Justifying your oven

[Frances]

I'm not quite sure where to put this, but since it concerns bread, its going in here.

Last night we worked out that with me baking nearly all our bread these days, and supposing that we would otherwise be buying our favourite bread at least most of the time, which costs about 3.60 USD per loaf - vs. 1.90 for a kilo of flour - we are saving somewhere in the region of 1000 USD per year!

This is asuming that the gas oven and the WFO cost about the same to heat up.

I know the intro has that bit about justifying the cost of your oven... but somehow I never expected it to have such a direct effect!

[nissanneill]

Hey,
who needs to justify the oven.
Everyone and I mean everyone who has come to try/taste/experience it it justification in itself. Anything over and above this is a bonus.
Gee, you are paying heaps for your flour, I'm paying less than Aus$10 per 10kg for special unbleached bread flour which from one of the fussiest critics (my other half) agrees that the bread and pizza bases are 'fine'.

Neill

[Frances]

Huh, well that's Switzerland for you! Its good flour, but I do need to look into buying bulk.

Good point though Neil. I was just astounded that it would make such a difference.

[egalecki]

Wow, your flour is spendy!

A long time ago I worked in a sewing store which sold high-end machines. They were lovely to work with- easy to use, reliable, made sewing a joy instead of a fight. I used to get SO mad at the women who would come in, sew on one, fall in love with it, fantasize about all the fun (and practical) things they could do with one, and then say "oh, but I could never sew enough on it to justify the cost". Crap. They never asked their husbands to fish enough to justify the bass boat. Or go pro golfer to justify the clubs and membership and greens fees. (fill in any expensive habit here.. )

I know this isn't the kind of thing you meant, Frances, but even if it cost a little more, if you just like to make bread, that ought to be good enough, right?

I'm loving trying to figure out all the ins and outs of the oven, myself, and I get downright peevish when I have to turn on the oven inside. It takes FOREVER to heat (always, always look carefully at the watts in and electric oven before you buy.... ) and I'd much rather use my WFO!

[james]

Artisan bread is equally expensive in California. Pizza, bread and coffee can really add up. :-)

I agree with the sentiment that says -- this is great, who needs to justify it. But if you have to convince someone else, it's worth a try. :-)

Here's the original web page.
Comments?

Pizza Oven Economics | Why You Should Install a Pizza Oven

James

[Chef]

Pizza oven $1,000 or so

50lb of King Arthur Flour $19.00

Time with family and friends .......PRICELESS

no justifying needed.....

[Frances]

Originally Posted by james

Here's the original web page.
Comments?

Pizza Oven Economics | Why You Should Install a Pizza Oven

You re-wrote that since I last looked at that page, didn't you?. Its good, better than before.

And hey, its also true . I mean besides the fact that a WFO is a really wonderfull thing to have around.

Elisabeth, I like your point about the sewing machines. And yes, home-made bread 100 times cooler in any case. It would be worth paying more for it.

Of course I only bake bread so that I can say "oh btw, I make all of my own bread these days" and people say "oh, thats cool"... actually they don't, they say "if you mention that one more time I'm going to scream". But baking is a very fullfilling thing to do.

[Modthyrth]

Impressive numbers, Francis!

The one that turned my husband's head was the equity we'll be building. I got some bids for a pizza oven, just to see what the pros were charging in our area. I got bids ranging from $15k to $18k (USD). Just for the oven, not the rest of the outdoor kitchen project. I got a bid for our whole design, and got estimates from $50k to $75k. We're going to spend between $5k and $6k on our entire project. That's not money we're going to realize immediately, of course, but when we sell someday, or should we decide to refinance, it would make a huge difference.

Pizza ovens seem to be the cutting-edge (hah!), hottest appliances for extremely upscale outdoor kitchens. I've seen them popping up and mentioned a lot in the last few months, in fact. A recent HGTV show on the top 10 outdoor kitchens in the country featured at lest 5 wood fired ovens! You can't always see them in the picture, but if you click in and read the descriptions, at least half of the "best" outdoor kitchens in the country feature these lovely devices. Perhaps the percentage was even higher; they only wrote a couple sentences about each kitchen, after all.

I think this is a rising trend. Good place to be, business wise, James. ;-)

[james]

Nikki,
Just like the Internet, timing is everything. :-)
James