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This being the weekend, something in a lighter vein:
Pizza is essentially the perfect food. Well, so long as you aren't lactose intolerant or have problems with gluten. NPR spotted a study of why different cheeses diverge in looks and taste when baked. Seriously. In a paper called "Quantification of Pizza Baking Properties of Different Cheeses, and Their Correlation with Cheese Functionality," researchers found that, among other things, the reason why mozzarella is so unique of a topping has to do with the way it's prepared. The cheese bubbles and browns because of its inherent elasticity due to stretching. In contrast, cheddar isn't as ideal because it isn't very elastic, thus it doesn't bubble as well. The same apparently goes for Edam and Gruyere, too.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/30/mozzarella-pizza-cheese/
[Abstract]: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750-3841.12540/abstract
(Score: 2) by hankwang on Monday September 01 2014, @06:29AM
I was surprised to read this number, but indeed, there is an accreditation organization that states 900 F (482 C): http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/eng_iscriviti.php [pizzanapoletana.org] .
I'm a bit skeptical though. Where in the oven should this temperature be reached? A pocket of hot air at the roof of the oven (i.e., not where the pizza is) is something different from the surface where the pizza is. And then, a material with low heat conductivity such as bricks could be quite hot but immediately cool down at the surface as soon as it makes contact with a cold object.
Anyway, a bit more googling: they say that the actual surface temperature in the oven should be 430 C (800 F): http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/public/pdf/disciplinare%202008%20UK.pdf [pizzanapoletana.org]
Why would this be better than a metal surface (with good heat conduction) at a more moderate temperature? To me it smacks of snobbish "this is the one true way because we invented this 200 years ago and there was no room for improvement".
Avantslash: SoylentNews for mobile [avantslash.org]
(Score: 2) by SlimmPickens on Monday September 01 2014, @06:51AM
It's the deck surface, if you point an infra red thermometer at the surface that's the number you'd want. That VPN website is load of bollocks, it's not how the old school piazzolos do it. In a proper neapolitan oven the flame will curl over and singe the top of the pizza so knows how hot that is?
It's just the way it's been done, I don't care as long as the parameters are correct, as I said, I use a Kamado oven. Dude in the video doesn't have a traditional oven either. Modernist cuisine for example sell a metal pizza stone. If you have a top element in an electric oven that combination can work pretty well. Other people modify electric ovens so they can use the cleaning cycle to get that temperature.
The only thing that matters is that the steam makes bubbles before the dough sets, regardless of how you get there you need that sixty second cooking time.
The Neapolitan ovens do a fantastic job though. I'm not aware of any modern approach being superior. They need need a particular kind of rock that comes from nearby a particular volcano to make the deck, not any old stone will do.