Brio’s Pizza after Hiking the Catskills Fire Tower Challenge 2024

We just finished hiking the Hunter Mountain fire tower for the 2024 Catskills Fire Tower Challenge on Thursday. The Brios Pizza spot is on the way home. This was the second time we went to Brios in the same week. Just the day before we stopped by for pizza after finishing the Overlook Fire Mountain tower.

On Wednesday we got the fresh mozzarella, garlic, tomatoes with chicken pizza. We had this pizza a few times at Brio’s already. This time we added some chicken on it. It wasn’t bad but I wasn’t a fan of the chunky tomatoes. In the past they sliced them really thin and that was much better.

I really wanted to try the plain pizza so I got 2 slices for myself.

When we came back the next day to finish another Catskills fire tower hike we stopped by to get a fresh plain pie. The pizza would have been really good if they didn’t go so crazy with the garlic. It was way too overpowering for this plain cheese pizza. Some spots of the pizza there wasn’t any garlic on it and that was really tasty.

Have you tried Brio’s from 68 Main St, Phoenicia, NY 12464? Comment below on what you love or don’t love about their pizzas

Homemade Pizza Day with 4 Pies

I forgot my outdoor pizza oven at the other places we were staying. I was craving some pizza and decided to try the new electric oven we got in the old house. The oven was able to hit 550F pretty quickly. I was going to use my pizza stone but I forgot that at the other place.

The first pizza was the classic cheese pizza. I split an 16oz pizza dough into 2 smaller pizza doughs. Normally in the Expert Grill 15″ wood fired pizza oven they would rise up more while baking. The same didn’t happen with the electric oven.

The second pizza with the plain cheese pizza with some basil on it.

The third pizza of the night was half peppers/mushrooms with half suho meso (dried beef jerkey)

The last and final pizza of the night was the dessert pizza with some nutella, strawberries and blueberries. This one gets a lot of hate on YouTube but it taste delicious.

How often do you make pizza at home? What is your favorite method of cooking pizzas at home? I prefer my Expert Grill 15″ outdoor pizza oven but when its cold out the electric oven does the job.

First Batch of Pizzas Made with ExpertGrill Charcoal Pizza Oven

First batch of pizzas made with ExpertGrill charcoal pizza oven from Walmart. This was the best money I have spent in a long time. We can quickly make pizzas, in 3 to 5 minutes when the fire is at temp. Which is your favorite pizza below? Stay tuned for more pizza creations with the ExpertGrill Charcoal Pizza Oven

Pizza Fan Club House Build

We recently purchased the Expert Grill Charcoal Pizza Oven from Walmart. My goal is to see if I can build a club house to fit in my new pizza oven on the deck. There is no plans for this build, I’m doing it as I go and changing my mind a thousand times =)

The framing is almost complete. At this point I had to go back to Home Depot for more supplies and to see what options I have for the tiling I want to use inside.

After wasting hours driving from Home Depot to Lowes because only Lowes had the .59cent tiles. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this and it was my first time doing tiling.

Now we are up to the the tiling part of this DIY Pizza fan club build. It got really messy for our first time tiling but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be =). The next goal is to find something cheap to use on the sides of the house that is waterproof. This has slowed down the build because I can’t decide on what I want to use lol

Pizza Oven Steak and Potatoes

Do you have a good pizza oven steak and potatoes recipe? We could just keep making pizzas in our Expert Grill charcoal pizza oven, but what fun would that be? Plenty, actually, but sometimes you need a little variety in your life. And, a chef should always experiment and try new things. No harm in trying, right? Before making our steak, we first made salmon and potatoes in the pizza oven. This was a process, but in the end it was delicious.

Today, we decided to make pizza oven steak and potatoes. Who doesn’t love steak and potatoes? Don’t answer that! It’s not every day that we indulge in this meet, but when we do it’s usually a filet. This time we got two rib-eye steaks. The price was better and the steaks were bigger. More meat, more protein, am I right?

Steak and Potatoes in Pizza Oven

For the steak and potatoes recipe I wanted to use the cast iron skillet but did not want the potatoes to get stuck or burn. So, I decided it was a safer bet to cook them separately in a different pan. After the potatoes were cooked almost all the way, I took them out and put the cast iron in the pizza oven. Once the pan was heated up, I placed the seasoned steaks in. The sizzle was perfect and just what I wanted! After two minutes I flipped the steak and waited another two minutes. Then I placed the potatoes back in with the steak and let them heat up in the skillet. Let’s just say this was the most delicious steak and it was hard to share. We have two cats that love steak and they got a tiny piece as well.

You can cook your steak in a pizza oven, straight on the pizza stone. I don’t like to think about the cleanup afterwords and it won’t give me those grill marks that I like. So, I’ll stick to cooking pizza oven steak and potatoes in the cast iron skillet. Next time, I’ll cook the potatoes in the same pan, for added flavor and to speed up the process.

Do You Need a Pizza Peel?

So you bought a new pizza oven, but it doesn’t come with a pizza peel? You stare at the stove and wonder, “Do I really need a pizza peel?” The short answer is yes, you do!

Pizza peels can either be wooden or metal. A peel allows you to place your pizza on the stove and retrieve it. Wooden peels are great for transferring the pizza from your kitchen to your oven. The raw dough will not stick to the wooden board. Just be sure to coat it with flour or cornmeal. These options are also great for serving your pizza on. You can also cut your pie on the wooden surface.

Metal pizza peels are great for retrieving the pizza from the hot oven. They are thinner than wood and can easily slide under the pizza. A metal peel makes it easy to rotate your pie in the oven. If you want to use just a metal peel, be sure to coat it generously with flour. This can ensure that the pizza dough doesn’t get stuck to the peel. I recommend that you don’t allow the dough to touch the end of the peel, where the handle begins. If your dough is stuck to the metal surface, gently lift it off a little at a time and dust more flour under it.

What size pizza peel do you need?

Regarding the size of your peel, you can go with small or large ones. Smaller peels can be around 10 inches and larger ones can be 16 inches or more. If you’re making Neapolitan-style pizzas or personal pies, you don’t need to go bigger than 12 inches.

You have other alternatives if you’re headstrong about not buying a pizza peel. You can choose to make your pizza on a silicone mat that is floured generously. Be sure not to burn the mat when you slide the pizza in the oven. You can also use foil dusted with flour as your peel surface. These options are good for placing the pizza in your wood-burning oven. To remove the pizza from the piping hot oven, you will need something thin and wide. A spatula will not be able to hold the entire pie, and you might regret not purchasing that cheap pizza peel you were eyeing.

In my opinion, it’s a good option to have both a wooden peel and a metal one. The wooden pizza peel can be used for placing the pizza in the oven and for serving your pie. Metal peels are great for rotating the pizza and retrieving it from the hot stove.