Pizza Oven
New Third Generation FB Castable
Apr 12, 2012This is the original version of the article I wrote on the new third-generation FB Castable. A shorter version of this appeared in the March 2012 Wood-Fired Newsletter. James We have developed a great deal of expertise at Forno Bravo over the years with refractory materials and insulators, and we have worked hard to continually improve. We are proud to introduce the third generation of FB Castable, the material we... Read More
Innovating a 2,000 Year Old Product
Apr 10, 2012The word innovation usually conjures up images of semiconductors, Internet software and green energy. But at Forno Bravo, we keep innovating around a 2,000 year old product. I have written a lot over the years about the ovens in ancient Pompeii, and how remarkable the design, the materials and the craftsmanship were on the ovens. How do you improve on something that has been so well known and understood for... Read More
Am I Drying-Out or Curing My Oven?
Apr 10, 2012One interesting aspect of the modern brick oven is the degree to which it shares technology with industrial equipment—including furnaces. As designers, we use both raw materials and manufactured products to build ovens that are light weight, that are resistant to thermal cycling (heat up and cool down cycles), that are resistant to thermal shock (putting cold, wet pizza dough on a very hot ceramic surface), that hold high heat... Read More
Made in the USA
Apr 06, 2012Every Forno Bravo oven (other than the Artigiano) is made in our own factory in Marina, CA (Northern California). I am extremely proud of our manufacturing team and their commitment to high quality, American-based manufacturing. Over the past three years, we have continually added new manufacturing personnel, capacity, capability, equipment, and experience. In terms of we pure real estate, we have tripled our footprint in a little more than two... Read More
Wood-Fired Pizzerias in the U.S.
Apr 05, 2012I wrote this article in 2005 for consideration by one of the Restaurant trade magazines. They decided to not run my article, but looking back at it seven years later, I think the points that I made were true then, and are still true today. There are more wood-fired pizzerias in the U.S than there were in 2005, but still not nearly enough. We need to fix that. James Authentic... Read More
The Road Less Travelled
Mar 29, 2012We recently returned from a nice two week trip to Italy, where we were able to catch up with friends, eat really well and basically act like tourists. If you haven’t followed Forno Bravo that closely, you might not know that we lived in Florence for three years, and in fact, started the company while living there. It was great to be back, and we were quickly reminded of everything... Read More
