ckreef

@Bruce Pearson I'll give you credit for throwing your money away like that. But I will say everyone needs to try it once if nothing more than to say you tried it.

No I'm going to leave Aussie with a touch of dignity. He was the dude at the beginning driving the 60's hippy bus.

I haven't thrown the jar out yet so maybe there's hope for me

Definitely a learning curve with this one. But yes that's the fun part and the satisfaction when finally start getting a handle on it.

Yea it was relaxing. Sitting on the porch watching it rain drinking a cold one. Meanwhile Mrs skreef's corned beef brisket was happily cooking away in the KK. Good times. And yes the learning curve is the fun part.

I've tried 2 bags of Rockwood. It's marginally better than RO (what I've used for years). Unfortunately the last bag of Rockwood I tried (a month ago) had no better size distribution than an average bag of RO. I was a bit disappointed. I too don't understand the "Super Premium", "Big Block" craze. Really large pieces don't burn right. High heat they give you cold spots, low-n-slow the fire has issues jumping from one piece to another. I want MD and SM pieces. Lately I've tried Fogo Premium Lump black bag (not "Super Premium"). It's harder than RO and Rockwood and has good size distribution. It does spark a little when lighting with a MAPP torch but after lightning it settles down. Also only has a mild smoke flavor which is what I want in a lump. If I want more smoke flavor I'll add some wood chunks. Be careful with Naked Wiz reviews. A lot of them are years old. Lump manufacturers get new sources of raw wood all the time. If it's an old review I wouldn't give it much credit.

Wanted to try some Artisanal bread in the WFO but expecting an afternoon thunder shower. Can I get the bake in before the rain? Nope!!! Bread dough is rising and looking good. Got the oven up to temp with a really nice bed of coals and then the thunder came. I knew what was about to happen so I threw 3 decent pieces of wood on the coals, closed the door with the bottom vent open. Now I just needed to sit back on the porch drinking a few beers while the thunder shower passed. At this point it's raining pretty good and we're cruising along at about 600*. The WFO didn't even know it was raining. The rain passed and the bread went on. This was a sort of screwed up recipe but I think it does have potential. I'll tweak it a bit and try again. I should have left it in the oven another 5-10 minutes. Playing with live fire is definitely a learning curve but I think I'm starting to get an idea on how to make it work. 

@tquando I'm going to send you a pm.

Now hold on. Snakes are our friends. He was just keeping the bugs at bay. Eventually he would have kept any rodents at bay......... Just sayin......

I did my time with tofu. I made a tofu Wellington once. That was a lifetime of tofu in one cook.

I'm not telling you good cook because you put tofu on the kabobs - LOL

TY Aussie, it's been a fun adventure so far. It did get it's first set of rain showers yesterday. All seems well. Hopefully the rain will move through by the weekend so I can try again.

My boss came down to the local office the other day. Asked a coworker if she made homemade pizza. Then proceeded to tell her about this "really good" frozen pizza you cook "homemade" in your oven. I just laughed to myself and walked away. Most of the world is clueless.

Not really happy with the bottom on these pizzas. I somewhat mis managed the fire so things should get better going forward. These are just the technicalities I need to work out but that's the fun part.

TY Tangles

No dough left over but there was a couple of slices left that I meant to bring to work today but forgot them. Bummer, I could have eaten them for breakfast right about now. This is the dough recipe I used. It makes 2 x 12" pies so I doubled the recipe. I followed this pretty much to the letter except I substituted 1 tsp (per batch) of my active starter instead of using dried yeast. I also followed the other video on how to stretch and build the pies. This dough was really easy to work with. It only took me about 60 seconds to stretch and build each pie. https://stellaculinary.com/recipes/baking-pastry/baking/bread/neapolitan-pizza-dough

That's what he requested. I didn't eat a slice of that one - LOL Margarita could have used more basil. Plus I have a pizza basil trick I'll try next time.

It's a fun cook for sure.

Yea I'm thinking along those lines If I'm going to blast through $15 worth of fuel I need to get more than pizzas out of it.

We can trade no problem - LOL. Your family comes to our house to play with live fire. Me, Mrs skreef and Hawke will go to London and Ice Land. Seems like a fair trade to me......... I'll even leave the recipe for my awesome no cook pizza sauce. Best deal you got in the last couple of years, just sayin.........

You really need 2 or 3 things ready to go for residual heat cooks. I shut the vents down right around 2 pm. Now at 6:30 pm (4.5 hours later) and it's still at least 350*f inside there. This oven reminds me of KK's with the inner insulation layer and how well it retains heat. We'll have my cooks more together next weekend

TY MacKenzie. Although the WFO was the star of the show the non cooked pizza sauce got the academy award for best supporting actor. If only all my tomato sauces came out that good.

10:50 am fired up the oven. 12:20 pm (1 hour 30 minutes) oh crap over shot my desired temp. Deck was reading 980*, dome was giving a "Hi" error. Left the door open for about 10 minutes to let it calm down before starting on the pies. Due to where that thermometer is inside the oven it's a bit deceiving. All pies were hand launched straight off a wooden peel. Each cooked in less than 2 minutes. When pulled they were put on a pizza screen to transfer to the table. First up was a Hawaiian Next was a Pepperoni. Third was an anchovy for my son. And finally a margarita. Need to get better at in oven pictures. Here is before and after pictures of the wood pile. What was used represents a 1.5 cu ft bag of Kiln dried, oak mini splits I bought at Academy Sports for $15. Wood consumption not as bad as I thought it would be. I should have had a loaf of artisan bread to go in afterwards because I had hours of residual heat left over. For first attempt with the WFO I'm really pleased with myself. It will only get better from here. On a side note: the non cooked pizza sauce was my very best to date. Just a bright tomato flavor. Thank you everyone for following along on this WFO adventure. There will be a few more pictures in the future as we put a few finishing touches on the garden area.

10:50 EST, just now lit the fire and popped the top (it's 5 o'clock somewhere, right?). Going for 750* deck temp. Yes I have an IR gun and will report Temps. Also will have before and after wood pile pictures.

Nope no pressure....... Balls in their final proof. Non cooked pizza sauce made with San Marzano tomatoes ready to go. In a little bit I'll go in and prep the toppings and fire the oven up.