Coal Fired Pizza Ovens

I have recently designed and built 7 Coal Fired Stone Hearth ovens for restaurants. Since I live in Southern California I have no experience with the uses for coal for heating or cooking. I was wondering if someone could help me out with some info as to the pro's and con's of cooking with Anthricite Coal.

the great thing about cooking with coal is that you can get the oven very, very hot, so as to cook a truely great pizza. I think that people are starting slowly to realize the superiority of coal-oven pizza; although i am surprised that they are building them in california. I think that will be some expensive anthricite (shipping $$) unless they getting it from alaska perhaps that would be less $$. btw, anyone ever been to grimaldi's ?? If so you will know how good coal oven pizza is.

I've been to Grimaldi's and the pizza is excellent. The ovens we've built are not in California but mostly in Florida and New England. I am working on several more projects right now. I just wanted to know where I can get as much information on the properties of Anthricite such as BTU's, length of burn and start up procedures.

well, i think i can help you. anthricite btu's per lb are around 14,000/lb.
the length of burn varies greatly depending on how much air you allow the fire, or force through it. Anthricite must have good underfire air to burn. Lighting anthricite is like trying to lite a rock; you generally get a fire started with wood then add coal when the wood fire begains to burn to coals.

My friend is the architect & G.C. company who designed and built Grimaldi's! I was there last Thursday... always good, and a great break from Leo's or BK Sweeneys!

-- Mike

Grimaldi's is great!!! been there a few times. Also "The Pie" in Port Jefferson is also good. Coal fired oven also, and closer to home. There are a few others here on the Island Of Long that I still have to try.
Jimmy

Oven Guy wrote:I was wondering if someone could help me out with some info as to the pro's and con's of cooking with Anthricite Coal.

As compared to other coal anthracite burns cleaner, I would imagine that is what you would want in a restaurant setting. You would for example never know your neighbor was burning anthracite as heat even if they lived directly adjacent to your home. The same cannot be said of soft coal. I have no experience with soft coal but from my understanding it has to be burned hot to burn efficiently, anthracite can be burned very slowly if need be, actually that is when it most efficient. Additionally it produces more soot and dirt and can produce a overpowering sulfur smell.

Price is a big factor compared to other fuels, that may be negated if you have to ship it to Florida. Oddly off the top of my head I can't think of any pizza shops in the area that use coal and there is literally hundreds of them here. In a hundred square mile area you are probably within walking distance of a pizzeria if not many of them.

The cons outside of this area would be storage of the coal, supply and getting rid of the ashes. My concern if I owned a pizza shop in Florida would be making sure I have enough fuel to fire the ovens. This is going to present a few problems. Purchasing in small quantities is going to raise the cost, additionally if your supplier runs out you won't have much to fall back on. Purchasing tractor trailer loads would be preferable but then you need somewhere to store it...

I don't know what a pizza oven is going to require to heat but I'd imagine it's quite a bit since a pizza oven needs to be so hot, if you're looking at over 20 tons a year the tractor trailer load at a time is the way to go. Purchase in the summer and you could realize a significant savings.

Believe it or not but there are approximatly 10 restaurants in Florida operating coal fired ovens. NY and NJ have around 6 and in the New England area there a 5 I know of. The shipping cost to these places is really minimal and the source I have for the Anthracite comes packaged in 40lb poly bags so it's easy to store. The ovens operate at 900 degrees which allow the opeators to fully cook pies inside 4 minutes. This is still a learning process for me but I do think that this is going to be a big hit throughout the U.S.
As long as the health dept. allows the use of Anthracite I see this as the fututre of Pizzeria's and fine dining.
Has anyone tasted coal fired foods other than pizza & wings?

FYI...

My wife & I saw "Moon Struck" when it first came out in 1989, I didn't pay attention to the scene in the basement of the bakery where Nickolis Cage was shoveling coal into the huge oven, it jumped out at me when I saw it agian recently. The oven part where they were baking the bread was just a big open cavity with no door.

Coal fired ovens were common here many years ago, just recently they were razing a old building in Pisston which is just across the river from here a few years ago and came across some old bakery ovens. It's just that there isn't any now, at least that I'm aware of. I'd imagine the cost of installing a coal fired pizza oven would be quite a bit.

It's odd you mentioned Florida since I recently received an inquiry from Florida from a pizzeria. Poly bags are convenient but if you can buy in bulk it's much cheaper. How much coal do they use in a year?

The cost to build a coal fired oven can range from $5000 to $25,000. I have designed ovens from 4ft round to 119" x 50" rectangle. These ovens a completely built and shipped. It take about 3 hours to set the oven in place. take a look at some of the ovens we've built at http://www.doughproovens.com
Right now the estimated amount of coal is 30 to 40 pounds a day, 5 days a week. The oven is operating at 900 degrees and the 30lbs of coal usually lasts 8 to 10 hours.

Oven Guy wrote:Right now the estimated amount of coal is 30 to 40 pounds a day, 5 days a week. The oven is operating at 900 degrees and the 30lbs of coal usually lasts 8 to 10 hours.

If it's only 30 pounds a day then bulk may not be worth the hassle, besides they would probably have to purchase better than 2 years supply to get in bulk.

Can anyone tell me where I can Purchase a pull down handel door closer like grimaldi's has on their oven. Luzzo's have the same door.

Thanks
Greg

Oven Guy,
I'm in Eastern Mass, north of Boston, and was wondering where there would be a coal fired pizza oven close to me. I would love to try it and I would really like to see the oven in action.

Yes, how about a list of places you know of so us enthusiast's can try them out.