Sunday, November 16, 2008

Pizza Dough Calculator

I created an Excel spreadsheet so that I can make the exact amount of dough that I want with no waste. It's based on the Forno Bravo recipe using Molino Caputo 00 flour. I like things with a healthy dose of salt, so the base recipe in there has the salt on the higher end, but that can be adjusted as desired - as can any other variable. Simply enter the dough ball target weight and the number of pizzas desired, and out comes an adjusted recipe. Easy!

Download the Pizza Dough Calculator Spreadsheet

First Pizza

Well, I finally have a pizza oven that's actually been used to make pizza - imagine that! Dough and sauce were from scratch using the recipes from the Forno Bravo website. The dough was surprisingly easy to make - they have an excellent and extremely thorough PDF document that runs 63 pages just on making pizza - it's as detailed as you could ever want and extremely helpful. Overall, the entire experience was suprisingly fun and relaxing - I made 5 pizzas and they all came out really nicely. I can't wait to make 50!

Starting with a banked fire and a nice clean floor.

Pulling out the dough - the Molino Caputo 00 flour makes a really nice, extremely workable dough. Pulled out into a uniform crust with very little effort.

Sauce and cheese go on.....

...and then into the oven.

The pizza, doing its' pizza thing.

Giving it a turn to evenly brown the edges.

About two minutes after going in, it's a finished pizza. A little basil and olive oil finish it off.

The first of many. A really decent pie for a first shot.

Was it worth it? Oh yes. Good stuff.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Details, details.....

Really just buttoning things up at this point - soooooo close to being done I can almost taste the pizza. Actually, as I type this, first pizza is about....two hours away! Very exciting for sure. Some friends and family will be coming over, I've promised nothing in the way of edible food, so hopefully I'll at least beat those expectations. The weather is just amazing - 70's to 80's in November, so I'm typing this from the hammock (photo below) in the yard with the dog on my side. Not too bad for late fall. On with the pics!

The hammock from which I write this. Nice and comfortable, and a gift from my wife as well.


The firepit got hooked up this week by the plumber. My wife asked for everyone to pool money together for her birthday to get this super swanky outdoor sectional sofa. Two pieces were damaged in shipping, so we'll be getting another end chair, and also a free standing chair to go opposite the couch. Marshmellows have already been roasted - good stuff.


The patio is in one of the lowest parts of the property, and so drainage is an issue when it comes to sinks and such. Rather than spend ~$5k to tie a waste line into the sewer, we just went with this free standing basin and some hose bibs for hot and cold water. When the basin fills up, I take it to the side of the yard and dump it out. Cheap and easy.


The stucco is finished and painted. The grill and side burner have been hooked up and work. I spent about 4 hours removing the protective plastic film from the grill - I'd like to find the person who put that stuff on there....and uh....well let's just leave it at that. Alex the carpenter assembled the table he made today, and I'm quite happy with how it came out. Just a few more things to button up and the whole project will be done. The lighting will go in this week, and then it's just down to tiny little details on such. I'll be very, very happy to be done! Time to light a fire in that oven and cook some pizza!