your ?'s. I do stop the spinning when putting on and taking off the pies. Mine usually take 3-4 minutes but I go by what the bottom crust looks like at the end by lifting it up with a spatula. I think I keep my regulator about 3/4's open but after a while I've just gone by how the flame looks at the 1st indent on the flame control.

Hope this helps.

Thanks so much for the feedback! It helps a lot! I use a store bought dough as of now, but taste and texture its very similar to the dough I would get in any pizza place in NY. I will definitely try your set up next time.

Just one more quick question. The dough balls I purchase are 15 oz. I hand toss to make about a 12-14 inch pie in diameter Is that too much dough? Could that be why I seem to have excess crust that bubbles?

 

[Dweverett]

I preheat it on high for a while while I'm getting things ready. Once I start cooking I turn it down to low before launching the pie. I don't turn off the turntable. I watch the crust to see how it's cooking and browning underneath. Once it looks like it's done I'll crank the heat back to high to finish the top. There is so much heat coming off the burner on high that it only takes 15-30 seconds for the top to look great and that's quick enough that it doesn't hurt the crust. If I'm cooking multiple pizzas (which is always the case) I'll run it on high for a few minutes while I'm preparing the next one to make sure the stone doesn't cool down too much.

I have gotten the stone too hot during warm up to where I burned the crust almost immediately but that's been rare. If I do think it's too hot based on how the first one cooks I'll just keep it on low between pizzas and it will come down enough.

I have the regulator fully open btw.

 

[Norm]

Nope that sounds about right, my guess is it's just a really active dough. Try making your own it's not that hard.

I make a high hydration dough (wet) if I kept the table on it would smear all over the stone.

 

[Moose]

Norm addressed most of your questions, but I can't recommend an infrared thermo highly enough. You really need to know the exact temp the stone is at, and the dome thermo won't tell you that.

When the stone hits my target temp(these days around 680-700 degrees.), I turn the burner down, and usually turn it up the last 30 seconds or so to crisp the toppings.

The bubbles you are getting are likely the result of a high hydration dough. I like them actually, but if you don't like the edges of your crust on the larger side, you can always sauce your pie closer to the edge which will prevent this.

I don't mind a bit of charring on my crust - here's a pic of a pie I did recently:

Was yours more charred than this?

 

[KpaxFAQ]

1. You need to make your own dough and cold ferment at least one day. 2-3 preferably. Store bought dough probably has way too much yeast, sugar, oil, etc. because they expect it to be cooked in a home oven at 450....

Let it warm up close to room temp before use.

You got the right tools, now you gotta do the work.

Not trying to sound pretentious, snobby, or elitist but if you truly want to make great pizza, you need to follow step one.

If you get the dough and temps right those blackstones can really churn out some amazing pie for their price point!!

If you really want to take a trip down the rabbit hole goto pizzamaking.com

 

[Free Mr. Tony]

15 oz is about 425 grams. If you are shooting for NY style pizza, that is going to be on the thicker side as a 12 inch pie. I use 275 g balls to make 12 pies. They are very thin under the toppings, and puffy around the edges.

Agree on making your own dough, but if you continue using store bought use less and dock it. If you don't have a dough docker, use a fork to poke your dough skin before topping the pizza.

As stated above get the bottom perfect, then you can dome the pizza with a peel to finish the top to your liking.

 

[worktogthr]

I really appreciate all the help you guys have given me. Makes sense about the dough from the store being designed for lower temperature cooking because come to think of it, that same dough cooked in the oven on a stone did not bubble so much! I have a little phobia of yeast but I will have to get over it if I want to turn out the best pizzas I can! I will try using a bit less dough as well as docking the dough to avoid bubbling if I am in a situation where I want to use premade dough. Thanks again!

 

[KpaxFAQ]

Another tip. If you plan to make a lot of your own pizza on a regular basis, don't buy the small things of instant dry yeast at the grocery store. Overpriced ripoff.

At GFS if you have one nearby or some other place similar you can buy a one or two pound brick for the same price or less than the tiny jars in the grocery store. Just put it in an airtight, preferably solid (no light) container in the fridge and it's good for almost a year.

Use IDY (instant dry yeast), not ADY (active dry). You just mix it right in with the dry ingredients and flour no need for proofing step.