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Hello.
I?m Stuart and I live with my wife Julie and our two kids in Highland Village, Texas. It was pizza that brought my wife and I together and I guess our kids would not have been born had it not been for pizza either! I met Julie almost 20 years ago when as a franchisee of Little Caesars Pizza I hired her to work in my first store in Plano, Texas. Make all the jokes you want about ?dipping the pen in the company ink? (LOL) it wasn?t that way, but we obviously ended up together and for the next 10 years the two of us ran two-dozen stores. It goes without saying we have pizza in our blood.
There was no need to be convinced in wanting my own Wood Fired Pizza Oven. It started when I made my first pizza on my Big Green Egg 8 years ago. Three years later while at the home of one of my daughter?s classmates I spied a built-in Mugniani on their back porch and I had to upgrade. Pies on the BGE beat anything you can have delivered but could never reach the quality of one made in a wood fired oven.
So having my own pizzeria in my back yard is a given. Being convinced I need to build it myself was never an issue either. I?m a do-it yourselfer to a fault, a jack-of-all-trades, and master of none. I?ve taught myself plumbing, electric, painting, carpentry, tile as well as some of the arts such as leaded glass. So of course I rationalize, how hard could masonry be? After all as early as junior high my father had me building retaining walls and sea walls around the yard. Everything was simply dry stacked, but I have worked with concrete so the obvious next trade to learn is masonry. Seems logical right?
The convincing has to do with the dome versus barrel vault type oven. Perhaps is was simply that I found my way to Alan Scott?s Ovencrafters web site first, but that design was what I embraced. Through following links from oven builders on his site I found my way to this forum and things began to get complicated. You see, about three months previous to finding this forum I bought Alan Scott?s book. Soon after that I enrolled in one of his Oven Building Workshops being taught at the North House School in Grand Marais Minnesota.
Well I?ve read the arguments for both, weighed the pros and con?s as they relate to my anticipated use of either and have opted to go for the dome type construction. I just sent an email to North House to cancel my spot in the class! I would have spent almost $1200 on tuition, airfare and ground transportation, hotel and meals before purchasing a single brick or bag of concrete mix! Whichever design I choose the cost of materials won?t change much but now that savings might just allow me to take a significant short cut and purchase a modular Premio or Casa! Yes there is still a significant amount of cash over the $1200 needed to pay for either, but knowing how long it might take me to build the dome, I?m sure my wife will overlook that expenditure. She wants this oven bad; she?s hooked on brick oven pizza. Oh and make no mistake, I have nothing but good to say about Alan Scott, Ovencrafters and the design they prefer, I?m just drawn to the dome!
Thank you James for creating this forum and the opportunity it brings. I have always found forums such as this a wonderful resource. I mentioned my BGE earlier and it was a visit to their forum that introduced me to the concept of an Internet forum first. Many hours were spent on that forum learning all I could about the BGE, I was a sponge. Soon Jack could list cooking on a BGE as one of his trades! Following that came a forum on home brewed beer, Check! Full Sized Jeeps, Check! MINI Coopers, Check! Organic gardening, Check! So now I?ve found the Forno Bravo forum and I look forward to the educational interaction I?m confident it will bring.
Hope this wasn?t too lengthy a post, you did ask me to introduce myself! (Perhaps I should have just linked you to a blog.) Stay tuned for updates on the construction of ?Poolside Pies?!
I?m Stuart and I live with my wife Julie and our two kids in Highland Village, Texas. It was pizza that brought my wife and I together and I guess our kids would not have been born had it not been for pizza either! I met Julie almost 20 years ago when as a franchisee of Little Caesars Pizza I hired her to work in my first store in Plano, Texas. Make all the jokes you want about ?dipping the pen in the company ink? (LOL) it wasn?t that way, but we obviously ended up together and for the next 10 years the two of us ran two-dozen stores. It goes without saying we have pizza in our blood.
There was no need to be convinced in wanting my own Wood Fired Pizza Oven. It started when I made my first pizza on my Big Green Egg 8 years ago. Three years later while at the home of one of my daughter?s classmates I spied a built-in Mugniani on their back porch and I had to upgrade. Pies on the BGE beat anything you can have delivered but could never reach the quality of one made in a wood fired oven.
So having my own pizzeria in my back yard is a given. Being convinced I need to build it myself was never an issue either. I?m a do-it yourselfer to a fault, a jack-of-all-trades, and master of none. I?ve taught myself plumbing, electric, painting, carpentry, tile as well as some of the arts such as leaded glass. So of course I rationalize, how hard could masonry be? After all as early as junior high my father had me building retaining walls and sea walls around the yard. Everything was simply dry stacked, but I have worked with concrete so the obvious next trade to learn is masonry. Seems logical right?
The convincing has to do with the dome versus barrel vault type oven. Perhaps is was simply that I found my way to Alan Scott?s Ovencrafters web site first, but that design was what I embraced. Through following links from oven builders on his site I found my way to this forum and things began to get complicated. You see, about three months previous to finding this forum I bought Alan Scott?s book. Soon after that I enrolled in one of his Oven Building Workshops being taught at the North House School in Grand Marais Minnesota.
Well I?ve read the arguments for both, weighed the pros and con?s as they relate to my anticipated use of either and have opted to go for the dome type construction. I just sent an email to North House to cancel my spot in the class! I would have spent almost $1200 on tuition, airfare and ground transportation, hotel and meals before purchasing a single brick or bag of concrete mix! Whichever design I choose the cost of materials won?t change much but now that savings might just allow me to take a significant short cut and purchase a modular Premio or Casa! Yes there is still a significant amount of cash over the $1200 needed to pay for either, but knowing how long it might take me to build the dome, I?m sure my wife will overlook that expenditure. She wants this oven bad; she?s hooked on brick oven pizza. Oh and make no mistake, I have nothing but good to say about Alan Scott, Ovencrafters and the design they prefer, I?m just drawn to the dome!
Thank you James for creating this forum and the opportunity it brings. I have always found forums such as this a wonderful resource. I mentioned my BGE earlier and it was a visit to their forum that introduced me to the concept of an Internet forum first. Many hours were spent on that forum learning all I could about the BGE, I was a sponge. Soon Jack could list cooking on a BGE as one of his trades! Following that came a forum on home brewed beer, Check! Full Sized Jeeps, Check! MINI Coopers, Check! Organic gardening, Check! So now I?ve found the Forno Bravo forum and I look forward to the educational interaction I?m confident it will bring.
Hope this wasn?t too lengthy a post, you did ask me to introduce myself! (Perhaps I should have just linked you to a blog.) Stay tuned for updates on the construction of ?Poolside Pies?!
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