Sunday, November 25, 2012

cooking in the new wood fired oven . . .



for a long time now friday night has been pizza night at our house and for a long time we have dreamed about having our own wood fired oven.

many hours have been spent deliberating, debating and discussing all the different options. brick oven or earth oven? build your own or pre-made? how much to spend? what size? where to put it?

in the end we opted for a diy kit from here. we got the last of the locally made ones, which was important to us. they are now manufactured off-shore.

even after buying a kit, there were a few weekends of work involved in assembling it. learning new skills. heavy lifting. calling on friends. moments of frustration. . . it was all worth it in the end.

our new pizza oven has been up and running for a few weeks now. it's on the deck, just outside the kitchen door. we love cooking in it. we love gathering around it. we love the flavour of the food.

the first time we fired it up, we cooked some naan bread {pictured here}. since then we've done roast beef, chicken, veges . . . and lots of pizza of course. i'm keen to get my sourdough in there. 

last night, for dinner, sam made chicken caesar salad and roasted root veges. it tasted so good. both recipes are here, along with a few others i'm keen to try.

we've also been working our way through the recipes in the book 'pizza' by pete evans, which i can highly recommend. so far my favourite topping is mushroom with balsamic onions and taleggio. yum.

i'm looking forward to lots of easy summer entertaining, outside, cooking delicious things for our friends and family in the new oven.

: :

ETA: go and have a look at jane's new wood oven. an absolute masterpiece.

18 comments:

  1. Excellent Rachel! Your bread looks delicious...I am sure you will have many memorable family meals around your new oven.

    We have recently done the same thing & love it :)

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  2. So awesome! Would totally love one of these one of these days! :)

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  3. What a wonderful idea - you will get so much use out of this, all year round. Enjoy!

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  4. oooh SNAP!!!

    We have just recently finished building ours and have been enjoying pizza outdoors ever since. Tonight we made our first whole flour (with honey) loaf- so tasty!

    xo em

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  5. There is nothing quite like homemade pizza and I would imagine they taste even better when cooked this way.
    x

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  6. It looks awesome! Very envious, can't wait to see how the sourdough bakes in there. xx

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  7. How amazing to have,I look forward to what you'll be baking. I highly recommend river cottage bread handbook, if you don't already have it a must for wood fire ovens.

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  8. this is just ace! there is something extra special about cooking outdoors, with coals. so jealous of your delicious wood-fired menu. enjoy! :)sarah

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  9. Beautiful photos Rachel! My dad lives a bit further North from - I've been in Melbourne for 10 years now but the South West feels like home too. Lovely to find your blog. x

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  10. '...North from you' I meant to say!

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  11. V. jealous! We are dreaming of one too. Sad that they are now made off shore - your purchase was timed well.

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  12. ohhh a pizza oven is so very high on my wish list! I would love one just outside my kitchen back door... All the sourdough that would be had!

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  13. ooo major envy here and inspiration to make our own pizza oven. There is nothing quite like the family sitting around devouring home made pizzas. So happy I discovered your blog this morning. xx

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  14. I am very jealous. I have wanted one for ages but sadly we don't get much opportunity to eat outside here, our summers are often cool and wet. I bet you're going to have so much fun with that!

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  15. Oh that looks amazing! I would love one of these. On our list for when we move to the country, where we'll have a bit more room and will be staying put for awhile :)

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  16. Oh wow, what a great addition to your outdoors area, a piece I'm certain you'll get heaps of use out of. Nothing like a wood fired pizza...might have to adopt your Friday night pizza tradition in our household. I love the sounds of your current favourite pizza topping combination - yum! x

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  17. Nothing beats wood-fired pizza and bread! It really tastes a lot better! I think it the wood somehow adds a smoky flavor to the dish. Sometimes, people use maple wood to add flavor to their food. You can do that too, especially if you have plan to roast something, try this one out. I assure you that it'll taste even better!

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