Pizza Oven
Feathers and Insulation
Sep 05, 2012Insulation is a topic that I always find interesting. Thinking back to my first brick oven, and trying to work out how high heat retention and insulation work, and the various roles that bricks, concrete, sand and vermiculite play — it was all a lot of fun. Besides, what the heck is vermiculite anyway? Along similar lines, I heard an interesting Podcast today on Fresh Air about “feathers”. According to... Read More
Forno Bravo Pizza Ovens in Red
Aug 30, 2012With the introduction of the Strada60 this week, we are also introducing a fun new product strategy. Starting now, all of the Forno Bravo assembled residential pizza ovens are available as standard products, at the standard price, in two colors — we’ve added Red ovens. Our stucco finished ovens, including the Primavera and Toscana are available in Giallo, a warm Mediterranean yellow with a brown glaze, and Red, a warm... Read More
The New Strada60 is Here
Aug 28, 2012Exciting news. The new Strada60 oven is now available for sale! The Strada60 is our smallest and lightest oven that fills an important niche in the wood pizza oven marketplace. It is small enough to fit in a truck or most SUVs and minivans, and light enough (though it still weighs a hefty 315 lbs) for two strong guys to set up — making it the first real pizza oven to... Read More
Wood Fired Pizza in Sacramento and Lake Tahoe
Aug 28, 2012Now there is Wood Fired Pizza in Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, Jim King, owner of Rolling Stone Pizza Company and director of tennis at the Yuba City Racquet and Health Club — and owner of mobile Forno Bravo oven since 2009, had a nice article in the Appeal Democrat. That sound like a good dual career. Read More
Making a Pretty Good Baguette with Pizza Dough
Aug 25, 2012Everybody has leftover pizza dough. Two nights ago, we had company and made flatbreads to go with steak and salads, and we ended up with two 275 gram dough balls. They weren’t anything special; just regular 65% hydration dough using Trader Joe’s general purpose flour (embarrassing, but we ran out of both Caputo and Central Milling 00), and the dough balls sat out most of the evening and developed a... Read More
Pizza Oven Ash On My Bread
Aug 22, 2012One of the aspects of daily bread baking that I am continually running over in my mind is the trade-off between attempts at perfection and time. The law of diminishing returns, and where you reach the cross over. Return on time investment. Time and motion analysis. Operations research. Earlier, I wrote about how I usually proof larger batches in the mixing bowl, with a linen cloth covering the dough. I... Read More
So Many Variables in Bread Baking
Aug 22, 2012When I said that I was going to follow the same formula, but increase the water, in order to see if I could replicate (and hopefully fix) the problems that I encountered a couple of days ago with my too-dense, under-proofed, really crusty whole wheat loaves. The good news is that I bumped the water from 78% water to 84% water, and it made a huge difference. The dough was... Read More
Brickwork
Aug 19, 2012What’s a trip to Europe without some really nice brickwork. The first is the cathedral in Delft and the second is the University library in Leuven. I really like this stuff. Makes me want to go out and build a pizza oven. 🙂 Read More
Half Whole Wheat Baguette
Aug 18, 2012It’s never that great coming back from vacation, but one thing I can always look forward to firing one of my pizza ovens. You just can’t beat a good fire to lift your spirits. Another interesting thing about having been away is that the cupboard can be pretty bare — which was the case today, where I could barely scrape together 500 kg of flour without having to go shopping.... Read More
