Caputo from Forno Bravo

[paulages]

to save tomato seeds:

just crush the fruit to a pulp, rinse through a metal strainer until you are left with only the seeds, and then dry and store tham as Bob mentioned.

for a great variety of heirloom tomato strains, check out: http://www.territorial-seed.com/stores/1/directory.cfm

[aikitarik]

I can't help with the seeds, but I think seed sharing, and planting heirloom fruit and vegetables not only tastes good, they're important for diversity.

Tarik, we joke when we are eating out of our vegetable garden and using our oven that all we need for sustanence is a water buffalo. But where would it sleep???

I keep looking in my back yard and thinking.. there's enough room for a little corral out there.... maybe some goats.. some sheep...

With respect to seeds.. we actually purchase our heirlooms from a local grower who starts about 100+ varietals every spring and replaces any plants that die. What I'm learning is that even in summer, it gets a little too cold at night for really good tomato growth in our neighborhood (just 15 minutes down the road it stays warm enough, the dangers of living in the mountains), so I'm going to have to rig up some mini-greenhouses or some such.

[james]

I can't help with the seeds, but I think seed sharing, and planting heirloom fruit and vegetables not only tastes good, they're important for diversity.

Tarik, we joke when we are eating out of our vegetable garden and using our oven that all we need for sustanence is a water buffalo. But where would it sleep???

James

[Bob C]

Tarik,

what I have done in the past with good results is very simple...cut up a tomato...take out the seeds and lightly rinse them...let them dry on a paper towel...once dry (completely dry) place in an envelope and store in a dark dry place...oh, don't forget to label the envelope...I cant tell you how many chili plants I've had in my tomato row.

Bob

[aikitarik]

Bob,

Do you know how to harvest said seeds? I have a San Marzano producing right now in my yard!

Not much fruit left though.

One of our plans for the oven is to have a weekend where we:

1) make sauce from our own tomatoes..

2) make our own mozzarella (only takes about 30 minutes!)

3) make pizza dough using the leftover whey from the mozzarella (makes an amazing pizza dough)

4) make some pizza using just those ingredients and some herbs from our garden (oregano, sage, etc) and perhaps some homemade chevre or something of the sort...

The only thing more totally back to nature would be if we were dairying our own milk, but darn, we love this stuff!

[Bob C]

James,

Do you have availability to San Marzano seeds? There is nothing better than using vine ripened tomatoes from your own garden.

Bob C

[james]

After making a lot of phone calls, I am happy to say that Forno Bravo is now able to sell Caputo flour, San Marzano tomatoes and other imported Italian ingredients through Forno Bravo.com. We are just getting started with this, but I wanted to post it in the user group first. We can now get 2.2lb bags of Caputo pizza flour (wrapped in packs of 5), along with the 55lb (25kg) bags. We will ship Fed Ex ground, and will only use shipping to cover our real costs.

The flour is $17.50 for a 5 pack, and $42 for the 55lb bag. Shipping depends on distance and weight, so we put a zone chart on the web site. The flour isn't inexpensive, but after all the care that went into your oven, you might think it is worth it. If you want to try it, buy a 5-pack and see if you like it. I think the difference is very noticeable, and worth the extra expense.

Drop me an email if you want to give it a try. Also, I know there are other user groups that talk about pizza and Italian cooking, so if you are a member of another group, you might want to put the word out where folks can get the flour.

We aren't going to put the kids through college selling flour, but I think there are enough of us out there who want to use the real thing that it should be fun.

The food store is at:

http://fornobravo.com/pizza-ingredients/index.html

James