Pizza Oven Project: November 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

Mario is a best oven broker in Redmond

We saved some time and it was mazing we could get ovens at all from Italy :-)

Super Mario is the key. ( and inspiration behind this project btw)

Oven cost was about 1000$ and I think my bill of materials more then 500$ already :-)

But it well under 2000$ I think.

Look on some USA alternatives :

Well,what we sure did was no briner, but look : this one “… is handmade in Portugal”

Is not that cool :-) http://www.surlatable.com/product/545897.do $2000!!!!

What approximate ours oven more closely is :

http://www.fornobravo.com/store/Residential-Pizza-Ovens-p-1-c-251.html

Also, check this out : ( it probably made form white gold) :

http://www.fornobravo.com/store/Premium-7.9-Round-Stainless-Pizza-Peel-p-16185.html

Monday, November 19, 2007

Real bread

My best half did poolish and we tried to bake first real bread.
Temperature was still too high, we cranked oven for pizza. Still,
bread turned out very nice: it rise in oven and despite shorter bake
time and some burns clean up it developed nice texture and taste
inside. I cut better looking one in 4 and that made nice presents,
while other one had to be cleaned up and sliced . It will make nice
sandwiches too.
Darling made a nice cake too: she put exact amount of fat and sugar so
it was realy yammy;-)

All we need now is to be patient enough and let oven cool down more
before we load bread.

I hope that laser termometer will help make better estimation of
inside temperature. I think rule if tumb: no burnig inside for bread .
May be I should remove all coals first .

Sunday, November 18, 2007

First arch

I made a first raw of the oven roof. It is not a perfect but will do.
We have a pizza party today!!!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Four seasons

We baked some pizzas last week end. It was more then we can eat: some
pizzas feature my smoked salmon and mozarela as well roasted onion and
garlic type. There are classical pizza and iregulary shaped one ;-)

Sunday, November 4, 2007

We shiped a solid beta!

After the storm ... All clean up... My kicked ass still a bit sore;-)
I ofitialy anonse: beta IS solid.

Pizza turned to be great. All steps including making dough with new
mixers worked. Tools worked. Pizza oven ruled even with unfinited roof.

I had a new design idea this mornig : make roof like a castle wall:
use top for fire wood: similary to what I did in japan.

Also that would start second part of the project: Pizza Outdoor. To
save my ass I will follow Mario's model and will run futhure parties
outdoor, espesisly when more people will come. That will help me to
trunsform my backyard to even more buitifull party place. I even have
more cool thing for kids: got some from Ikea. It will be a bit tricky
to come with nice design.. But I already dream about koi pool and
waterfall ;-)

I would like to thank all my beta testers: you are great!

And a HUGE thanks to Don Mario:-)!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

D.O.C. or DOC pizza

What is D.O.C. pizza ? It is an authentic Italian fare of course!

D.O.C. stands for 'Denominazione di Origine Controllata'

Normally seen on authenticate bottles of Italian wine.

There are only two pizzas you need to make to certify:

Marinara: tomatos, oil, oregano , garlic
Margherita: tomatos, oil, mozazarela, basil

But trick is that it have to be done right. It does not have to be in Italy, USA is fine, but you have to produce a "real pizza" to be D.O.C.

Oven have to be wood burring and dough have to be made from right flour.

Here how it should be:

What are the basic VPN Guidelines?
They really are pretty simple.

1. A Wood-Burning Oven: Pizza Napoletana must be cooked in a wood-fired dome oven operating at roughly 800ºF.

2. Proper Ingredients: Tipo 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes, all natural Fior di Latte or Bufala mozzarella, fresh basil, salt and yeast -- only fresh, all-natural, non-processed ingredients.

3. Proper Technique: Your pizza dough must be kneaded either by hand, or with a low speed mixer. No mechanical dough shaping is allowed, such as a dough press or rolling pin, and proper pizza preparation. Pizza baking time should not exceed 90 seconds.

There is an organizations in Italy and USA that help certify pizzerias.( http://www.verapizzanapoletana.org/)

You can read more here about Pizza Napoletana :

http://www.fornobravo.com/vera_pizza_napoletana/VPN_faq.html

The movement gained visibility in 2004, when the VPN Association worked with the Italian Ministry of Agriculture to present Pizza Napoletana to the European Union as a protected food product, similar to cheese, olive oil or wine. The resulting press coverage in the United State created a stir, and today, Vera Pizza Napoletana claims to be DOC (Denominazione d' Origine Controllata), the same status as Chianti Classico.