New wood-fired oven and pizza pics

[Arthur]

Dave,

I've been off of these boards for a while, but after I contacted you this week I found your post and need to start participating again   I'll be calling you to come over and make some pizzas!

Here's my oven:

[DaveK]

Beautiful oven, Arthur. Who built it?

I'm firing mine up Friday evening if you're available.

Dave

[Flagpull]

I wish I lived close, looks excellent.

[Arthur]

Thanks Dave - I built/assembled the oven (forno bravo) and I had a mason do the stone work. 

[humpty99]

Thanks Dave - I built/assembled the oven (forno bravo) and I had a mason do the stone work. 

Arthur, I'm seriously looking into the Casa 90 from Forno Bravo, or possibly the small model from Earthstone.  Which model do you have, and if you don't mind me asking how much did this cost without the pizza oven?  I'm trying to figure up what I will need on top of the actual oven cost.  I will only need about 1/3 of the mason work because I would only be doing the front because it will actually be built into my kitchen, but I wanted an idea on the Chimney, braces, etc that you would need.  Thanks for any info.

[Arthur]

Humpty99,

Honestly I can't remember the exact cost - probably because I only want to remember my pizza and not the cost of all of my toys.

I have the Casa 90.  I make 15"+ pizzas in the oven and it fits fine.   What I've learned it that since the pizza takes 2 minutes to bake you really never put in more than one pie anyway.  With that said I probably would have gone a bit larger - not sure exactly why - maybe because it would have been useful to not reuse the same floor space for the second pie.

You can find the prices for fornobravo ovens on their web site and the chimney as well.  Probably $2K + shipping + chimney equip + mortar = around $3K+?  As for the stone work - I think it was something like $3-4k.   I didn't need to do any supports like you would in a house.  I went with having the oven outside because 1) in case I started an enormous fire; and 2) during the summer the house would get really hot and having it outside let's you come inside for cool air plus the winter time and making pizza by a hot oven is really nice.

After the money and the time - I wouldn't have it any other way. 

[rcspott]

Humpty

About Aurthur's comment about he "probably would have gone a bit larger"

I too am looking at a pizza oven, still can't decide if I want to build one or buy a kit. They are expensive but that being said...

When was the last time a you heard a welder say "I bought to big of a welder", Or and air compressor owner saying this thing has too many CFM. Of all the lurking I have done it seems that somewhere right around 39 to 42 inches inside diameter of the oven makes the most home users the happiest.

Now the Casa 90 is 35" inches and the Casa 100 is 39". The Casa 100 is only $450 more on a bill that is probably going to run you 5K plus buy the time you pay for shipping, flues, labor or extra materials.

Its kind of like going out for the $150 dollar a plate dinner but not ordering a bottle of wine.

Here we go again with "Does Size Matter"

Food for thought

Rich

[shango]

personally, I would buy the biggest oven I could afford.  More loaves of bread, Roasting larger and more pieces of meat, plenty of space for hot smoking fish, and most importantly, more pizze!
 

[trosenberg]

Don't get too hung up on oven size.  I thought the bigger the better too & have a 42 inch brick oven.  The truth is you are never baking more than one pie at a time.  A smaller oven will also hold several loaves more than the average home baker will need and fit a huge piece of meat as well as some side dishes.  While size may matter with some things don't get 'oven envy' over someone who has a bigger one.

[beammeup]

I have a 36" home made joby and I think the size is fine. I only do 1 pizza at a time, and maybe a couple of loaves of bread the next day so I cant think of why I would need bigger. If you have the time I would recomend doing it yourself It is very rewarding. the whole think probably cost 0.5k. The most expensive item was the stainless chimney. It tool a year or so to find the materials and the time.

[Bill/SFNM]

Two other advantages of a smaller oven:

1) Uses less fuel
2) In most designs, larger diameter is accompanied with a greater distance between the dome and deck which is less optimal for Neapolitan-style pies.

Bill/SFNM

[scpizza]

Fabio, thanks for the Donna Margherita video, it's good.  All the pizzerias in Naples indeed have that silly looking wooden stand for the peel which they use consistently just like in the video.

Wish the hand motions for stretching in the beginning were easier to follow.  That's one technique that's hard to learn from reading posts.

[David]

All the pizzerias in Naples indeed have that silly looking wooden stand for the peel which they use consistently just like in the video.

I believe it's known as a "Dead Man".Always handy to have an extra pr.of hands !

[pizzanapoletana]

These are some more recent (not to recent as the guy making the pizza has left few months ago) videos from Donna Margherita where you can see the Forno Napoletano (www.forno-napoletano.it):

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=6DhC2Ay3VgE&amp;feature=related" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://youtube.com/watch?v=6DhC2Ay3VgE&amp;feature=related</a>

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=FVZpzruCGDk&amp;feature=related" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://youtube.com/watch?v=FVZpzruCGDk&amp;feature=related</a>

The guy is obviously acting silly for the camera

[humpty99]

Don't get too hung up on oven size.  I thought the bigger the better too & have a 42 inch brick oven.  The truth is you are never baking more than one pie at a time.  A smaller oven will also hold several loaves more than the average home baker will need and fit a huge piece of meat as well as some side dishes.  While size may matter with some things don't get 'oven envy' over someone who has a bigger one.

I'm glad some people are kind of on the same wave length of thinking with me.  I really don't want to take up all the space, and extra fuel if I don't need it.  I would just be making pizza for family and friends, and I'm the only one with an interest in actually making the pizza so one at a time is my only real option anyways.  As long as I can get a 12" Pizza in there, I think I'll be happy.  I want to pull the trigger, but I am a little worried that I am going to blow the budget out of the water on this.

[humpty99]

Also, anyone have any idea whether you can wood frame around the exterior to enclose it within a house, or do you have to encase it in cement board or something similar first before framing?

Were building a house in the spring, and to make it as easy and cheap as possible I was planning on putting the brick oven in the hearth room off of the kitchen which is already an outside wall.  I figured an outside wall would be easier, and need less planning than if you stuck it smack in the middle of the kitchen. 

[canadianbacon]

the second video really shows how well that guy has the dough under control when he's playing with it.

He goes from that flip-flop motion, into the toss-spin-stretch, back into the flip-flop motion in just a second,
talk about fine motor skills ! 

These are some more recent (not to recent as the guy making the pizza has left few months ago) videos from Donna Margherita where you can see the Forno Napoletano (www.forno-napoletano.it): http://youtube.com/watch?v=6DhC2Ay3VgE&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FVZpzruCGDk&feature=related

The guy is obviously acting silly for the camera

[BENMOTOGP]

Congratulations on your pizza, they dont get much better than that. your pizza oven is beautiful and you must be well pleased with it.
I cant wait till I get my own place with a garden because I will be building a clay and brick oven myself.
I dont even bother making pizzas with a domestic oven anymore, because no matter how good the dough or ingredients are, witout the heat of a wood-fired, you never get the results your looking for.

Cheers, Ben.

[toregano]

As God is my witness my salivary glands went crazy looking at the picture of your pizza.  The stove is awesome.