Slow Food

Some may remember that back in August we acquired a used DIY garden pizza oven from a friend of MrB. A few days after it was set up the weather turned nasty and has for almost the entire last 6 weeks been pretty miserable - cold and wet.

Now that we have at last got a spell of wonderful Indian Summer, we thought it was time to put the thing to the test. I have no experience of making DIY Pizzas and even less of baking them in a wood fired outdoor oven. Daughter Kate in Ireland is a whizz at homemade Pizzas and every Friday is Pizza Fest at their place but cooked in her Aga type kitchen range.

However thanks to our modern day information sources, looked up on Youtube how such an oven could work and sadly was bowled over by what one person did with his. Basically from one heating session he was able to cook three days long; Day 1 the stuff that needs high heat like Pizzas, then Day 2 whole roast chickens, breads etc and Day 3 drying fruit and vegetables and herbs. I didn't take much notice of the bit where he explained the construction of his home made oven with it's multitude of layers of various heat absorbing stones and all the fancy ventilation and lighting gadgets that were built in - Show-Off.

So No.1 invite Mr&MrsB and No. 2 get one of our own home grown geese out of the freezer. Then today make a Hummus before kneading two lots of dough - one for the pizzas and one for a Focaccia bread to use with the Hummus. and then it was time for lighting the fire.

All was going really well, doughs in the fridge had risen to 2x or 3x their size, fire burning well but I couldn't really fathom out how to regulate fresh and exhaust air. Seemed to be too little fresh and too much exhaust. However one way and another looked OK. Two different types of tomatoes heated up with some fresh herbs from the garden by which time, I considered fire to be ready. Wanting to cook the goose, had to retain the fire, so pushed ashes to one side and with a large wet cloth cleaned the remained oven floor and in with the Focaccia to be ready when the B's arrived.

The Focaccia was OK but not as light and fluffy as I expected. Re-read the recipe and found I had added too much olive oil. However tasted good with the Hummus as we stood around in the kitchen and everybody started to roll out and make their own pizzas. I rather liked the idea of doing mini ones as we could fit four in at one go and that one could try out various combinations of cheeses & toppings.

The first batch took quite some time and it was clear the oven floor was not as hot as it should be. They didn't look as though the bases were crispy but in fact not bad. Eventually though moved the fire to the other side and then the load that followed went really well.

There followed a very pleasant evening with the food, Pimms and beer. Another friend and his partner was hoping to come by but was in "stress" from work and his "hobby". So we had enough food.

After the B's had said goodnight, I whacked the goose in the oven but fearful it would not be hot enough added too many fresh logs with the result that it got far too overcooked and burnt. There was sadly little to rescue in the morning but what there was, tasted good. Was annoyed at the waste of such a precious foodstuff especially as it was our own. Very disrespectful.

However learnt a lot: probably the first thing is that with such a "basic" oven, exposed to the elements, it would make sense the day before to warm and dry it out with a slow fire. The bricks, tiles and mortar were clearly very damp and this reduced the heat enormously. I think the idea of cooking meat is still valid but only if one is awake and continuously checking progress. However a properly constructed oven is clearly a better choice.

On balance a bit of fun, not economically the greatest hit but still worthwhile. Would love to do it with the grandchildren but suspect their next visit in December may not be optimal timing.