[Amazon.ca] Lodge Cast Iron 14in Pizza Pan $79.08

Cashforlife wrote: ↑ Any reason you would want to buy this instead of the AmazonBasics one, for half the price?

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B073Q8LMLT/ref ... NrPXRydWU=

- Size: Both 15" outside width, but the Amazon has a thinner bottom and taller sides that slant in an extra 1/4" per side, making it 1/2" smaller cooking surface (not a big deal really)
- Thermal mass: The lodge is 4.33 kg vs Amazon's 3.05 kg, about 42% more iron to load up heat and transfer it to your pizza (the whole point)
- Surface texture: Both are rough cast, but the Lodge at least has the potential to be sanded smooth, and with that bulletproof seasoning method will be fairly non-stick. The Amazon has special ridges for holding on to your pizza so you can't slide it off, and for blocking your attempt at scraping it off with a spatula (actually I have no idea what they're for; just guessing it's to reduce weight to make it easier to use despite making it less useful).
- And the Lodge has nicer, smoother handles (not a big deal).

Don't do what this guy did. He removed a part of his oven's locking mechanism and he put it on auto clean mode to reach temperatures above 800 degrees.



He used a steel sheet and it burned the bottom of the pizza.

fightbriz wrote: ↑ Right, but why is the traditional surface of a wood fired oven brick or stone, why not line it with a cast iron plate, or a large steel plate, that would be hotter than brick or stone right? Or perhaps you want a hot oven but not necessarily the cooking surface to be super hot?

And even for home use, cast iron would be much better than a pizza stone right? There must be one without a lip out there.. Like a pizza steel but made of cast iron... But i guess at that point might as well just get a steel...

Regarding your 2 steel setup, you're saying have one top, one bottom, preheated like an hour at max heat (NOT on broil, but regular BAKE right?). You launch onto the one below, about 5mins? Then you transfer it to the one above to broil like 2mins? What i don't understand is, when you transfer to the top steel, that's when you switch the oven to broil mode right? But the broil coils will take like 10min to fully activate, much longer than the 2min or whatever that it takes to broil, so how does that work?

Also, on Bake mode, are the top coils activated? Or only bottom ones? On Broil mode i assume only top coils are activated.

I think because they were mostly built before steel was cheap and readily available. Now there is a fetishization of "authentic" Neapolitan pizza including the oven. The stone looks nicer, imo and it's a more porous surface, so some of that might change the texture. I'm not convinced, personally.

There are steels out there. The easiest, imo, is to have a yard cut it for you. The forum link that I posted has advice on that, and a lot of pictures of people toying with their setups. Most home ovens are going to cap out at 450-500F, and though they often heat a bit higher than their rating (i use an infrared gun to test surface temps), there's also guidelines on how to hotrod your home oven to get it to heat up even more.

All that said, I have had good results with a stone, a steel, and even just a baking sheet in a pinch. I think the steel is the best of the 3 I've tried. I've cracked 2 pizza stones over the years. In both cases someone melted something on them. I washed them... and the moisture must have done them in. In the case of the second one, i waited a week between use - but it still cracked.

In my old oven the broiler came on right away. So it was very quick on the top and just to get the kind of browning I wanted. Sometimes I'd just forego that step. My advice is to just practice a lot. Homemade dough was the biggest difference maker in my pizza making though. I used to get dough from a local pizzeria. Even now I'm growing dissatisfied with my recipe and might start again from the ground up.

The good news is that there are lots of resources out there to help speed things along.

Cheers!

soupman wrote: ↑ .... The forum link that I posted has advice on that, and a lot of pictures of people toying with their setups. ...
.

Cheers!

Forum link? I can't find it in your previous post. I've never been able to find a yard that would cut me a steel, so interested if the cost is significantly cheaper than ordering another baking steel.

OakAged wrote: ↑ - Size: Both 15" outside width, but the Amazon has a thinner bottom and taller sides that slant in an extra 1/4" per side, making it 1/2" smaller cooking surface (not a big deal really)
- Thermal mass: The lodge is 4.33 kg vs Amazon's 3.05 kg, about 42% more iron to load up heat and transfer it to your pizza (the whole point)
- Surface texture: Both are rough cast, but the Lodge at least has the potential to be sanded smooth, and with that bulletproof seasoning method will be fairly non-stick. The Amazon has special ridges for holding on to your pizza so you can't slide it off, and for blocking your attempt at scraping it off with a spatula (actually I have no idea what they're for; just guessing it's to reduce weight to make it easier to use despite making it less useful).
- And the Lodge has nicer, smoother handles (not a big deal).

Yabbut 240 reviews on amazon.com, overwhelmingly positive. People seem pretty happy with the Amazonbasics one.

If you are into making pizza regularly, Uuni Koda is the answer

jrshopper wrote: ↑ Forum link? I can't find it in your previous post. I've never been able to find a yard that would cut me a steel, so interested if the cost is significantly cheaper than ordering another baking steel.

