Maximus: My first attempt

Great first post with the new toy.

A couple of suggestions....

Take out the wire rack with a pair of long tongs and a good glove (like a welders glove from Bunnings). I don't always use that wire rack anyway. Sometimes I'll just build a pile of wood with a couple of Samba firelighters in the middle to get it going. I like having the fire in the middle initially as it burns off the crap from last time.

I don't push the heat shield all the way over once it's lit, I leave a small gap between the plate and the side wall which makes the fire burn better but I do still have plenty of room for the paddle to go in.

To turn the pizza, take it out, turn it on the paddle and put it back in. I usually find one half turn is enough and cooking time only a couple of minutes. Temperature on the dial would be 250-300.

I close the door when cooking and to get the oven up to temp once the fire is really going well.

Use small logs so they burn hotter and don't smoulder.

I did burn the base of the pizzas once but that was because I had the fire going too long before we started cooking and the floor obviously got too hot. But that's only happened once and it was a very long time before we cooked so it's not usually an issue.

If you have a wire trivett like from a Weber Q, use that to sit the capsicum on and it roasts really well before cooking the pizza. Again, keep turning it with long tongs.

I use a hard brush I got from Bunnings to sweep out the ash but as you found, you need to be careful that it doesn't burn. I cut the end off the brush and screwed it back on the handle so it's flat. Works a treat.

To get rid of excess ash, use a metal pipe as a blower. I crushed one end down a bit so it works better. The pipe is also from Bunnings.

Keep at it, these ovens are bloody great.

PS, I can't help with the making of the dough, we use a Thermomix for that and it's perfect with no mess.

I'm sure @Narm Naleg will reply and he's the dough expert.

Thanks for the update, love seeing the Maximus in action!

Quote from seana

A far less messy way of getting a good dough with the least amount of effort.

I use a very large SS bowl and mix by hand directly in it. Honestly, it doesn't take long, is not much effort and no mess because it is all contained within the bowl.

Quote from seana

Ingredients (ideally) I should be able to buy easily.

Don't buy your dough. It's really easy once you get the hang of it. IMO no sugar in the dough and no sugar on the pizza. The ingredients are easily available everywhere.
I usually use dry granulated yeast packets. It may not be the best, like a sourdough starter, but it does the job just fine and I always have them handy in the kitchen cupboard.
1Kg of good flour
650ml of tepid water (give or take, add more water if you think it's too dry or more flour if it gets too wet)
1 yeast packet (7g)
30g of salt
Mix the yeast in half the water and the salt in the other half.
Add the yeast water to the flour first, mix in, then repeat with the salt water.
After you've mixed for a few minutes give the dough a 10 minute rest. Mix some more and prove the dough till you're ready (you can make the dough balls half way through the proving too).

You can make 6-7 pizzas with the recipe above. Or make 3-4 pizzas and one focaccia (once the oven has cooled to under 200c).

Quote from seana

Have to get better at giving myself more room to cook. And learning not to singe the kitchen sweep brush when clearing the ash for cooking prep.

Your metal barrier seems too far towards the middle. Once your fire is strong you should move it further to the left so you have more room.
How to move it when so hot? Get yourself a long, hard, one piece (not hinged) pair of old style tongs and wear a BBQ mitt or glove as suggested by Gumb. The alternative is to use some fireplace type tools. One of the advantages of Maximus is that it isn't all that deep, so you don't need very extra long tools.

Quote from seana

- Have to get better at giving myself more room to cook. And learning not to singe the kitchen sweep brush when clearing the ash for cooking prep.

Turning the pizza can be done as Gumb suggested or the way I like to do it, which is by using a palettino (pizza peel with a small diameter head): https://www.cateringequipment.…18-8-500mm-hdl-200mm-dia/
The best $14 you'll spend!
I use a wooden peel to launch the pizza into the oven (slides better off wood) and the palettino to turn and retrieve.

As for the ashes, I use the palettino or the tongs to move them off the space where the pizza is going. A minute amount of ash shouldn't be a problem.

Quote from seana

Need to think about the amount of smoke it gives off, especially on initial lighting.

Keep the door closed on startup. It might take a few extra minutes to get going, but it's still quick and all the smoke will go out through the flue.

Quote from seana

Might get one of those heat guns and figure out what the ideal floor temp should be

If you mean a laser infrared thermometer, then absolutely. It will tell you the floor temp, which should be at (minimum) 400c for Neapolitan style pizza cooked in 90 seconds. Watch out as some of them only go up to a certain temp.

Quote from seana

- Got to figure out the whole heat thing.

Get the oven to temp, which should take about 30 minutes or so. Then keep it there by feeding small chunks of wood (every few minutes).
I've found 450c to be perfect for Neapolitan, but 400c will do.

One thing I did with the paddle they supplied was to round off the back corners with a grinder. They kept catching on the sides of the door as I pulled the thing out from the oven.

Great news that it's coming along and the results are better. My wife is the pizza maker and I do the cooking, which does make things easier but if you have a few guests over, it's more difficult making them because you need to keep them coming but the production line isn't that fast. It's probably the main reason we just cook them for the two of us and not worry too much about feeding a hungry hoard.

I wouldn't be t too hung up on the floor temperature, I'd have very little idea of what mine gets to. I just crank it up, wait a short while and get the temp gauge up to between 250 and 300 and I'm good to go.

When the pizzas are finished, try using some of the left over dough and make a focaccia or two. It's easy once the oven gets back down to about 200c and they come out great.

I think I mentioned this before but once the fire is pushed to the side, I roast a capsicum on a trivet, which then gets sliced up to go on the pizzas. They go nice and black and it also gives the oven a bit more time to heat up.

I tend to put a small bit of wood on half way through so I've still got flame across the roof. You can even lift the pizza up to the roof and just under the flames with the peel at the end and that gives the top a nice char.

@seana that prawn pizza looks fantastic! If you want the border to be puffed up make sure you leave a little more dough there when you're stretching the pizza ball out. You need stretch out the pizza by hand and not use a rolling pin (which will squish all your precious air out of the dough).
You might also need to get the temp a little higher. Don't forget that neapolitan needs 450c (minimum 400c). The higher temp gives the dough a delicious shock and it bounces up more than you'll get at lower temps.

Many people add semolina to the dough. Personally I don't like the texture. A bit on the peel is a good idea though.

There is a learning curve to anything and pizza making has its own, but the rewards are awesome. You're well on your way!

Quote from Narm Naleg

Don't forget that neapolitan needs 450c (minimum 400c).

Narm, can you confirm that you are talking about floor temperature measured by an IR gun, not the temperature on the dial ?

Quote from Gumb

Narm, can you confirm that you are talking about floor temperature measured by an IR gun, not the temperature on the dial ?

That's right. I know I'm spot on the temp when the floor is 450c as measured by my ir thermo. Obviously that only applies for Neapolitan style pizza, which has a fluffy airy edge and is not crackly. Cooked in 90 seconds. That's my favourite style of pizza, but it is a little tricky to get right.

Thanks. I just wanted to make that clear for seana because when I first got mine, I spent a long time trying to get to 450c and never got there, thinking you meant to thermometer.

My maximus wall thermometer is very unreliable. In a small oven like the maximus if you get the floor to 450c the rest will be around the same temp. Worst case use the peel to lift the pizza off the floor to stop the bottom from cooking faster than the top.