Traditionalists and Innovators Square Off in Naples Pizza Debate
May 19, 2012This from the Guardian in the UK. Naples chefs take sides in the ‘ultra pizza’ wars The opening salvo by the innovator: Enzo Coccia has an evangelical air as he discusses his spring pizza – piled with asparagus, buffalo mozzarella, sheep’s cheese, lard and beans. “They may say I am a heretic, but I just want to experiment,” says the controversial exponent of the Italian trend for what are being... Read More
Crooks and Pizza Ovens
May 15, 2012From ABC News 5 in Cleveland. CLEVELAND – From a topless pool in Vegas to his pizza oven in Independence, the government released evidence it used to convict former political powerhouse Jimmy Dimora of corruption charges… Well, you can guess the rest. It sounds like Jimmy Dimora was a bad buy with a pizza oven. Interestingly enough, he is also very large, weighing in at 360 lbs when he was... Read More
TJ's Wood-Fired Pizza in SoCal
May 13, 2012“Guide: Where to find daily food trucks lots” in the Orange County Register leads me to a Forno Bravo oven on a wood-fired catering trailer. Sunday: Where: OC Great Park Farmers Market, IrvineTime: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Trucks: Crepes Bonaparte, Calbi, Barcelona on the Go, TJ’s Woodfire Pizza, Chomp Chomp, Rolling Sushi + 1-2 rotating trucks Check out TJ’s Woodfire Pizza. That’s our oven! Their Margherita Pizza was voted in... Read More
Where Forno Bravo is Going
May 12, 2012Tim Cook, president of Apple, back in January 2009: “We believe in the simple, not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.” Read More
Whole wheat bread with olives in the Presto Pizza Oven
May 10, 2012Still having a great time with my Presto oven. As an update, I can confirm that I will be working with a second prototype of the Presto within a few days as the final OK before releasing it to production and making it available for sale. To quote Apple on the latest iOS 5.1.1 software update, we are working on “minor improvements and bug fixes”. haha. More seriously, we are... Read More
Whole Wheat Boules in a Small Pizza Oven
May 09, 2012I am enjoying having a small oven in our side garden for the same reasons as the many people who have who have decided to buy our smaller ovens—the Primavera and Andiamo. They are easy to manage, they fire up really quickly and they are just a blast to use. Don’t let the smaller size deceive you; you can do a lot of serious pizza and bread baking in a... Read More
Bread in a Small Pizza Oven
May 07, 2012I had a lot of fun working with a prototype of the not-yet-released Presto oven (it is coming soon, though) this weekend, and one of the capabilities I wanted to test was bread baking. Baguettes to be more specific. Spoiler alter—it came out great. Here’s a little background information. I wanted to shoot for traditional, light, airy, crusty French baguette, so I choose general purpose flour from Trader Joe’s. For... Read More
Fire and Water
May 06, 2012I have to admit right up front that the next couple of things I am going to say are really (really) obvious. But bear with me, I might make a little bit of sense and find a bit of insight. Maybe. 1. Dry firewood, with less than 20% moisture burns fast and better and is far easier split than damp wood. 2. Firewood that has been stored properly, and not... Read More
More on Pizza Amore in Buffalo
May 03, 2012Here is a follow-up article on Pizza Amore (that’s a portable Forno Bravo oven) in BuffaloNews.com. They are getting some good press, and, as the article is quick to point out—the line was 10 people deep when the reporters go there. That’s nice. Though I have to agree with the reporter—the pizza could have stayed in the oven for a couple of more seconds to get a better char (and... Read More