Pizza Oven Bread Baking Temperature
Jun 28, 2012There is a trade-off when baking bread between higher temperature baking, which gives you a lighter, crisper crust, and more moderate (lower) baking temperatures, which give your bread a thicker and denser crust. Of course not all breads are the same, and a sourdough miche typically sports a thicker, chewier crust, why traditional light, yeasted breads, such as baguettes and ciabatta’s, have the thinnest and crunchiest of crusts. But I... Read More
Pizza Pilgrams Make it to Zagat
Jun 27, 2012We discovered Pizza Pilgrams, the guys in London with the Forno Bravo built into an Ape (Italian three wheel mini truck) a while back and blogged about them. And today they are interviewed in the Zagat blog. You should read the article — there is some good stuff. Among the things I learned, one of them is called James and he really liked the oven brick ovens in Pompeii. It’s... Read More
Best New Pizzerias in the World
Jun 26, 2012These are the Best New Pizza Places — at least according to Food and Wine. Here is their list, but be sure to read the article to see what they have to say, and to check for addresses and web site. It is interesting to see Del Popolo on this list, with their monster pizza truck. The West Ciccio; Yountville, CA Redd Wood; Yountville, CA Del Popolo, San Francisco Casey’s... Read More
Peanut Butter on Whole Wheat Olive Bread
Jun 25, 2012No, really. Here is a nice while whole wheat boule with kalamata olives that tastes great with peanut butter. The olives seem to give the bread a nice moistness, without overwhelming it. It doesn’t cry out for olive oil and red wine; in fact it’s a really nice bread for lunch. Or in my case, right after running. The Forumula 800 grams white whole wheat flour 200 grams of general... Read More
Got Wood?
Jun 24, 2012You might be wondering how much wood a wood-fired oven really burns and how efficient a modern pizza oven is with fuel. So today I made a test, and the outcome was really very good. The following photos show just how little wood my Prest prototype oven needs to reach pizza baking temperature and hold enough heat to bake a load of bread. To get right to it, and the... Read More
Pizza Making Should be Simple
Jun 24, 2012This photo of Del Popolo Pizza a new wood-fired Food Truck in San Francisco from The Bend Bulletin really struck a cord with me. While the company has been getting a lot of attention in the press for, among other things, the sheer size of the food truck itself (it is based on a 14 ton, 20-foot shipping container that holds the pizza oven), what I like about this photo is how... Read More
Wood-Fired Ciabatta
Jun 23, 2012I changed gears baking today — from France to Italy and from baguettes to Ciabatta. And I had a ball. Working with a classic Italian bread brought back some happy memories, and the bread was really nice. Very nice. The techniques that I have been developing making other types of bread really spilled over into today’s baking. There are lots of little things to say. First, my dough was 82%... Read More
My New (and very nice) Bread Peel
Jun 22, 2012I have been struggling to find a good way to load multiple baguettes into my pizza oven off and on for years. With my recent round of bread baking, my struggles have come to a head. I’ve tried the back of baking pans, short wood pizza peels designed for (that’s right) pizza, standard metal pizza placing peels, my new baguette flipping board and a homemade attempt to making a true... Read More