09/15/2009

OK, so I fired up the brick pizza oven this past weekend. It was all new to me so I worried about how to fire the oven and make the dough (by hand). I worked on the toppings to use and how close to the fire to put the pizza. I read a lot on line at sites like Forno Bravo, and had a lot of ideas, maybe too many. But experience is a great teacher, and I got pretty good at making pizza in the oven after a few tries. Everyone who dropped by our house got a chance to make their own pizza and watch it cook in the brick oven.

Here is a video of the first firing and the making of that first pizza (look for the "Notes Floats My Boat" Lotusphere koozi in the video):

The $1,000 Pizza
As my son Dominic and I were admiring our first pizza creation, I joked with him that we were eating a $1,000 pizza. He asked me how this one pizza could cost $1,000? Well, below I have a tally of the costs it took to make that first pizza.



Dominic and Frank admiring a $1,000 pizza.



Here are the details of the $1,000 Pizza:

Oven Construction
250 fire bricks	$ 250
640 pounds (8 bags) Cement and mortar	$ 100
Wood for arch frame	$ 50
gloves	$ 20
Wood for firing the Oven
1/2 cord wood	$ 250
hatchet	$ 15
lighting torch	$ 25
Cooking Essentials
60" pizza peel	$ 110
60" fire poker	$ 80
60" whisk broom	$ 40
Pizza Ingredients
Italian flour	$ 20
Italian tomatoes	$ 20
Cheese	$ 20
Total for one pizza:	$ 1,000