Since both my Wife & I are big fans of premium pizza, I bought one of these out of need when the new GE oven was plain terrible for baking pizza due to the poor design of having only a top element and none on the bottom.

Metal is all cast iron with a grille grate for open grilling. Coal use is not recommended.

The castings and design are well thought out and fit & finish was flawless. The chimnea assembly came in two castings plus the top lid. At around $600-ish including the cost of the stone, it seemed like a great deal considering that the better units can cost 4 times that and up. The pizza stone is a perfect fit for the 14X20 grille surface. The stone has bumps that raise the underside about 5/16 inch above the grille surface to allow heat and smoke to rise. So, far so good.

First try. Got the fire blazing with some box oak from skids and with the top lid 3/4 of the way on, I burnt the pizza to a black char on the bottom and the top was still pale and undercooked in just 8 minutes time. Broiled the top to perfection in the house in the oven. Stone temp was about 675F. Pie was way too black, ate the toppings.

Second try. A half-sized fire this time, stone about 500, closed top, 10 minutes (got distracted) 3/4 charred bottom, top underdone again. Finished it in the oven on high broil. Ate half of it then scarfed up the toppings again.

Third try. Added a 1/4" thick aluminum plate above the base section (about 4 1/2 inches above the stone surface) of the chimney over a similar-sized fire & stone temperature and it did nothing to help brown the top. Kind of saw that coming considering the characteristics of aluminum. Copper plate would have been my first choice. None readily available

Fourth/final try. 1/3 size fire, closed top, stone temp 450-ish. After 5 minutes turned the pie 180 degrees because the back side of the crust was a nice golden brown, front still pale, after a couple minutes when the bottom was all brown and the toppings were bubbly when viewed through the chimney. 1-2 minutes under the oven broiler and it's done. Now it looks just right. (still working on the recipe)

So, is the oven worth the $600? I think so. The only shortfall is the lack of a low ceiling to bake a pizza in one step without the use of a broiler. But, for one pizza at a time, works for me.

It might just be me....but Dominos usually gets it right the first try.....

I respectfully disagree JTEX as my aim is much higher than Domino's, not that it's bad, just not to my taste. But, point well taken. We still hit the local Palermo's joint 2X a month.
Have you been dropping any hogs down your way? I'm getting the itch to drop one or two. Just curious how others are doing. Git dem hogs (if you hunt them).

We all spend money on things we enjoy. Heaven knows how much I have spent on guns over the years + I shudder (sorry) to think how much I've spent on my cameras + lens's addiction.

quote:

Originally posted by custombolt:
I respectfully disagree JTEX as my aim is much higher than Domino's, not that it's bad, just not to my taste. But, point well taken. We still hit the local Palermo's joint 2X a month.
Have you been dropping any hogs down your way? I'm getting the itch to drop one or two. Just curious how others are doing. Git dem hogs (if you hunt them).

Aw....I was just teasing and I bet your home made pizzas knock hell out of dominos!

It's been too hot for me to sit in a blind, but lots and lots of pigs on the game cams.

How thick is your crust? Some ovens run 750 and take 4 minutes to finish a thin crust pizza.
You really do have a great set up.

Ole Miss Guy. Crust was 16 ounces and about 14 inches across, medium thick I guess. Too much air flow above the stone, not enough top heat.

JTEX Yeah. I thought you may have been teasing. Better than Domino's but not by a whole lot yet. I made one in the old oven that was a 9.5 out of ten. Couldn't duplicate it, didn't write it all down.

never had a "real" pizza. like Pappa Johns though.

Pappa Johns is #3 on my list. Two Rows makes a Five-Meat pizza that is out of this world. #2 on my list is Palio's with a BYOB policy.

Premier Grilling held a class on making home-made pizza in your smoker. I don't think I could ever get a pizza to compare with Two Rows or Palio's so I'm out.

I own a high end pizza restaurant. You will most likely get better results by getting the temp down to 525 or so, getting heat from embers rather than an open flame.

Pizza ovens that are designed to cook at 900 degrees are designed much differently than yours, with a bigger dome, and the pizzas away from the flame by a good distance, like 3+ feet.

Also, the dough that you use is a contributing factor. I’m not an expert and neopolitan style pizza, but it’s water content as well as sugar are very different.

Also, papa johns and domino’s are like the mossberg of pizza.

