Purpose of this blog

This blog will really be a true web log. I will post here about different wood-fired ovens as I find them.

If you know of any wood-fired ovens I should know about, you can send an e-mail to me. (If you build wood-fired ovens, I would like to hear from you too.)

There will lots of posts and lots of labels, since I plan to create one post for every appropriate web site that I find, and however many labels it takes to describe each one (usually at least the type of page and the location of the oven).

The accumulated information will still be found at the real Quest for Ovens web site links pages, but that is not updated as frequently as this blog will be.

If you are from outside the US and Canada, let me know what you find interesting about it. I see that I get visitors from India and Iran, and other faraway places. I'd like to know what draws you to this blog.

I received e-mail from the organizers of the BBC Two television show asking if the Saint Paul Bread Club could post a notice about their show Great British Bake-Off for amateur bakers. The information they gave me is now accessible through a link. (The organizers don't have a web page for the show itself yet.)

Please share this with any amateur bakers in Great Britain you may know, or post the link where they might see it.

Thanks.

Friday, October 26, 2012

D'Amico & Sons, Golden Valley, Minnesota Field Report

While looking for a place to eat dinner after attending an art exhibition at the Perpich Center for Arts Education I did a "search nearby" and found that there was a D'Amico & Sons location at 7804 Olson Memorial Highway, Golden Valley, MN 55437, about a mile away. Looking at the reviews on Trip Advisor for the restaurant, I saw one where it mentioned "wood fired oven" so that restaurant location seemed worth a try.

This time I didn't have my camera with me, so there are no pictures.

There is a menu that you can download from their page. The actual selections available in the restaurant were a bit broader.

The good news: They really do have and use a wood-fired oven to bake their pizza.

The bad news: They run their oven at a comparatively low 500 degrees or so.

As a result, their wood-fired pizza is just OK.

I ordered their Neapolitan (a highly ironic name considering the temperature of true Neapolitan pizza ovens), which had fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil. The pizza was thin crust, not overloaded, and had a bit of char on the bottom. It would have definitely benefited from some attention from a bubble popper. A couple of big bubbles had pushed the sauce and cheese away from substantial portions of my pizza.

Even with those problems, it was a pretty tasty pizza, and one I would order again.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Trinity Lutheran Community Oven, Fort Collins, Colorado

My ever-watchful Google Alert for community ovens found another community oven project underway, this time as part of Trinity Lutheran Church, Fort Collins, Colorado.

It's not clear where exactly they are getting their inspiration to build a community oven, but they have created a page for it on their web site, plus a Facebook Church/Religious Organization page and a Facebook Community page for it (the latter page is probably the better maintained one).

Colorado is already home to one functioning community oven in Carbondale (my links about them, their own site).

Some of their inspiration seems to be coming from the community oven built by the White Bear Lake United Methodist Church in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. (That's a guess, partly based on the fact that Trinity Lutheran used pictures of the WBLUMC oven on their web page.)

I wish TLC great success in their efforts.




Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tracton Community Oven, Cork, Ireland

One advantage of having this blog and my Quest for Oven web pages is that I sometimes get information coming to me instead having to search it all out on my own.

In this case, I received an e-mail from Ireland telling me about a plan to build a community oven there (the first one in Ireland that I am aware of).

As of 10/13/2012 it's a project in progress, but the place where it is being built has a Facebook community organization page. (See the post for October 10.)

I have run across other art centers where a community oven has become part of the activities.

It's good to see the zeal for community ovens catching on in Ireland.

Nov. 17, 2012: I just checked their Facebook page again, and there is now a photo album titled Tracton Community Oven with 16 pictures in it, apparently added Nov. 1, 2012. Looks good. I could not tell much about the style of the oven or its size from what I saw.