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Backyard Wood Fired (Pizza) Oven
We love pizza!!! Especially NY style pizza. In fact, we took our grandsons on a Pizza Tasting Adventure a few years ago. We visited 4 build your own pizza restaurants. We watched them build and cook our pizza, which created an inspiration in us to do it at home.
We decided we wanted a wood fired outdoor brick oven, so we started to research how to build one. There’s a lot of oven options out there. Gas, wood, metal, brick, premade, or build. We decided to buy a DIY wood fired pizza oven kit from The Fire Brick Co.. The company is located in Australia. We purchased their D105 Oven Kit. Their attention to detail and support was phenomenal.
The process of building your own pizza oven is time consuming. If you prefer instant gratification, you may want to purchase a ready made metal one. We wanted one that looked authentic and we could use over and over again. We wanted to be able to see into the oven from our hot tub we installed in fall of 2022, creating a resort like atmosphere in our backyard.
July, 2023: Foundation & Base
We started to build the oven in our backyard in July, 2023. After we decided on which company to buy from, the next decision was yard location. We wanted it located near our back patio. We had to prep the ground before the kit arrived. The process of building it required a lot of concrete and rebar.
Point # 1: We recommend you have construction skills (or a friend with construction skills) to built a DIY wood fired pizza oven.
August, 2023: The Dome
It’s been over 1 month into this project. It took 2 weeks to complete the brick dome. Then we had to build a cover over it to protect it from the elements so it would not crack. That took 1 day.
Once the cover was done, the next steps were putting the insulation over the dome, finishing the front edge, and attaching the chimney so we could test the oven. That took 12 days.
September, 2023: First Fire
A little over 2 months into this project we were able to build 4 major firings in our oven AFTER allowing proper curing time as per the instructions.
October, 2023: Final Touches
All that was left was painting the dome (had to pick out the perfect paint color) and adding side walls to the covering. Total project time was a little over 3 months.
Not just a Pizza Oven!
The key to good pizza is the crust, the sauce and the CHEESE! We needed to find a good recipe for pizza dough/crust and sauce. The sauce was easy, but finding a perfect dough/crust we like was trial and error. We finally settled on a quick, thin crust recipe. You can view some of our pizza crust ideas on Pinterest board named: Roll it and pat it, and mark it with a P. (For Pizza Dough & ME!)
In addition to making pizza in our oven, we’ve grilled steaks, baked meatloaf, baked lasagna in an iron baking dish, smoked peppers & tomatoes for our homemade salsa. The oven stays warm over night, so we can easily use it the following day.
I gotta ask: “What would you cook in a wood fired oven?”
The Relentless Redecorator
We love our wood fired oven. I kinda wish we had one inside our house! And yes, we have to stock up on the proper wood to cook with. Our #1 choice: Oak.
We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.
Inspiring Home Life ♥️,
THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR
Manual Coffee Grinder Instructions
Did you purchase a manual coffee grinder from us at our local Farmers Market and now you wonder, how do I adjust my manual coffee grinder?
Your coffee grinding mechanism is ceramic burr and is set to a very fine grind; but what if you want a medium or course grind coffee?
Vintage Reproduction Manual Coffee Grinder for Regular Mouth Mason Jars
The plastic cover has a little tab to pull it open. Close it while grinding to keep the beans from jumping out. It also grinds hard spices like peppercorns. It does not work well with soft spices, flax seeds, or nuts.
To adjust the grind size:
Remove the top black nut, the spring, and the round piece under the handle.
Screw the hexagonal piece up and down the threaded rod. You will see the 2 pieces of the ceramic grinder moving closer or farther apart. Closer creates a finer grind, farther apart creates a courser grind. Reassemble and grind.
Coffee and Spice Grinder for Regular and/or Wide Mouth Mason Jars
To adjust the grind size:
Remove the gold nut, the handle, and the round piece under the handle.
Screw the gear shaped piece up and down the threaded rod. You will see the 2 pieces of the ceramic grinder moving closer or farther apart. Closer creates a finer grind, farther apart creates a courser grind.
It grinds hard spices like peppercorns. It does not work well with soft spices, flax seeds, or nuts.
Silicone Cover Now Available
Are your coffee beans jumping out of your grinder? We now offer a silicone cover. Simply slide the cover onto the grinder to keep your beans in place.
Cleaning Your Grinder
To clean the ceramic burr grinding mechanism, grind uncooked white rice.
And thank you for shopping local!
We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.
Inspiring Home Life ♥️,
THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR
Gourmet S’mores Kits
Update:
Sadly, 1927 S’mores in Portland, OR closed in September, 2024.
1927 S’mores Kits have arrived at Rustic Country Market from Portland, OR. Ninteen27 S’mores, LLC was started in 2015 by our good friends’ daughter and son in law (we attended their wedding). They specialize in locally sourced (Oregon based) partnerships to create their American treats. We had the opportunity to try their s’mores during a trip to Portland, and I gotta say, they are tasty!
Opening the box…
When you open your kit, 1927’s roasting instructions are included so you can enjoy your s’mores right at home. Here in the Arizona White Mountains, we prefer to roast our s’mores over an open fire whether it’s wood or propane (as long as there’s no fire restrictions).
Tasting…
Last night we roasted Cocoa Raspberry S’mores over our propane fire pit in our backyard. The marshmallows are huge! We lost half of one to the fire. We recommend spreading the raspberry preserve on one of the delicious, cocoa graham crackers, place a piece of the bittersweet chocolate on it, then roast and squish your marshmallow between the graham crackers.
Flavors we Offer at our Market:
We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.
Inspiring Home Life ♥️,
THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR
The Wine, The Coffee, The Chocolate…
Have you noticed that wine, coffee and chocolate all have similar, distinctive, flavor characteristics?
All three are influenced by the age of the crop, the ground they are grown in, elevation, weather, water, insects, etc. All can have a great crop year followed by a bad crop year.
Whether you are coffee, chocolate or wine tasting, you will rely on your eyes, nose, taste buds and hearing the story behind the harvest you are tasting.
Experts pair wine with chocolate, and chocolate with wine. They pair coffee with chocolate, chocolate with cheese, cheese with wine. Food is paired with coffee, chocolate and wine. Why? Because it enhances the taste (which is a selling point).
Below are some flavor wheels I’ve collected over the years that are used to describe coffee, chocolate and wine. See the similarities? (Click on the image to enlarge.)
We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.
Inspiring Home Life ♥️,