Charred to Perfection

In the spring of 2007, we did a backyard project that included a new wood fired pizza oven. I love outdoor cooking so this addition was right in my wheelhouse. I couldn't wait to start making pizza in the new oven...and so I did.

Looking back now, I made some awful pizza. The fact that people ate it and I actually got some positive reinforcement is a testimony to making them wait to eat and serving lots of beer while they're waiting!

My last several efforts, however, have shown some real promise. I recently made six pizzas for my daughter's 17th birthday party. Teenagers will eat ANY pizza (including the frozen stuff served on a cardboard crust), so I let their compliments go in one ear and out the other.

But I ate a couple slices and they were pretty good (if I say so myself!). I am becoming particularly fond of the chicken pesto we now make.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I would post some photos of the most recent effort:

This is a photo of several crusts ready to go. I tried several different recipes (including a whole wheat crust) before I finally landed on this more traditional recipe. The secret here is the flour. My crusts were always tough and chewy until I bought Antico Molino Caputo pizza flour. It is used in most Pizza Napoletana restaurants. This special finely ground flour yields a tasty crisp crust with a moist interior.

The next important ingrediant is a hot oven. You can see my fire here is about 800 degrees. I like to cook in a 700 degree oven. That will cook the pizza in 90-120 seconds. It takes a good hour to 90 minutes to get the oven to this temperature. The roof of the oven is white and the flame will peek out the top of the mouth of the oven. This fire is ready to go!

Here is a cheese pizza (the kids' favorite) cooking. It needs to be turned about 4 times during the 90-120 seconds that it is cooking. I like to finish the pie off with the "Jimi Hendrix" method. I take the pizza peel and "Kiss the Sky" (hold it about 5 inches from the top of the oven) to brown the cheese across the entire pie.

Here is a pizza after about one minute in the oven. It is a little black on the near side (too many photos and not enough turning of the pie!). "Charred to Perfection."

Here is a chicken pesto pizza in the oven. Time to put the camera down and start spinning the pizza!

Here is a chicken pesto pizza still on the peel and ready to be sliced and consumed.

Here is another chicken pesto pizza. It has been sliced and it appears someone got a piece before I got my picture!

While I have found that red wines go pretty well with pizza (cab with cheese pizza, a big zin with pepperoni, pinot noir with the chicken pesto, etc.), nothing goes with pizza like beer. For me, the hoppier the beer, the better it compliments the pizza.

So after six years, many experiments and some undeserved compliments, my wood-fired pizza is finally ready for "prime time". I'm still making them wait and serving plenty of beer while they wait, but now the pizza is worth the wait as it is "charred to perfection"!