Pizza on the menu today

You may have read on my blog awhile back that I had to buy a different oven for baking my bread. I was so lucky to find something suitable right here at home. I have this huge Blodgett commercial pizza oven on my patio! This is a picture the day it arrived. Delivered but not yet connected to the natural gas.

It makes wonderful bread. Everything is baked on a stone. The oven has even heat and fits 10 loaves of bread at a time. Without it I would not be able to supply what I need for the market.

Today I invited a neighbour over to make pizzas. I have not yet cranked up the heat to 625F and wanted to see what it could do.

It was a beautiful hot summer day. A perfect day for al fresco dining and a perfect day not to be baking in an indoor oven.

The results were stellar. Homemade pizza crust baked evenly crisp on the bottom. Hannah made a broccoli, chicken, ricotta, mozzarella with basil pizza. Mine was feta, fresh tomato, roasted garlic, roasted red peppers and parmesan. No tomato sauce on either. We brushed the crust with olive oil before baking.

It was so good and we wolfed it down too quickly. One piece of each with a green salad made a perfect summers midweek meal.

Last Minute Flatbread

I am dying to try my new gas range with steam assist.  But I do not have a clue what its potential is.  Yesterday I made a simple flatbread.

I like Mario Batali's pizza dough recipe for a flatbread.  I make a whole batch and roll them into personal size flatbreads.  The other 3 rolled crusts are in my freezer for 'fast food' some day soon.

In my pantry I had basil pesto, artichoke hearts, goat cheese and sundried tomatoes.  I wish I had thought to add some toasted pinenuts.  This is a perfect Mediterranean flatbread.

The oven created a wonderfully toasted and cooked pizza crust.  I used my pizza stone.  Perfect Sunday nosh.