Welcome!
It's officially fall! September was a busy month at Forno Bravo finishing up the details for the Expo! Read more about the event in this month's newsletter.
As usual, Chef Bart gives us a unique twist on using fruit and chicken in a tantalizing pizza recipe. Our recipe contest concluded this month, and Chef Bart announces the winner of a $75 shopping spree in the Forno Bravo Store.
If you haven't started to follow the new webisode installations on Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart, you can still catch up! Read about the second and third webisode in the newsletter.
Do you have a question about your wood fired oven or pizza ovens in general? The Forno Bravo Forum is available 24/7 with forum members from all over the world offering advice and insights on building, purchasing and owning an oven. We encourage you to register for the forum and join in on the conversation! You can also submit the question form at the bottom of every page on fornobravo.com or call us at (800) 407-5119.
Thank you for being part of the Forno Bravo community!
The Forno Bravo Team
Community Cookbook: Wood Fired Apricot Pizza
Chef Bart Hosmer shares this month's featured recipe from the Forno Bravo Community Cookbook.
Tart, creamy, sharp, savory and sweet... just a few of my favorite things. Keeping with the summer season, this recipe highlights the sweet ripeness of apricots combined with the tart creaminess of goat cheese. Add savory chicken meat and a sharp pop of pesto, and you have a complete feast with just one pizza. Read more...
Hope you enjoy. Until next month, feast well.
- Chef Bart
Introducing! Forno Rustico Chef -- Lea Bergen
Keeping the momentum going that Chef Bart has created with the Forno Bravo Community Cookbook, we welcome chef and culinary instructor, Lea Bergen to the Forno Bravo community. Chef Lea brings us an extensive global background in wood fired baking and cooking. While working as the Director of Lorenza de' Medici's Cooking School in Chianti, Italy, Lea was introduced to professional bread baking at a small wood fired bakery in Lariano, a village south of Rome. It was there that her passion was sparked by the flame of live-fire cooking.
In addition to being an award-winning filmmaker and chef, Lea's diverse experience includes being the Vice President of Program Development and Executive Director of Adult Education for the California Culinary Academy, as well as the General Manager of the Thomas Fogarty Winery in Portola Valley, CA and Cafe Fontebella in Oakland, CA. She was a dinner chef at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, a line cook at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and the founding chef of the Opera House Cafe in Petaluma, CA, the Desert Cafe in Santa Fe, and the Florentine Cooking School in Saratoga, CA. Please join us in welcoming Chef Lea to Forno Bravo!
Forno Bravo Expo Recap
Wood fired oven enthusiasts from across the country came to Talbott Vineyards in Monterey, California to watch wood fired cooking demonstrations in Forno Bravo ovens, sample food and wine, and learn more about how to use wood fired ovens.
In addition to the attendees, we want to thank our incredible lineup of celebrity chefs for sharing their time and talents: Pizza Quest host Peter Reinhart; Restauranteur John Arena and his business partner, Chris Decker; Culinary Author Brigit Binns; Head Chef at Tarpy's Roadhouse Chef Todd Fisher; and Caterer Vito Romani. You can find the chefs' EXPO recipes in the Forno Bravo Community Cookbook.
The Expo also served as a venue for future Pizza Quest webisodes. Peter Reinhart and the Pizza Quest film crew captured the excitement of the cooking demonstrations and insight into each chef's passion for food. You can see the interaction and festivities in the EXPO photo album on the Forno Bravo Expo Facebook page.
We would also like to thank these sponsors for participating in the Expo: Fire Within, Bianco DiNapoli Tomatoes, Central Milling, GI Metals, LaQuercia Cured Meats, Lodge Manufacturing, Orlando Foods/Caputo Flour, BelGioioso Cheese, Rich's Foods and Whole Foods in Monterey, CA.
Recipe Contest Winner Announced!
Thank you to those individuals who submitted their non-pizza wood fired oven recipes in to the recipe contest. Chef Bart had a difficult time judging the entries, but the final decision came down to Jim King's Wood Fired Grilled Kaleapeno Bacon Infused Brussel Sprouts. "The recipe is approachable, seasonal, and represents current cooking trends and flavors. It's a great appetizer," Chef Bart said. Congratulations, Jim! You can start looking through the Forno Bravo Store to decide how you'll spend your $75 prize!
Do you have a favorite wood fired recipe? Share it with other wood fired enthusiasts through the Community Cookbook at fornobravo.com. We encourage you to include a picture of the finished recipe!
UPDATE: Forno Bravo Forum
We continue to have an open discussion with members of the Forno Bravo Forum regarding the recent software upgrade and appreciate everyone's participation to address opportunities for improvement. We are pleased to inform the Forum Community that a number of functionality concerns have been restored, and we continue to dedicate resources to address the few concerns that require deeper investigation. Our goal is to provide the most user-friendly platform available and continue to grow the vibrant Forum Community!
Got Wood?
Here's a birthday gift suggestion for the wood fired enthusiast: the iconic Forno Bravo "Got Wood?" t-shirt and apron that are now available in the Forno Bravo Store. You can also find the new Pizza Quest t-shirt for Pizza Quest fans!
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Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart -- New Webisodes!
We have 10 webisodes in this interview series with Peppe Miele, restauranteur and President of VPN Americas, so we'll be covering a lot in the coming weeks. In the second segment, Peppe explains a little more about the Vera Pizza Napoletana school of thought, focusing on the famous tomatoes from San Marzano. In the third installment, we discuss with Peppe the use of Italian "00" (double zero) flour, which he defines as a balance between the fineness of the grind (ground very fine and pure endosperm) and the protein content (he doesn't specify the amount but it's probably between 10.5%-11.5%). An important take-away from this conversation is the ideal fermentation time, which Peppe describes as being two hours of primary fermentation followed by 6 to 8 hours of resting (as dough balls) before making the pizzas. Come and join the Quest!
--Peter Reinhart
