dang that looks amazing! Did you bake it in a wood fired oven? My dream would be to have an outdoor kitchen with a real wood fire oven for wood fired pizza and meats.
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nah, cast iron pan and regular oven, can’t wait to get a real oven that goes over 450 degrees
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Nice char and dough looks fantastic. I used to use an oven w/ a 1" baking steel that went to 600 degrees - game changer. Would love to know your dough recipe. do you cold ferment or proof it at room temperature?
depends on how much time I have to prepare in advance, best way is to cold ferment 24h at least but if I want the pizza same day I usually will have higher hydration and 3-4 hours of room temp…
recipe is quite simple, I go for ~65% hydration so 2 small pizzas that fit in my 10.5" lodge griddle I go for:
- 250 Caputo 00 red or blue
- 5g salt
- 2-3g dry yeast (depends on the yeast and totally can be substituted with fresh yeast or sourdough starter)
- 165-170 ml lukewarm water depends on the temperature / how much time I have for fermentation
this yields ~200g dough balls which is perfect for 10.5-11" pan
the real magic is when I make the pizza I setup a rack on almost higher setting so I can put my pan as close to the grill but not too close, pre-heat the oven on broil to almost full with the pan inside, when I’m ready to cook I’ll take out the pan and put it on the stove on medium-small flame so it will keep hot but won’t burn the bottom of the crust, put some olive oil and I use silicone thingy to spread the oil on the pan, you don’t need much of it just a thin layer so the dough won’t stick, while you puting your dough and the sauce, cheese, toppings etc. the bottom should be perfect, you need to do that couple of times to get your timings but about 30 sec before the bottom is perfect I put the oven on highest setting to get the grill to the red zone, I put the pan inside the oven for 1-1.30 minutes max and that’s it.
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anyone here can give advice on knife sharpening?
I have R2 Gyuto that I’ve been using daily for ~3 years now and it’s becoming a bit dull, it’s still extremely sharp when cutting harder things like carrots, potatoes etc., but not so much with softer tomatoes.
I also managed to put couple of dents over time, nothing serious so I don’t want to go aggressive on the knife because of it.
I have a 1000/4000 stone and I’ve tried to sharpen my cheap ikea chef knife with it, I probably ruined the angles because I can’t do it right, holding the right angle is tough as hell and I probably should practice for at least a year before attempting this on my Gyuto. I also managed to get ugly scratches all over the blade, most definitely due to not holding the angle right.
so, question is, is there any safe way for me to bring back the “laser sharpness” without ruining this work of art and damaging it too much?
I wish i could give you some advice, but im one of the people who takes his knives to get sharpened. I have a nice knife house in my city and they do a really good whet stone sharpen and ive found that its worth the money to go that route. I bought a 1000 grit stone and the thing to keep your stone flat and what not, and over covid lockdown and the nearly 1 year i was unemployed i figured that i would take the time and get good at sharpening my knives and that never happened.
im still capable of wiping the edge right off with one misplaced stroke.
id say, practice on that IKEA knife. I have one of those and though it may be cheap, its handle feels good and it stays sharp as fuck all the damn time because the steel is so soft.
Im not even sure what kind of knife i have. its japanese and its a carbon blade with a stainless jacket, double beveled.
I let the professionals sharpen that thing and i maintain it with a medium grit ceramic steel.
the folks at the shop said to think matchbook when you think of how much angle to put on the blade when sharpening. about 20 degrees or so.
I wouldn’t mind getting it sharpened professionally, but I truly don’t trust the local “professionals”, I had friends that used these services for their Globals/Wusthofs/Victorinoxes and they were never happy with the results, so I don’t want someone else to ruin this gorgeous knife, if someone will ruin it - it should be me 
but I don’t want to ruin it…
thing about my ikea, I got so used to the Gyuto shape I just can’t go back, the handle is too heavy, the blade shape is too curvy and I just don’t feel comfortable with it, I keep it only for sharpening practice at the moment but I don’t really use it otherwise.
I’ll consider getting something simple like basic Wusthof but with closer shape to the Gyuto, just so I won’t be afraid to both practice whetstone sharpening and cutting with it.
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Very true. Im lucky… i have a very good place to take mine. I trust them with family heirlooms, and they do a remarkable job. my knives are always frighteningly sharp when i get them back.
Yeah, get something to practice on. you have the gear to get a knife very very sharp, the rest is practice.
or so i hear, lol
also, that is a very pretty knife.
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thanks! yeah it’s a great knife, dude’s like 80 years old and still produces several hundreds a year, I cook almost daily with it for 3 years and it’s still sharp, pretty impressive
ive worked with folks who used $4 Kiwi brand knives that were sharper than some other folks’ $400 knives. get a cheapo thing and practice on the stone with it! if you can get good at it, a 1000 grit stone will give you a nearly surgically sharp edge.
what do you use to strop it?
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just a wet towel, I use something thick so it’s pretty sturdy, my problem is having the angle right, I tried teaching myself from this video, it’s divided into two parts - quick start and in-depth, pretty long video but I’ve watched it several times and the instructions are very good, but you have to practice to get it right and I’m not there yet.
To learn how to sharpen, an Opinel is really good (carbon steel).
Very soft steel, quickly shows your good or bad gesture,
catches up just as quickly, does not cost very much and the shape of the blade
allows you to train for several types of work. To try it is to adopt it.
It comes in several sizes, at home, from the kitchen to the table, Opinel, Opinel, Opinel.
Next to a well treated Opinel, a razor looks like a hammer.
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