Bake Oven

Pizza and Bake Ovens
Wood-fired bake ovens are a great way to cook fantastic meals and breads inside or outside (especially pizza). After you've tasted crispy homemade pizza from a bake oven you'll never get delivery again!

Forno Bravo Ovens: We carry all Forno Bravo Italian bake ovens and accessories for commercial and residential use - indoors or outdoors. We also do professional installations, check local code requirements, pull permits for the work, and install the ovens and chimneys. We also do creative finish work in stucco, brick, stone, and tile. Will travel for larger jobs. You may also order pre-assembled ovens to be delivered to your city (must be a commercial dock) if you are not in the KC area.

Brick Bake Ovens: We also build site-built brick ovens the old-fashioned way (see a project below to see how it is done). The process takes several days to several weeks, depending on size and materials used and of course, how the exterior is finished. We will help you determine the right size and location for your brick bake oven. Our bake oven builder is master mason Gene Padgitt.

Step 1: The oven base is built out of block and a pre-cast cement lintel is installed on top to support he weight of the oven. Step 2: Several layers of different types of insulating material is installed to keep the heat inside the oven. Step 3: The firebrick floor is laid.
Step 4: The oven walls are built up with firebrick. You can see this is going to take a lot of masonry. Step 5: Gene building the oven dome built of of firebrick over forms. This gets a little tricky because the brick need to be installed very close together in this arch patter. Step 6: Block walls are built on the sides and back, the cladding is poured around the top, front and back of the oven to keep the heat inside. Step 7: The front face and chimney are installed. Here the front face and arch are finished and the chimney is in place. The chimney/flue is a decorative chimney pot from Sandkuhl Clay. The wood bin is finished (under the base)

Pizzas cooking in the oven at 700 degrees The one on the left is crisp and ready to come out.
Gene pulls a yummy pizza out with the pizza peel

A "Mr. Bill" pizza fresh from the oven!

Gene built this stone pond and fountain for our backyard patio. We still have to add plants and fish.

Our backyard oasis completed with a raised herb garden is at the right of the entrance and plantings include sage, rosemary, thyme, dill, basil, garlic chives, onion chives, and three types of oregano. All the necessary herbs for an Italian cook!

The rest of the garden has Jasmine trees, roses, lilies, evergreens, hyacinth, and clematis with ground cover.

Working with a wood-fired oven takes a little practice, but it is well worth the effort. Some of our favorite moments are having friends over to make their own pizza - and it is a sure hit at any party. We have learned how to bake homemade breads in the oven, too, and I must say that it tastes much better than bread cooked in a regular indoor gas or electric oven. We've also tried our hand at roasting chicken and turkey, vegetables, and casseroles, and they come out great.

The oven must be "fired" to heat it before baking. Sometimes that means firing it the night before an event, then adding wood in the morning and then a couple of hours or so before the cooking is to begin. We use pallet wood to get it started, then add oak. A thermometer is placed inside to check temperature. Ideally, you want very high temperatures to cook pizza - 700-800 degrees or so, but we have cooked them at 600-650 and they come out fine. Then we crack open the door to let heat escape and get the temperature down to 375 -400 to bake bread. After the oven is cooled down to below 200 I dry herbs in it. You can add woods like apple or hickory to add flavor to the food.

Most of the time all of the coals are removed before baking, but for a larger party with lots of pizza being cooked, we leave coals in the back to keep the oven hot.

I'll be posting some of my favorite recipes here soon, but in the meantime, you can get some great ideas at www.fornobravo.com