Barrel Oven Fever

Dome masonry ovens, regardless of size or which end of the cost spectrum they sit, are inefficient when used infrequently—as they are in most home settings—since they operate by virtue of retained rather than direct (or continuous) heat. Enter the barrel oven...

Continue reading »

10 Comments | Posted by Andrew Janjigian, October 4, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Tagged: barrel ovens, bread ovens, pizza ovens

My Pizza Oven: An Oven from Down Under

It's been a while since we've had a My Pizza Oven, so I'm happy to welcome Neil Gunning, a chef from Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia, who has built a wood-fired earth oven in his back yard.

Continue reading »

3 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, April 5, 2011 at 8:00 AM
Tagged: Australia, earth ovens, interviews, My Pizza Oven, Neil Gunning, Pizza Obsessives, pizza ovens, Q and As

Pizza Oven Shaped Like a Fire-Breathing Dragon

This fire-breathing dragon pizza oven makes its lair at recently opened Source in San Francisco. According to Source owner Andrew Fox, who sent us this photo, he and his brother make their fresh mozzarella on premises and are from The Bronx, so they "know their pizza."

Continue reading »

3 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, March 25, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Tagged: openings, pizza ovens, San Francisco, Source

Pizza Oven Types

Pizza oven terminology can be a bit confusing. I recently mentioned that a couple new pizzerias had installed "mobile" wood-fired ovens. But mobile to wood-fired pizza geeks is something entirely different from what most folks might initially imagine. Let's break things down with some easy-to-relate-to visuals. For a quick tour through some of the oven types you'll read about on Slice, I've taken the liberty of comparing them to different styles of housing stock. For a truly useful guide to oven terminology, see Forno Bravo's glossary. For a goofy diversion, peep the slideshow here »

Continue reading »

7 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, January 31, 2011 at 2:30 PM
Tagged: pizza ovens

My Pizza Oven: Aaron 'DoubleA' Harris

We got wind of Aaron "DoubleA" Harris's oven when he chimed in on the Awesome Pizza in Kentucky? Talk topic. You know what happens when you mention you own a wood-fired oven around these parts, don't you? You get yourself a place in the hot seat. Let's get Aaron in there now....

Continue reading »

6 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, December 28, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Tagged: Aaron "DoubleA" Harris, DoubleA, interviews, Kentucky, My Pizza Oven, pizza ovens, Q and As, wood-fired ovens

My Pizza Oven: Kate and Nick Martin's Indoor Wood-Fired Oven

"It was installed when we built our house, circa 2006. It is made of French stone and has has a honeycomb shape (the inside portion that is). It is alleged by them (the manufacturers) that this particular stone retains heat better than most, so the baker does not need to feed the fire as often. It came as a kit, but the builder put it all together. The outside stone is from a portico on one of the buildings on our property which fell down. The stone mason built this around the honeycomb inside kit. It probably took a few days to build because the granite had to be cut and fitted around the oven."

Continue reading »

8 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, November 30, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Tagged: interviews, Kate Martin, My Pizza Oven, Pizza Obsessives, pizza ovens, Q and As, Tupper Cooks!, wood-fired ovens

My Pizza Oven: John Della Vecchia - Pint-Size Oven, Big-Time Pizzas

While he is not well-known here on Slice, a relative newcomer to the wood-fired homemade pizza scene has been posting pictures of some mouthwateringly delicious-looking pizzas over at pizzamaking.com under the screen name dellavecchia. Dellavecchia has made rapid progression with his wood-fired oven and his curiosity, passion, and constant experimentation convinced me that he needed to be featured on My Pizza Oven. Let's put him in the hot seat! —PB John and his Primavera 70 Oven. [Photographs: Marcus Aaron Walker, courtesy of John Della Vecchia] Name: John Della Vecchia Location: Natick, Massachusetts (just outside of Boston) Oven: Forno Bravo Primavera...

Continue reading »

17 Comments | Posted by Pizzablogger, November 23, 2010 at 8:00 AM
Tagged: interviews, John Della Vecchia, My PIzza Oven, Pizza Obsessives, pizza ovens, Q and As

My Pizza Oven: Tom Scarborough

When Tom Scarborough made his My Pie Monday debut yesterday and mentioned cooking in "my WFO for a couple minutes at 800°F," I knew we had our next victim for http://slice.seriouseats.com/tags/My+Pizza+Oven">My Pizza Oven. Let's put him in the hot seat!

Continue reading »

7 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, November 16, 2010 at 8:00 AM
Tagged: interviews, My Pizza Oven, Pizza Obsessives, pizza ovens, Q and As, Tom Scarborough

Outtake: Best Pizza's Surplus Oven Real Estate

[Photograph: Adam Kuban] "That's one hell of an oven these guys are working with. Wish I could cook in something like that," said dmcavanagh in a comment on my Best Pizza review today. What I didn't show you all, though, is the surplus oven real estate that extends into the Best Pizza backyard area. You can see it above. That's all oven, folks. Unused oven. See, that's an old coal-fired bakery oven. The back half of it, which extends about 15 feet into Best's backyard, is walled off from the portion that's actually used. (Best Pizza uses wood, too,...

Continue reading »

2 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, November 1, 2010 at 6:00 PM
Tagged: Best Pizza, coal ovens, pizza ovens

A Visit to David Sheridan's Backyard Brooklyn Pizza Oven

I interviewed David Sheridan yesterday for the latest installment of My Pizza Oven, but what I didn't mention is that David had actually invited me out to see him in action and taste the pizza fruits of his oven labor. Scott Wiener of Scott's Pizza Tours joined in on the fun, as well, helping us sample six pies. Peep the slideshow here for outtakes from the MPO photo shoot.

Continue reading »

6 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, October 27, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Tagged: Brooklyn, David Sheridan, Gravesend, photo galleries, pizza ovens, wood-fired ovens