The Wood-Fired Blog

Physical Goods in a Virtual Era

May 27, 2012

From the NY Times, Douthat: The Facebook Illusion As a follow on to my posting on Facebook, Free and Forno Bravo, here is a NY Times column on the Facebook IPO. I agree with Douthat that “the “new economy,” in this sense, isn’t always even a commercial economy at all. Instead, as Slate’s Matthew Yglesias has suggested, it’s a kind of hobbyist’s paradise, one that’s subsidized by surpluses from the old... Read More

Innovation, Garages and Pizza Ovens

May 26, 2012

Mention the words garage and innovation, and many people will quickly conjure up visions of Hewlett, Packard, Wozniak, and Jobs. The Silicon Valley success that started in a garage is the stuff of legend—and it’s a well-earned legend. Start-up companies that built their first products in their garage, long before the even had enough money for company offices, have gone on to create some of the world’s most wonderful, and... Read More

Less-Fuss Paella Arrives in Time for Summer

May 25, 2012

From the New York Times. Less-Fuss Paella Arrives in Time for Summer PAELLA, the classic rice dish from Spain, is considered picnic food — a one-dish meal prepared over a fire at an outdoor party like our hamburger cookout. It is also cooked indoors, but always in a flat steel paellera or in an earthenware cazuela. The main rules are to cook the rice uncovered and, unlike risotto, not to stir... Read More

Presto in Red

May 23, 2012

Here is another photo of a Presto prototype. In Red! I think it looks great. We are down to the small details, and we’re very close to setting the release date.   Read More

Handling Wet Dough and the Couche

May 21, 2012

In my previous posting, I made to notes on mixing and kneading high hydration dough (80% in this case), so I wanted to make a couple of notes on working with web dough—and point out a mistake that I made (something I know but need occasional reminding). First, don’t over-flour your work surface, or the dough, when handling wet dough. You can add a little bit of extra virgin olive... Read More

Mixing High Hydration Dough

May 21, 2012

I made 80% hydration baguette’s, and was reminded just how much longer (and a little faster) you need mix the dough to build the strands of gluten and develop the bread’s structure. That statement marks roughly the end of my technical knowledge on the science of web dough—thought I want to do some more research in order to understand why this is true. From this sequence of photos, you can... Read More

Slightly Over-Proofed Whole Wheat Olive Boule

May 17, 2012

My on-going bread experiments are continuing (and are a lot of fun). One thing I am enjoying about my most recent round of dedicated baking is that the family is really enjoying my whole wheat bread—rather than just tolerating it because it’s healthy. To some  degree I think that I because we have all been eating a great deal more whole wheat bread over the past few years and everyone... Read More

Crooks and Pizza Ovens

May 15, 2012

From 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

10/30/60 Whole Wheat Loaves, and Some Great Bruschetta

May 13, 2012

In a way, this was a little bit like leftovers. You know how you always end up with odds and ends of flour in various bags in your cupboard. Today I mixed together three different flours to come with a nice blend of 10% whole wheat, 30% while whole wheat and 60% general purpose (not bread) flour to make a new 1kg (2.2 lb) batch of bread. Because I changed... Read More

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