Posted 06.16.17 / Kitchen secrets - things your Nonna never told you

Light my fire!

Step onto our patio on the lunch hour and let yourself be transported to an authentic pizzeria somewhere in Italia. As the heat emanating from our wood-burning brick oven pulls you into the experience, sniff the burning maplewood. Peek inside and watch as fresh mozzarella cheese bubbles on top of tomato sauce and hand rolled dough baking on top of 400 Degrees Celsius bricks. It’s enough to make you drool!

Enjoying a pizza on the patio has become an annual lunchtime ritual for hundreds of locals and tourists. But did you know how much time it takes to prepare the oven for the lunch rush? Two hours!

Our oven was originally built 10 years ago by a local artisan with Manitoulin stone. After years of use and weather, it needed some extra TLC, and so, was rebuilt in 2016.

If you didn’t catch our live video this week with managing operator Mark Gregorini, here is a condensed version of how to prepare the brick oven for lunch.

  1. Clean out ashes, left over timber and other debris from last fire.
  2. Start with a small kindling fire using maple wood at the front of the oven to ensure smoke can escape through the chimney. Add wood in a pyramid design to grow the fire.
  3. As fire increases, slowly push it towards the back of the hearth to heat the fire bricks. This process takes approximately one hour.
  4. As fire intensifies, keep adding small pieces of hardwood. You will know when fire is ready to cook because brick will turn white. At this point, push pile of wood toward back of oven. This distributes heat evenly around the oven to allow the oven to cook more evenly in less time
  5. Temperature should reach between 300 and 400 Degrees Celsius before you place pizza inside.

 

Our pizza oven is open for lunches Wednesday, Thursday and Friday throughout the summer. Call 705-523-2794 to reserve your spot.