Welcome!

Notice anything different? After 10 years, we have updated the Forno Bravo logo. It is now making its way into all things Forno Bravo, including our Wood-Fired Newsletter header. Read more below about the update.
 
As you can imagine, over the past decade, one of the highlights of our work at Forno Bravo is hearing from new oven owners: the excitement, the culinary journeys, how a wood-fired oven can bring people together. In this month's newsletter, we're happy to share some of that "new oven owner" feeling from Brad English, whom many of you will know from Pizza Quest. Take a look at his new Primavera60 and first wood-fired creations to the right.

And speaking of Pizza Quest, Peter Reinhart recently posted the final webisode in the Basta-Bruery series. (OK, not quite final – we hear there is some bonus footage coming soon.) Take a few minutes and watch this great webisode, link below, where the pizza meets the beer meets some happy mouths.

Finally, we've included a recipe for an easy-to-remember wood-fired dessert below, a wonderful ending to any meal.

Whether you are a brand-new oven owner, an old pro or an "oven hopeful," we hope you will stay in touch through the Wood-Fired Blog, Forno Bravo Forum, our Facebook page and/or any of our other online sites. Of course, you can always just call us at (800) 407-5119.

Happy cooking,
James

P.S. For those of you who are interested, I wrote about my recent Ironman experience on the Wood-Fired Blog. I think some people do the Ironman once and say "never again." And I know runners who will never do another marathon. But I really had a good time. I don't think this is the end of the line for me.

Peter's Corner: The Challenge Pizza, The Big Reveal

Peter Reinhart, our Pizza Quest host, baking instructor and baker extraordinaire, shares "The Big Reveal" webisode from the Basta-Bruery series.

So, if you've been following our webisode series, we've been building up to the moment when the pizza, created by Kelly Whitaker and Alan Henkin of Basta, along with me and the Pizza Quest team -- who came up with the Germania Malted Dough -- finally meets the beer created by Patrick Rue and his Bruery team.

In the previous segment, we showed the Bruery guys two different pizzas and they chose the white one, which you will see again in this segment. The brewers then went to work and came up with a one-of-a-kind biere de garde, which they called Birra Basta (we love that name!), made with citrus peels, roasted zucchini, and a secret blend of hops and malts and other spices.

Months later, we all met in Denver, a few blocks from the Great American Beer Festival, at the Summit Beer Garden for what we've been calling The Big Reveal. This is the moment when the beer and the pizza finally come face to face -- right into our faces, of course -- and we find out if, indeed, a beer can be inspired by food in the same manner that food is often inspired by beer. As you will see, the answer is a resounding YES.

As you watch, make note of the incredibly beautiful amber luster of the beer -- it seems to glow and to scream out "Drink me!" And note, of course, the wonderful burrata cheese, white anchovies, squash blossoms, and Meyer lemon puree on the pizza, topped by dressed arugula and fennel pollen salt.

What you can't experience through the video, sadly, is the unique, rich, toasty flavor of the beer -- the grilled zucchini in the wort provided a deep bass note that, in my opinion, forged a unique bridge between the pizza and the beer. At one point, as you will see, it seemed hard to tell where the beer ended and the pizza began, as their flavors merged seamlessly.

Also, you will want to one day make that Germania Malted Dough that, from the pizza side, provided the same bass note that the zucchini did for the beer. I love this dough! I will re-post the recipe for it in a few weeks but, just to tease things a little, be on the lookout at Pizza Quest for an announcement that our friends at Central Milling will be packaging and making available, in the near future, a kit with all the ingredients for this dough (along with a few other signature Pizza Quest dough mixes, too).

While we wish all of you could have been there to taste this once in a lifetime combination (the Bruery has told us this beer was a one time thing, so, as the saying goes, you had to be there -- sorry!), at least enjoy it vicariously through this webisode segment. Let it inspire you to challenge your local micro-breweries to a similar throw-down or, at least, to stage your own inventive pizza/beer tastings. – Peter

See Peter's original post on Pizza Quest: The Challenge Pizza, The Big Reveal