Here

I don't know that it's cheaper. Mine was $80 a few years ago in GVA. You can get smaller sizes cut, but I'm not sure the savings are that great. If you don't cook pizza that much something you can take out of the oven easily is probably a better option.

Cashforlife wrote: ↑ Yabbut 240 reviews on amazon.com, overwhelmingly positive. People seem pretty happy with the Amazonbasics one.

On Amazon.ca:
One three-star review:
"Ok but it will stick ,I bought it for pizza, but it didn’t work,but my husband likes to use it for grill beef."

2 out of the 3 Four-star reviews:
"The grooves are sometimes a real pain to clean (I don't believe they need to be so deep)."
"...the cleaning is a little bit annoying but it’s normal with the way it’s made. I cook bread on it and it works really well for me."

And 13 five-star reviews from people who've never used a different one and are all about how good a cast-iron pizza pan is, nothing specific to this one.

So, yes, you can save $40 and get a pan that will work, and you'll probably find it better than anything you've used before. If you tried both it and the Lodge for a while you'd probably like the Lodge better, but whether that's worth another $40 is totally subjective and up to you. To me, an extra $40 up front for something that's going to make a difference every time I cook a pizza (and clean and dry the pan if needed) for the rest of my life is well worth it, but that's just me. Whichever one you choose I'm sure you'll be happy with it. I'd suggest you strip it and season it really well regardless, so it won't rust and stain your surfaces or dish towel even when you wash it with soap.

Cheers

bumbaclot411 wrote: ↑ If you are into making pizza regularly, Uuni Koda is the answer

Ooni Koda. Thanks, I'd never heard it, but then I've never had the need to look into outdoor pizza ovens. But this does look interesting and there might be one in my future. This is the best price I found for the 16 in a quick look (it's the only model that came up), but maybe deeper searching can beat it, and there are two other models:

https://www.williams-sonoma.ca/ooni-koda-pizza-ove

Note that Williams Sonoma claims it makes wood-fire pizza. It does not. It's gas only. It looks like they have a wood model with a chimney for wood burning but I didn't look into it.

OakAged wrote: ↑ Ooni Koda. Thanks, I'd never heard it, but then I've never had the need to look into outdoor pizza ovens. But this does look interesting and there might be one in my future. This is the best price I found for the 16 in a quick look (it's the only model that came up), but maybe deeper searching can beat it, and there are two other models:

https://www.williams-sonoma.ca/ooni-koda-pizza-ove

Note that Williams Sonoma claims it makes wood-fire pizza. It does not. It's gas only. It looks like they have a wood model with a chimney for wood burning but I didn't look into it.

I have the original ooni Koda (12 inch pizzas) but I'd go for the bigger Koda 16 (16 inch pizzas). Neither has the ability to convert to wood pellets but I think it would be a huge hassle anyway. In the end the heat is the biggest factor and both can go to 900F+ Pm me if you want my personal experience with this thing. It's pretty awesome

Why so many downvotes?

This is actually a very good product. I owned it for a couple of years. It's not as effective as a stone or a steel, but it's 80% there. The advantage is that it's light, and doesn't break like a stone. It's also good for 2800F like others have mentioned.

Why not use your regular cast iron pans? Sure you can, but your pizzas will be smaller because most people don't have a 14" skillet, and placing the pizza in it is awkward because of the high sides.

I wouldn't pay more than $50 for it though. Lodge screws us royally in Canada. Why? Because they can. I think everyone should stop buying Lodge until they fix their prices.

OakAged wrote: ↑ To me, an extra $40 up front for something that's going to make a difference every time I cook a pizza (and clean and dry the pan if needed) for the rest of my life is well worth it, but that's just me.

I hear you on "buy once, cry once" but I don't feel the need to overpay right now. Price of all this type of discretionary stuff is going to drop very precipitously in the coming months.

ApeShmtCrazy wrote: ↑ Don't do what this guy did. He removed a part of his oven's locking mechanism and he put it on auto clean mode to reach temperatures above 800 degrees.

He used a steel sheet and it burned the bottom of the pizza.

i am laughing b/c i remember seeing this some where else as well and had briefly thought about trying lol

soupman wrote: ↑ brick/stone is the traditional surface in wood-fired ovens. a lot of pizza makers use steel. there's a good thread on how to source and install a36 steel into a home oven at the pizza making forums.

i would say that the cast iron pans here are not what i'd go for because of the lips they have. it will make sliding the pizza on much more difficult. the transfer ought to be done really quickly, and anything that might slow or complicate that is going to lead to heat loss. my oven doesn't go above 500, so every second counts even if the baking surface is hot, you don't want to have a crispy crust and underdone top.

a common workaround is to have 2 steels. one on the bottom of the oven where you start the pizza and one on top near the broiler to finish.

anyway - happy pizza making!

I've been using Kenji's foolproof cast iron pizza for mine and it comes out fantastic. 10% of the time I crisp up the bottom on a burner after.

I got one of these years ago from a Corelle store for ~$50-60. I've made some great NY style pizzas on it. I definitely recommend it over a stone for home oven use (unless you're gonna hack your oven I suppose)