The big game is this weekend, and your friends plan to gather at your house to watch it. One way to home pizza ovens
impress them? A gourmet pizza made by you. Home pizza ovens have become one of the most popular additions to indoor and outdoor kitchens. They take very little effort to install and add contemporary ambiance to patios, backyards, and, of course, kitchens.
While offering a wow factor to any party, home pizza ovens also are easy to use and cook pizza quickly with powerful heat. But don’t think the ovens cost a fortune to operate. They are highly energy efficient. Traditional models use wood while modern ones may use gas or electricity. All, however, conserve energy.
Home pizza ovens aren’t just for baking pizza. They can cook meats, roast vegetables, and bake rustic flatbreads. You can even whip up desserts, mascarpone cheese, and apple sauce. The culinary possibilities are endless.
While these ovens have surged in popularity in recent years, their history dates back to ancient times. Archeologists discovered in the ruins of Pompeii 33 ancient wood-fire community ovens — most still in working condition. Ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Native Americans, and Romans used these types of ovens to make bread and other food unique to their geographic regions. In France and England, this type of oven was considered a luxury in medieval times and usually owned by the lord of the village. Peasants who wanted to bake bread had to pay to use the lord’s because they didn’t have one of their own.
The Italians made this cooking technique world renowned by dotting the countryside with outdoor terra cotta ovens on their farms to perfect their beloved pizzas. Throughout Italy, pizza ovens are staples in households with family recipes passed from generation to generation. That tradition is now continuing in America as more and more people from chefs to Millennials decide to invest in these ovens.
How do they work? Their shape is usually a dome that covers a thick floor. Both the dome and floor are made with heavy materials – brick or metal, usually – and powered by an open cooking flame in a front vent. The floor is used as a stove top while the dome circulates heat. Presto! Cooking magic.
These ovens not only provide intense cooking heat, but they also double as a fireplace, providing radiant heat on cool evenings. They can warm guests long after they have indulged in delicious delicacies with the perfect wine. Guests just may think they have been transported to Italy and forget about the football game they came to watch.
