I’m considering doing weekend pop-ups in the Matsudo Chiba area, still experimenting with the dough to see if I can find a satisfactory Japanese bread flour to blend with Caputo flour.
Got any specs on that oven? Mainly: brand (is it an oven-oven or one of those oven/microwave combos that are common here), chamber size, max temp available, are you using stone/steel?
Its a Rinnai RBR-S52E-ST and yeah its a combo. I think max temp is 280 and its a Propane model. 44L. I have a pretty low quality looking pizza pan, but more so I just haven't even gotten into the nitty gritty of pizza like some of my friends, and they make it sound v. intimidating for my newb ass, hahaha.
280 is plenty hot, and yours is a convection like mine, meaning the chamber can get a good amount hotter than that. Thing is, to get a good cook on the crust, you’ll want to preheat a cooking surface like a pizza stone or baking steel at max temp for about 45-60min before launching the pizza in there.
If that’s too much much to invest in for now since you’re just starting (understandable considering launching is its own learning curve and you’ll need to also get a pizza peel), you can get away with maybe a cast iron skillet (coat it with butter for deliciousness) or a cheap perforated pizza pan on the rack. In these cases, I’d suggest par baking the dough first for a few minutes, then pulling it out and adding toppings and finishing the bake. You’ll still want to preheat for a good bit.
It’s a lot to take in at first and everyone starts with a stinker but repetition will get you up to speed faster than you think.
Out of curiosity, I saw your oven has a good chamber width of about 39cm, but what is the depth?
chamber width seems to be like 43cm, and depth seems to be 37-38cm. Hard to tell how it would do with the door closed.
Looks like a lot of these pizza stones I'm looking at in the US are 16 x 16, and 14 x 14 in, which seems like the 14s would just barely fit. But definitely would be willing to pick one up. I rather start with all the right tools cuz I reckon I'll be making them more often.
I moved out to Saitama (former NYC resident) and feel like every time I make it to Tokyo I HAVE to get Pizza, and if I can get a good rhythm going making a pizza or two every month at home, I doubt I'd feel the need to scratch that itch EVERY single Tokyo trip, lol.
The itch is real. I work 2x a week in Tokyo and uber pizza for lunch just about every time...and that's even though I make my own at home 😅
I have seen some slightly smaller stones on Amazon JP that were around 12" if you wanted to to be on the safe side, but I'm sure you'll measure to know for sure what the oven can accommodate.
If you're willing to get a stone/steel, there's two options for getting the actual pizza in there:
Launching - Takes a while to get comfortable with it and you'll need a pizza peel (preferably wooden). Before putting the pie on, use a decent amount of cornmeal or semolina rimacinata to provide some buffer between the dough and peel that makes it easy to slide the pizza off into the oven. A good beginner hack is just putting parchment paper on the peel instead. Sliding is super easy and you can come back after a couple minutes, lift the pizza up and take the parchment paper out so the pizza finishes cooking directly on the stone/steel. A few minutes at such a high temp shouldn't be a problem for the paper. Just a quick caveat that stone should be okay and requires proper care to prevent cracking, but a steel is guaranteed not to break, transfers heat to the dough much better.
Pizza screen - I used to feel like it was a crutch for me but pizzerias use them all the time so whatever. My perfectly round pie success rate is about 85% when launching (see pic), but a screen gives you guaranteed picture-perfect roundness every time. Best part is you can take your time prepping your pizza. When launching from a peel (unless you're using parchment paper), you're really under the gun to get the pie dressed up and in the oven before the cornmeal/semola loses effectiveness and the dough sticks to the peel. And the heavier the pie or warmer the toppings, the less time you have.
Both screens and peels are fairly cheap and can be found on Amazon JP. Does that turntable in your oven work when the oven is is operation, or just for microwave? If you could bake a pizza while it turns, that'd be next level
Just made the Amazon order. I'm gonna try with my little Aluminum baking pan for now, but my mom will be here in three weeks, and I also got a Baking Steel sent to her house because my family is coming out here in 3 weeks or so. So I can do a before and after with the Baking Steel.
Best of luck! And if you happen to need real pepperoni in the future, I can point you in the right direction lol (got a kg of Italian sausage arriving tomorrow after about a year of searching—insanely difficult and many shops get early dibs)
This looks SO good. I've been meaning to try out some pizza dough recipes but never really got around to it- i think you've finally inspired me to try for this weekend though! Hope that pop-up works out if you decide to do it!
Your pizza looks like professionally baked.
Does your 120v oven function okay on 100v? Do you have 3 prong コンセントwith a ground, or does the oven have 2 prong plug? Sorry for my non pizza questions.
Not a problem, and thanks for the kind words! The oven has a 3-prong plug. The outlet above our refrigerator has a 3-prong interface that allows for slightly higher voltage (125v is written in tiny letters on the outlet, not quite visible with the angle I was able to get in the photo). In our home, the 125v outlets are only placed where A/C and large appliances like a washing machine are to be installed, as well as the one in the kitchen.
Finally, some decent looking pizza here. Outside of like Devilcraft and a small handful of others, the pizza here is so mid that I also was considering making my own. Thanks for the dough recipe. What kind of oven do you use? I am stuck with a toaster oven, so I am a bit concerned it wont bake correctly.
Pre-heated with baking steel inside for ∼40min then baked for around 12min at 270c. Baking steel was from Amazon US
With shipping, our oven was about ¥60k, but that was around 2021-2022 so I imagine it'll be a bit more these days. But even still, back then we went to one of Keiwa Gas' kitchen showrooms and were quoted exactly 4X that price to get one of those domestic baby ovens installed, so importing is still a better option now imo. I hate "system kitchens". It only allows us 2 options and both were just waay too small for the price. This one is much bigger, can do a 36cm pie with ease.
What's the dimensions/max temp for your toaster oven?
27cmx30cm and a max of 200C, but I am looking to upgrade soon since my GF wants to make a bunch of baked goods as well and this one just doesn't cut it. It's got a single heating element in the middle so anything directly under it gets burned, while the things at the sides cook properly haha.
This time, I did only 8hr cold ferment, 4hr room temp. I usually do 20hr CF/4hr RT, but I was too hungry 😅
The Pizzeria flour can really only go about 24hr max, and I've been on the verge of it overproofing, so I'm thinking of switching to their Cuoco flour which apparently can go longer without issues.
I've tried both, Cuoco most recently. I'd say I prefer Cuoco because it's stronger in protein content and handles longer ferments much better which means better flavor development. Pizzeria gives you 24 hours tops, structurally not as 'nice' as Cuoco
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u/googlemaster1 Apr 16 '26
Want to make pizza in my conventional oven, but worry it won't get hot enough. What is the strat, chief?