It’s been a busy last few months! Holidays, work and life and general has caused an absence of updates on Pizza Journey. So to kick start the site again, I thought I’d put all the posts into one story. A simple story told in photos of all the fun and cooking that is to be had in a backyard wood oven. We’ve certainly been making the most of it at Chateau Toogood Lawrence. With everything from Paella to Roast Duck…
The week started with a day by day block laying challenge. I promised myself to stack a layer each day after work. Doesn’t sound like much – but with limited time and sunshine after work it was a good goal. By Thursday night I was done, next operation was core filling madness. Up early to visit my new friends at Kennards Hire at 7.00am to get myself a cement mixer for this morning’s efforts. Next stop was Forster’s to purchase…
The outdoor entertaining / cooking / area is now waterproof. Thanks to Adam Riley (Riley Ceilings) we got the job done in under 2 hours. Fantastic work considering the massive weekend we’ve all had. Verandah has 2 clear sheets and the rest is zinc corrugated steel and serve us well over the coming years of using the new space. Luca even had a go at screwing down a sheet!
After some further research for recipes for the Pizza Oven I came across some techniques for cooking paella in a WFO (wood fired oven). Traditionally the Spanish use olive or orange tree prunings as the smoke from the wood imparts a special flavour onto the food. As I’m only 6 weeks from firing up our oven and spring has just begun I figured now would be the time to get some olive wood of my own. I started by looking…
Laying the first course of Besser Blocks for the Pizza Oven stand. Once we got started it was pretty straight forward. Of course straight forward after we worked out how to get the first row square and level (our slab making techniques were not exactly the most perfect). After a quick refreshment break I got busy painting the verandah frame ready for a new corrugated roof. It was a big day that started with picture framing, hanging prints, block laying…
