Meet Bess.  She’s squat, round, hot, smelly and bloody heavy!  BUT she sure can cook and she’s my new best friend !  Yesterday we took delivery of my belated birthday present…A wood fired oven that is on a stand and therefore mobile.  For us the mobile aspect is very important because we are a very mobile family so everything we own has to be able to fit into a removal container at some stage or another.

One day, when we settle down, Bess will be built into an outdoor kitchen but for the moment she’ll be living on her stand.  Last night after curing her we cooked pizza.  Tonight, motivated to learn more about controlling the temperature, we cooked more pizza, a rolled shoulder of lamb, baked stuffed apples and jacket potatoes.  The potatoes are still in the oven as I’m writing this because I’ve decided to let the embers cook them in foil.

The biggest challenge about cooking in a wood fired oven is temperature regulation…

it get’s darn hot.

I have plans to set up a temporary outdoor kitchen outside so that cooking with the wood fire oven is as comfortable as cooking in the indoor kitchen. 

My night photographic skills leave a lot to be desired!  Next time I take night pictures I’ll use a tripod.  Last night I cooked a very large loaf of ciabatta in the oven, but i burned the bottom a little.  On the bright side the loaf tasted awesome! (after the burned base was cut off LOL)

Yesterday, as I was about to put the pizza on the testo base, I realised that I didn’t have a natural bristle hearth brush or any other wood fire hearth tools.  So, today my mission was to get a reasonably priced hearth tool set.  I didn’t have to go far!  My first and only stop was my favourite local antique store.  They had two, each costing $50.  The owner, a fabulously lovely woman reduced the price immediately to $30, so I walked out a very happy woman with a cast iron hearth tool set that looks perfectly at home in our backyard! 

So dear readers, in light of the prospect that I’ll be eating a lot of different variety of pizza in the coming months, what is your favourite topping and crust choices?  I’m a humble pizza lover.  Give me a margaritta with fresh basil any day of the week!