By day, he's a cop. In his time off, Dave Garro of Akron, Ohio, bakes pizza and bread in his homemade brick oven.
Most of my favorite food writers and my favorite food TV show (Alton Brown's Good Eats) have one thing in common: They all strive to get to the heart of the topic they're highlighting. Whether it's Mr. Brown delving into deep-frying or Jeffrey Steingarten taking a close look at coal-fired pizza ovens, they all try to get to the principle or mechanics behind the food.
I, too, try to explore the behind-the-scenes aspects of pizza, whether it's growing basil from scratch or making homemade mozzarella. I like to reduce the process to the basic elements. So, too, does Mr. Garro:
Garro built his oven the hard way. He didn’t use one of the outdoor-oven kits that are available because they’re too expensive. Ditto for hiring someone to build it for him. And he didn’t buy any of the plans sold on the Internet because the ovens weren’t big enough for his taste.Instead, Garro bought a book, ‘‘The Bread Builders’’ by Daniel Wing and Alan Scott, which delves into the theory of constructing and baking in brick ovens. Garro had never laid bricks, but he enjoys home remodeling projects and was confident he could figure it out. He borrowed books on bricklaying from the library and taught himself.
The quote from his wife is pretty good:
‘‘I was adamantly opposed to this thing. I did not want that monstrosity in my yard,’’ said Garro’s wife, Michelle. Her opposition didn’t melt until she tasted the first pizza. Now she smiles as she watches through the dining room window as Garro rakes coals from the oven outside.
Homemade oven bakes backyard bread, perfect pizza [The Pueblo Chieftain]
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