The Wood-Fired Blog
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
April 2012 | No. 37; Made in the USA & Kohlrabi Gratin
Apr 10, 2012Welcome! This April 2012 issue of the Wood-Fired Newsletter is packed with content, including an article on Forno Bravo’s commitment to producing high-quality, Made-in-the-USA ovens, a recap from Peter Reinhart on his recent adventures in NYC at the IACP conference, and a recipe for kohlrabi gratin. So we’ll get right to it. But first, I’d like to quickly mention that on Monday, April 16, I reached a personal achievement: At... 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
Why Blog
Mar 28, 2012We have a number of different ways of communicating with our community of customers, dealers, Pompeii oven builders, partners, and friends. Fornobravo.com itself is a labor of love, as much as it is a company website, and we also have the FB Forum, the Wood-Fired Newsletter, the Community Cookbook, FB FAQ, Facebook, YouTube, and we host Peter’s wonderful Pizza Quest. Why blog? My response is that I am often struck... Read More
March 2012 | No. 36; Introducing Third-Gen FB Castable
Mar 10, 2012Welcome! With spring in the air, we are excited to introduce the new, third generation of FB Castable, the material we use to produce our wonderful ovens. Bottom line? All Forno Bravo ovens just got better. Our ongoing pursuit of making ovens with the best-possible materials began nearly 10 years ago, in San Gimignano, Italy … with our first little oven. I’ve written a short history of how Forno Bravo... Read More
February 2012 | No. 35; Redesigned P70 & Pizza Quest Nomination
Feb 10, 2012Welcome! Once again, we have a newsletter chockfull of wood-fired oven updates and information! The Forno Bravo team has been busy at work on our oven lines, redesigning an old favorite and creating new oven styles. We share a couple of these with you below: the Primavera70 and the Andiamo. I’m honored to pass along the news that Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart has received a nod from the International... Read More
