Modernist Cuisine

[T.G]

Anyone have the set?

If so, would it be possible to get a scan or good picture of 2-3 specific pages? Looking for some technical info on them that doesn't seem to be out there anywhere else.

[Chainsaw13]

I wish! What info are you looking for?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

I wish! What info are you looking for?

I know, me too.

I'm looking for the pages in Volume 2, I believe, where they talk about using an exceptionally thick (1"+) aluminum plate in the oven to cook pizzas. Besides the discussion and test results, very interested in finding out if they listed the specific temper and alloy they tested.

[Chainsaw13]

I’ll ask a few friends, see if they have it and can take some pics.

[kydsid]

An alternative for you might be Ken Forkish book Flour Water Salt Yeast. It's a bread book. But the author also has a pizza dough recipe. And it's adapted for the oven. He goes into extreme detail on pizza in the oven and adaptations for the lower temp of a home oven. I still make pizza in the egg, but his method is the best oven method I've ever made.

[Wharf Rat]

Two thoughts:

* could your public library get it?
* google says you can get a pdf version for less than $20.

[Chainsaw13]

Talked to a friend who has MC. He’s going to double check, but doesn’t remember them listing any specifics about the aluminum plate they used. He’s going to double check.

He did reach out to a friend of his who has Modernist Bread. In there, they use 3/8”, A26 cold rolled steel.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

Talked to a friend who has MC. He’s going to double check, but doesn’t remember them listing any specifics about the aluminum plate they used. He’s going to double check.

He did reach out to a friend of his who has Modernist Bread. In there, they use 3/8”, A26 cold rolled steel.

Thanks Bob. That's about what I ended up doing. I'm not sure cold rolled would have made a difference for this application, so I went with 3/8" A36. $54 at the local metal supplier for a 22"x24" plate. I cut, ground and polished the corners and edges then tossed it in muriatic acid to get rid of the mill scale. Washed it off with caustic and soap, oiled it and handed the 57lb monstrosity to our head cook.

Phenomenal difference it makes over the stone they tested with. Cooking the bottoms almost too fast now. Going to mess around with oven position today hopefully but might end up just having to add a rack above it with stones or another plate to radiate some more heat downward to speed up the tops.

Might have to build myself an insert for my webber gasser when this is all done...

[raisin]

There is Much discussion on the matter over at Pizzamaking.com, if you're doing home pizza they are your go-to source.

But in brief, as mentioned above, 3/8 steel plate is what you want as its a good balance between weight and heat capacity. (aluminum transfers heat much quicker, but holds much less energy than steel) If you like to to back to back pizzas, then you might want to go with 1/2 steel, but thats a heavy lift.

Bakingsteel.com has all the options, and custom orders, too. Beats doing all the research and running around...

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by raisin

There is Much discussion on the matter over at Pizzamaking.com, if you're doing home pizza they are your go-to source.

But in brief, as mentioned above, 3/8 steel plate is what you want as its a good balance between weight and heat capacity. (aluminum transfers heat much quicker, but holds much less energy than steel) If you like to to back to back pizzas, then you might want to go with 1/2 steel, but thats a heavy lift.

Bakingsteel.com has all the options, and custom orders, too. Beats doing all the research and running around...

What if I want a BLT pizza made with pork shoulder in a tortilla?

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by raisin

There is Much discussion on the matter over at Pizzamaking.com, if you're doing home pizza they are your go-to source.

But in brief, as mentioned above, 3/8 steel plate is what you want as its a good balance between weight and heat capacity. (aluminum transfers heat much quicker, but holds much less energy than steel) If you like to to back to back pizzas, then you might want to go with 1/2 steel, but thats a heavy lift.

Bakingsteel.com has all the options, and custom orders, too. Beats doing all the research and running around...

I was going to mention steel is a better option to hold heat being making pizza, indian breads, or pita in lieu of really high temps.

[stearns]

Don't have the set, only the "Modernist Cuisine at Home" book. The amount of information is amazing, wish I had a need for the full set

[T.G]

Thanks all.

This is for a commercial application. Very limited kitchen space at the present time and there isn't room on the line to add a proper pizza oven, so being the plant engineer and resident foodie, I'm trying to help our cooks out to make the best of the old Montague deck oven. Despite it's age, they are actually pretty good ovens, but they only go to 500F, and like most commercial ovens, lack broilers.

They don't have the equipment or manpower to be making dough, so it would be purchased through one of our suppliers. Thanks for the suggestion on the Ken Forkish book, it now has my attention for personal use.

I read a number of the threads on pizzamaking. com before I posted here about MC, while there is a lot of information there, but I still want to go back to the original source. Steel plates are wonderful, but a 24x24x3/8 plate to fit the oven would be 60lbs. It might happen, but still like to see the other option.

I saw the $20 pdf allegedly of the MC books early on, the problem there is that there was no official licensed pdf / e-book release. Seems sketchy to pay someone for pirated / unlicensed material.

It's also possible that due to labor they will go to a par-baked flatbread instead, which will simplify things a lot. All that will need is a stone overhead.

[Chainsaw13]

Great. Now I have another thing to buy.