My dream is to have an outdoor wood fired pizza oven ......

....... like this one, maybe? This is homeowner sized, with a cooking deck approximately 36" in diameter.



I often specify much larger commercial versions of these for corporate dining facilities. I've been to the commercial company's factory in Bellingham, WA, that makes them and have taken their course in their test kitchen. Here's a link to a page on their web site showing many installations:

http://www.woodstone-corp.com/gallery.htm

Other than a range, this is all the cooking capacity you could ever wish for. Not only can they make bread and pizzas, they can do almost anything you wish. Roasts. Even steaks and seafood.

I have been threatening Sparkly to build one of these puppies out in the back yard, just off the deck. They are extraordinarily low tech. If you've ever been to the ruins at Pompeii you will see several of this exact same design!

If money were no object, what's your culinary dream?

My dream for it is not expensive. Some time ago, PBS had a series on the senses. Maybe you remember it? One episode was set in Mexico and concentrated on The Day of the Dead. A woman was making her tamale filling on an outdoor stove in a giant pan. I fell in love with the atmosphere.

We have a small 4-burner apartment stove stored out in a shed. I might be able to convert it to propane and use it for cooking outdoors. I cook outdoors every once in a while with an electric roaster and bbq'ing. but it's not the same as cooking under the sky on a regular stove.

Also, I would like to have a kiva oven. Living in Colorado, I'm sure I could easily find the mateirals for free. And I have the space. This is like the one I have in mind.

A kiva, huh? Is it adobe?

From the shape and door shape, it appears to be a basic wood oven. Build a fire inside to get the oven's thermal mass hot and cook on the declining temperature.

I just did a google for kiva oven ....... yup, the same principles as what I want.

I **love** these things!

new house my ex husband and I built

20 years ago, it had all cherry cabinets, a large island with a hood less gas stovetop that included a gas grill/griddle with a HUGE pot rack above filled with copper pots and bowls with seating for 4 on the back side.

Corian counters (brand new technology then) on all surfaces with masses and masses of counter/work space

it had a large sink by the bay window and a small bar sink opposite by the pass thru to the living room

double ovens and a big walk in pantry with the refrigerator placed so the "bartender" and the seated guests could access it without getting into my "cooking" space.

I could feed 20 people with 3 hours notice at any time.

the kitchen was a dream come true, the husband wasn't......

now with my simple needs, the only thing I would change is electric for gas cooking. I learned on gas and really still don't have the hang of cooking with electricity LOL

I was just thinking about a design for a kitchen. Mine is such a mess today. :) It would be great to wipe the slate clean and start a new one.

and built a 3000 SF house in 18 months

I'd do it again in a minute :)

I want the kitchen to feel like home. I want to be able to make simple good food comfortably. As most of you know, I am working on improving the flow of my kitchen, so part of my wish is coming true. And I have a good stove, so that is nice. I do wish my kitchen looked onto the back yard instead of the driveway. It would be nice to be able to see the kids playing while I work.

I loved my last kitchen. It was perfect for one cook. Everything was always right where I wanted it and there was always plenty of space to set things down. My husband redid the entire space so it was all perfectly my taste. It looked out on camellia bushes, a large oak and, at the very back of the property, my rose garden. Coming from apartment living, I though I had died and gone to heaven. So part of my problem with my current kitchen, I just need to let go of the last one and commit to this one. I am sure it will be great once I get it organized.

There will always be new kitchen stuff I want. That is part of the fun and the problem with wanting.

My husband's grandparents were Italian immigrants so they built an outdoor bread oven at the home they built here in the U.S. My husband often talks about going to grandmom's house to eat bread fresh from the outdoor oven. The old homestead was sold and the new owners removed the oven.

Does your husband still wax poetic about it? Were you ever able to experience it firsthand?

My Italian immigrant grandparents (on both Mom's and Dad's sides) had wonderful gardens with grape arbors and fig trees and ......

Their little piece of Napoli. Wonderful memories, all sadly gone. Maybe what I'm really trying to do is create that all over again ......

There is a much smaller one in use in the Outback at Western Washington U. It is handmade, and it used for pizzas as well as bread.

Go for it!

You can learn how at this great school- the North House Folk School. In Minnesota but SO worth the trip.

Mostly we bake bread but 2x/year have a blowout pizza party.

http://www.northhouse.org/


Building a Wood-Fired Brick Bread Oven
Alan Scott
Length in Days: 3
Session Options: 5/21/05-5/23/05
5/27/05-5/29/05
Hours: 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Tuition: $300
Materials Fee: $35
Level: All levels
During this workshop participants learn about wood-fired retained-heat ovens: the history, how they work, how to construct, to fire, and to bake a vast range of items, particularly hearth breads. The workshop begins at the stage of the laying of the block walls on an already prepared foundation slab. Next steps are the pouring of the hearth slab, laying of the hearth bricks, then continuing with the wall bricks and arched ceiling, oven entrance, throat and flue, as time allows. The building of the foundation and the finishing of the oven façade, its insulation and housing will be explained in detail although time does not allow their construction at the workshop. Course includes baking in North House's oven (a baking hearth of 36"x 48") which is capable of baking 16 "artisan" loaves at a batch, with capacity to bake six or more batches from a single firing. Material fee includes the text "The Bread Builders."

I'd love to see it.

A friend of mine and I have been wanting one of these for a long time. he is a factory rep to the company in Bellingham and we've been begging them to build a small dome in sections for us - so far with no luck.

I have a copy of Bread Builders. Great book!

I'm completely jealous! :D

When I was in high school back in NYC, I had a friend who is Yugoslavian. Some of the aunts and uncles built houses in upstate NY. All the family would help in the construction. First, they would build a tiny cabin on the property so they could stay there while working on the new house on weekends.

My friend, her cousin and I once went up there for a weekend. The tiny, one room cabin had to have electricity and perhaps running water. But to get to the story about cooking facilities - it was a flat stone slab. The slab butted up against the better part of one inside wall. Access to heat it was from an opening outside. We fed the wood into a hole in the outer wall of the cabin and the stone slab heated up.

We made spaghetti that first night. Heated up a big pot of water and got to goofing around while the pasta boiled and we almost had mashed potato-like pasta! The slab got really hot!

The next morning, my friend's mom and dad arrived. Mom immediately fired up the slab and set to baking Yugoslavian nut roll pastries. She really knew what she was doing!

I was 16 at the time and it's over 40 years later. The memories of that weekend, exploring the area with it's tiny vacation cabins is still clear. But the star of that getaway is still the stone slab stove.

There's no substitutre for such methods. Don't get me wrong, I love, have, and regularly use all the modern stuff. But sometimes ya just want the old stuff.

Are you familiar with the AGA cookers?

http://www.aga-ranges.com/models/three_oven.cfm

I would imagine they work on a principal similar to the way that stone slab worked ...... stored heat given up to food through conduction.