Sunnyside special – the pizza oven @ HFG

This is the story of Guy (the expert maker) and the wood fire, pizza oven.

Michael has been sourcing materials to make the new oven and photographing it’s building, over the last few weeks – thanks Mike.

The site was chosen – next to the cafe at Hemel Food Garden, so that it was close to where we will keep the ingredients refrigerated.

The aim – to make our own homemade pizzas using home grown veg and have produce extraordinary, unique and tasty food for everyone.

The basic structure went in quite quickly, so we missed a couple of photographic opportunities where a layer of up turned glass bottles are added to act as an insulating layer, then covered with sand – we caught that bit on camera. Then comes the fun bit (well Guy obviously thinks so – I’m not so sure personally) – making the cob. This cob is made from a mix of clay, water and straw, to help hold it together and bulk it up. It is then added as a layer on top of the sand and fire bricks lain on top, which are the cooking base and support the wood fire.

The actual oven is shaped by using a mound of sand – the sand castle, and then covered with wet paper so that the next layer of cob doesn’t stick to it – clever. The cob goes all over and then Guy makes the entrance, again with the help of  a mould and adds the chimney.

There’s still lots more to be done, and will take a couple of weeks, so keep an eye out on the blog for more updates.