Too Much Fun...

[Xabia Jim]

Last night was the first real use of our wood fired oven. When the dome went white, I pushed the fire to one side and mopped the hearth with a wet cotton mop.

We tried 8 smaller pizzas, 4 pesto based and 4 tomatoe based. Every one was different with toppings running from onions, tomatoes and/or red peppers, to chorizo or anchovies with mozzarella and/or goat cheese.

First rst one was put in as a sacrifice....came out perfect. Some toasting of the crust but it was turned before it could do damage. Then two more after we tasted the first, then two more, then the last three. I think a few crusts got tossed but the 8 pizzas served six with a salad and some mussels.

I used smaller bits of wood on the coals to get the fire to rise up the dome and come down the other side to cook the tops....worked great!

I was just tickled.

My notes show that the oven had temperatures from 500 to 850 degrees. The hearth in the oven and the back wall/base were 500, the dome was 850 and turning white. The exterior ranged from cool to about 100 so the insulation layer has worked very well. (Underneath the oven is warm so we had raised the bread doughs under there.)

When the pizzas were done, I removed the coals and opened up the oven to cool it down for about 1/2 hour, then threw in a round loaf of wheat bread. Seemed to do fine. I threw in a glass of water for some steam (don't have my sprayer ready yet). All seemed well so we threw in the other 3 loaves we'd made. Another glass of water on the hearth for steam.

[Xabia Jim]

Well you can see from all my recent posts that I've been having a blast.

The oven is still hot and we will again be cooking Pizzas for a party tonight. What a long weekend....Happy New Year!!

Since the last pizzas have gone in the oven we've added recipes for:

Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Roast Baby Pig

Rosemary Potatoes

Roast Lamb

Roasted Artichokes

Roasted Red Peppers

Baked Eggplant

....and I finally added the photos for all of the above.

This looks like it will be a fun year.

And I always throw some rosemary on the fire for the ambiance and aromas. Just behind the oven is the rosemary garden.

Still smiling....

[Xabia Jim]

Refired up the oven and added a few new recipes!

We did a beef roast. I marinated for a day in a wine, olive oil and rosemary marinade. I put in on a bed of rosemary in a terracotta baking dish and cut garlic cloves in half to put over the roast. Baked it in the wood fired oven for about two hours.

After an hour we put in the red onions and eggplant. Also a few heads of garlic.....nice combination.

Very nice with a red wine!

Jim

Tiempo Para Guzarlos.....