Oven complete!

[KEmerson]

Well I did it. So far only a couple of the curing fires but it might just work.

I'm not mason and I worked alone - aside from all the brilliant help and support I found in abundance right here. So it's a tad crude.

I worry about withdrawal, though. How will I spend my mornings if not looking through this site for knowledge? Well, there;'s always the cooking section. And I would not be surprised if I run into some as yet unknown issues.

Anyway, I would never have done this if not for this forum and all your help. Huge thanks to James for all his efforts and to all of you who chimed in to help me with all my beginner's questions.
Kim

[texassourdough]

Re: Oven complete!

Congratulations Kim!

Your life is about to change from being an oven slave, to being an oven slave - but of a very different kind! (Dough is a lot easier to get out from under your fingernails than dried cement!) (And mixing dough is a bit less strenuous than mixing cement!)

Soon you can start slow roasting in the residual heat from the oven!

Your oven may not be the "finest" but it looks very functional and fine to me!

Bake On!
Jay

[KEmerson]

Re: Oven complete!

Oven slave of the second sort is the kind I look forward to. I came to this project after years of trying to perfect my pizza. All I learned kept pointing to the oven. I have worked as a baker (mostly French pastries and some breads) as well as a mason's laborer - over 30 years ago. So this was a marriage of sorts of my own history.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not really going anywhere. I'll be here often.

[texassourdough]

Re: Oven complete!

We will look forward to your sharing your insights and ideas. And you have arrived at the right answer. The sparse WFO pizza is SO FINE. And it rewards a dough that is good indoors but never achieves the peaks of the WFO.

So....as they say at Indianapolis....

Gentlemen....Fire your ovens!
Jay

[KEmerson]

Re: Oven complete!

Jay,
I lived in Naples when I was a kid - from 1960-1963 and I always held on to the memory of the pizza there, all the while knowing what - at the time - many if not most Americans did not know. Namely that what passes for pizza here is like McDonald's trying to pass off their meat as Argentine or Kobe beef. And looking through this forum at the pizza section, where there are mostly pictures of only pizza, I salivate to the point of distraction. I can see the color and texture of the crusts and I know these pizzas are strikingly "other" when compared with standard "American" pizza. I can smell the flavor coming through. One look at a half decent pizza in these pics tells me these ovens are the prize. I really believe that a proper oven will elevate even average ingredients and methods beyond anything a standard home kitchen oven - or pizzeria oven - ever could. And the fact that these designs are largely unchanged in over 2,000 years just stuns and elates me. The whole picture of what we are doing here is an illustration in perfection.
Life is good.
Kim

[Archena]

Re: Oven complete!

Congratulations!


(Bets on how long until she starts another oven? )

[KEmerson]

Re: Oven complete!

Well, "she" is a he and I've been sort of hoping someone, anyone, will ask me to build another. It's a combination of wanting to fix what I know is wrong, try things I thought of after, and just plain loving every second of my involvement. I tend to like the process of learning, those moments of pure ignorance being chased down by education and imagination. But how many ovens should I actually build in my back yard before it looks like an obsession?
Thanks for the congrats. It feels good.
Kim

[vintagemx0]

Re: Oven complete!

Jay,
I lived in Naples when I was a kid - from 1960-1963 and I always held on to the memory of the pizza there, all the while knowing what - at the time - many if not most Americans did not know. Namely that what passes for pizza here is like McDonald's trying to pass off their meat as Argentine or Kobe beef. And looking through this forum at the pizza section, where there are mostly pictures of only pizza, I salivate to the point of distraction. I can see the color and texture of the crusts and I know these pizzas are strikingly "other" when compared with standard "American" pizza. I can smell the flavor coming through. One look at a half decent pizza in these pics tells me these ovens are the prize. I really believe that a proper oven will elevate even average ingredients and methods beyond anything a standard home kitchen oven - or pizzeria oven - ever could. And the fact that these designs are largely unchanged in over 2,000 years just stuns and elates me. The whole picture of what we are doing here is an illustration in perfection.
Life is good.
Kim

That's poetry

I think your appretiation for what your oven can do will be rewarding you for a long time.

Bon Apetit!

Ken

[Archena]

Re: Oven complete!

Oops, sorry!


It takes at least three to look like an obsession. The first is weirdo. The second is crazy. The third is obsessed.

[RTflorida]

Re: Oven complete!

Congrats, LET THE PIZZA BEGIN!!!

RT