They have a couple of Conan's Pizzas down that has the Chicago deep dish. They are pretty good. I like the artwork on the walls as well, Frazzeta's posters.

P.S. I like that comment about papa johns + dominos being the Mossberg of pizzas. That is quite self-explanatory.

Colin, thanks for sharing that intel. I have considered making a Kiko-Denzer-inspired earth oven for pizza and bread. It's a lot of work.
My favorite of the chains when I lived in Oregon was Papa Murphy's, a take-and-bake operation. Their Herb Chicken Mediterranean thin-crust pizza is wonderful.

never heard of pizza being sold by the slice until i saw EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND. better be a damn big piece a pizza!
our nearest "big city" has a pop of 12,000 people and one dominos for pizza. so pappa johns is a treat for us when we go to austin.

I appreciate the wisdom. Colin Masters. My mods are based on that sort of air flow. Made a few mods on the oven and am getting closer to getting it just right. I'm gaining on it. I added a close fitting flat stone 3 inches above the main stone. First run was a disappointment. Bottom stone 550, top 300-ish. Finished this pie under the broiler.
The last fire was moved to either side instead of dead center like before. Top stone now 475, bottom very hot (unchecked). 10 minutes passed while I prepped the pie. Test pizza was still not brown on top and bubbles were few. Bottom is a perfect blotchy brown at exactly 4 minutes. My fault last run was the fire died down because I forgot to add more wood. Next run I'll be using....2.25" X 3/4 kiln dried #3 grade red oak flooring. My 4 inch cherry chunks take too long to catch fire.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Colin Masters:
I own a high end pizza restaurant. You will most likely get better results by getting the temp down to 525 or so, getting heat from embers rather than an open flame.

Pizza ovens that are designed to cook at 900 degrees are designed much differently than yours, with a bigger dome, and the pizzas away from the flame by a good distance, like 3+ feet.

Also, the dough that you use is a contributing factor. I’m not an expert and neopolitan style pizza, but it’s water content as well as sugar are very different.

Also, papa johns and domino’s are like the mossberg of pizza.

Necessity might be the mother of invention but building a better mousetrap falls in the same category. I.E. = I built a smoker out of an old Norge refer about 45 years ago. Strip all the interior that is anyway plastic, leave only the porcelain liner. Install cedar side panels w/ cutouts to accept r/e bars across the fridge; cut #3 expanded metal grate to make the shelves. Build a small pan on the bottom that you can fill with sand then use that as your coal pit. Use the old veg. pan. Put shelves right above it with a pa pan that is watertight. Cut a hole in the door to accept a shory piece of copper tubing into the steel close nipple that you already installed in the door. The copper sleeve ill has a premedical cut so that one can open or close to give air to the coals. It really is simplicity itself; it takes longer to write about it than it does to do it. I have done sonme righeous smoked turkeys in this smoker.

P.S. as to being in the HVAC industry, I have used the pocket thermometers to regulate the internal heat in the fridge. A helpful hint here , If you use a pocket thermometer you will notice that below the dial there is a nut on the underside of the dial which if memory serves is 3/16". To calibrate the thermometer one needs o put the stem into a glass of ice water + then using the nut beneath the dial, turn until you acheive 32 deg.then know your findings are correct.

Neat! I bet there are lots of refer smokers out there. Some guys even leave the plastic inside.
A few pictures. Almost there. This red oak should last me a while. Catches fire well over a handful of red hot briquettes.

I added a top stone at a slight upward angle back to front to channel the heat forward and drilled extra holes in the grate at the rear to allow more heat flow to the top of the cooking chamber.

Turns out the best procedure is leaving the door open and the top cap in place.

First, starting a small half pound +/- pile of oak kindling is a snap using a Bernzomatic hardware store torch. Only takes 30 seconds to catch. After a 10 minute burn, I pushed the fire to the back and add another 8 X 2.25" inch stick. Bottom stone temp is now 425F. Cook the pizza for 30 seconds then turn 90 degrees and repeat until bottom is a blotchy brown with slight char.
Still had to finish the top under the oven broiler.
This 'test pizza' is perfectly cooked and tastes great. Sir Lancelot high gluten unbleached flour works best. This is today's pie with thin sliced leftover roasted chicken breast, rosemary goat cheese and some home made cream of wild mountain mushroom soup left to dehydrate a bit.

I think I'll keep the Aztec.