Our wood-fired pizza oven delivers interactive entertainment. Velda makes home-made dough, of course! The ingredients are as fresh as possible; herbs are from her garden. Just about everyone gets to put their favorite ingredients on their pizzas.
It’s a two day process to get to this point. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Pizza dough, ready for their final rise to room temperature. 12 pizzas means this is a relatively small production tonight.
Moist cloths protect the dough.
Everybody learns how to make pizza from the beginning.
Fresh herbs!
The razor-sharp mandolin helps slice the ingredients.
Pear slices.
CHEESE!
Organizing the ingredients on the pizza prep sideboard is essential when the production is this big.
A menu of favorites & recommended ingredient combinations is a good thought starter.
The big collection of ingredients, laid out on the sideboard for pizza prep!
Pizza doughs laid out on pizza peels, awaiting their ingredients.
The cook’s tools at the oven.
Pizza dough is kept from sticking to the peel with semolina … that burns around the first cheese pizza.
The first pizza is always cheese … it’s called the sacrificial cheese pizza, since a few of them over the years haven’t turned out as well as this one.
Queen Margherita pizza is a traditional favorite.
Only room for 2 pizzas in between the coals this evening … if we’re cooking a lot of pizza, I’ll clean out more coals to make room for three at a time.
A bubble popper keeps the crust & cheese bubbles under control.
Velda’s Veggie is a must every time we cook pizza.
Pear gorgonzola is another surprise favorite.
Passing the taste test.
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Playing, uh, I mean, Cooking With Fire
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I remember when we cooked on a wood fire. We didn’t have a natural gas or electric stove. Mom cooked with fire.
Today, that’s so bizarre that when we cook with fire, it’s an entertainment event.
We’ve worked on perfecting cooking with fire, using our wood-fired oven to cook pizza. Velda makes the dough 2 days in advance, begins staging the pizza ingredients 1 day in advance … and then I light the fire 4 hours out.
Cold oven, ready to go.
Three pages of newsprint, loosely crumpled.
Small cut-offs crossed on top of the newsprint. It’s a handy way to clean up scraps from the woodshop … these scraps are from 3 different projects.
One match! Well, it’s like a match….
Lots of smoke can be generated by wet wood, or a wet chimney.
Keep air space between the wood pieces.
Until the chimney is hot and sucks all of the smoke up, some will come out the front of the oven.
The temperature climb is inevitable … and always slower than I would like.
Too much fuel can temporarily choke the fire …
… and generate too much smoke until the fuel is fully engulfed in flame again.
And the temperature continues to rise.
We burn a lot of oak … both lumber cut-offs and firewood.
The red hot coals continue to heat the oven … you can see the black soot begin to cook off of the side of the oven, leaving the white, hot brick.
An 800* oven will cook a pizza in under 5 minutes.
Move the coals to either side of the oven.
I use an old broom handle to move coals in the oven.
The broom handle slowly burns away as I use it.
A brass brush is used to clear the oven floor.
A damp mop cleans the floor of ash before you begin cooking.
The mopping temporarily lowers the floor temperature a bit … but the big concrete & rock oven serves as a heat sink so the temperature does not fall in the oven.
We always start with a “sacrificial cheese pizza” … but that’s a story for another day.
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Our first house had issues. The “yard” was pea gravel and chain link. My kids deserved better. Chain link, gone … wood fence, in. We installed sod (there’s a reason it’s called sweat equity).
The result? Happy kids, happy life.
The next house came with a nice big yard that begged for a swing set, and that happened, complete with a clubhouse, slide and steering wheel. That was great for a while … but then a pool was needed. Check.
Velda had the next vision for the back yard, and it was a big one. Kids were growing up, and it was time for the back yard entertainment to reflect that. Next step? Outdoor seating for parties. The BBQ needed a big upgrade. And the centerpiece? A wood-fired oven.
We found a contractor that had installed a couple of wood-fired ovens – but those clients never used them, he said. He didn’t know the Mowry’s!
Temperatures in the oven exceed 700*. Pizzas cook in under 5 minutes.
We drove to Pasadena, picked up the oven kit, and gave the contractor the design for the outdoor kitchen. Three months later, we were cooking like never before!
Today, we regularly host “make your own” home made gourmet pizza in the backyard for our family & friends. We’re serious about our pizza. All ingredients are fresh and home made. We’re constantly upping our game: morel mushrooms were a welcome addition at our last event. It’s almost a given that we do pizza for the kids on their birthdays & celebrations. A small night is just 10 people and 10 pizzas. A big night … well, it can be very big.
Here’s the idea: you need toys. Sometimes it’s space for the kids, and sometimes it’s something unique like a pizza oven. Get out in front of it … what will you need next summer? In three years?
Because of our pizza oven, we’ve:
- Shown people how to cook with fire
- Remained the clubhouse for family & friends
- Hosted UCLA’s Dinner with 12 Strangers
- Explored pizza recipes from fig & prosciutto to potato pizza
- Had Thanksgiving turkey from the oven
Coming soon: Velda’s hosting a group to bake bread in the oven.
And this all happened because Velda didn’t think we needed a swing set anymore. See what happens when you THINK?
Chicken Bacon Ranch is one of the favorites. Of course it is: it has bacon.
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