What Dishes Can Be Used in Wood Fired Ovens?

That’s a great question, particularly because our ovens are so versatile. Because they cook much more than pizza, chances are you’re going to want to use a wide variety of pans in them.

Of course, we first recommend that you invest in some of our accessories – namely, our Accessory Stone and Deep Cooking Pan. These two accessories will be your indispensable “sidekicks” when using your Fontana Forni oven; if you don’t have them yet, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without them once you give them a try. The stone ensures the crispest pizza, bread and cookies, while the pan is made of heat-resistant metal that will bake your side dishes and desserts to perfection.

However, we understand that you may need to use other dishes in your oven if you are preparing a large meal. If so, it is best to use:

• Oven-safe metal
• Oven-safe ceramic
• Terracotta
• Cast iron

You should not use glass pans such as Pyrex® or Corning®; these can and do shatter because they are made from tempered glass that cannot tolerate the heat. If the pan shatters, that can be a major safety issue and it may even damage your oven. Also, you certainly should not use any pan that cannot be replaced. In other words, wood fired ovens like ours are not the right cooking vessel for your grandmother’s vintage bakeware! Save those for your kitchen oven.

Remember, we have several other accessories that can make using your oven easier and more enjoyable. From the large and small pizza peels that make pulling your pizza out easily to the turning peel that makes it simple to turn small items on the stone or in the dish, we have many things that elevate the entire experience of cooking in wood fired ovens.

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Authentic Italian Dishes in Your Wood Fired Oven

Here in the U.S., people are sometimes unfamiliar with authentic Italian dishes; by authentic, we mean the dishes that are not typically served in Italian restaurants in America. In fact, the average person would be surprised to learn about the dishes Italians prepare at home; often, they are things most Americans have never heard of. The good news is, we have an assortment of authentic Italian recipes you can make in our home pizza ovens! With our help, you can become familiar with dishes that are prepared in real Italian home kitchens.

One of them is panzanella, which is made with day old bread cubes and seasoned with olive oil, vinegar and salt, in addition to cucumbers, tomatoes and fresh basil, all of which is served in a large bread bowl. Another is peposo, which is a Tuscan beef stew dish dating back hundreds of years. To be truly authentic, the peposo should be prepared inside a terra cotta pot – and of course, cooked inside a wood fired oven. Speaking of beef, we also have an outstanding Italian beef roast recipe that includes a compound butter rub. The rub is made of minced rosemary, sage, garlic, salt and pepper that is mixed with butter – mmm!

We also have recipes for authentic Italian desserts that can easily be made in our home pizza ovens. One of the most popular is crostata ai lamponi, which we Americans know as raspberry tart. When you prepare it in an authentic Italian manner and cook it in the traditional Italian style in a wood fired oven, you’re bound to find it to be far superior to any raspberry pie you’ve had before. So, where can you find these authentic Italian recipes? We have them all over our social media channels, including our Facebook and Google+, as well as on Twitter @fontanaforniusa and Instagram at fontanaforniusa.

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Year Round Cooking in a Pizza Oven

When is outdoor cooking season over? Everyone has their own opinion, but the general consensus among experts is that the last official BBQ season day of the year is Labor Day. Of course, if you have a portable pizza oven from Fontana Forni, it doesn’t necessarily matter when outdoor cooking season ends. There are a few reasons for this, including:

• It’s an oven, rather than an open BBQ grill
• The oven can also do the job of a grill, in many cases
• With most models, you can easily move them indoors when it’s too cold to cook outside

In fact, there are some very prominent non-summer occasions when using your Fontana Forni oven is a very appropriate cooking method. Some people actually use them to cook their:

• Thanksgiving turkeys (smaller birds only) • Christmas and Easter hams (same rule applies – it has to fit in the oven)
• Holiday side dishes (in fact, your portable pizza oven can be a life saver if you run out of room in your conventional kitchen oven during the holidays)
• Desserts (specifically pies, crisps and cookies)

As you can see, it is a viable possibility that you will use your pizza oven all year long. For those who were on the fence about buying because it seems like a portable pizza oven is just an “outdoor” season investment, that’s important information. You really can use yours in any season, provided that you protect it from the elements by placing it in a safe location. If that means moving it inside during harsh weather, that’s okay; if nothing else, your guests will be impressed! If you need a model that will fit in your kitchen, take a look at the dimensions of each model to see which one is best.

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3 FAQs about our Outdoor Pizza Ovens

As one of the leading distributors of imported outdoor pizza ovens from Italy, we receive many questions; we’d like to answer a few of them here now. If you are still considering a Fontana Forni oven, perhaps these answers can help you in your decision making process.

Q: Why are there so many models?

A: Fontana Forni is a manufacturer that knows how to meet the needs of its audience. We know that some people want a single oven, while others want a more sizeable double. Some prefer a stainless steel finish, while others believe that a red powder coated oven has a more “authentic” appearance. With Fontana Forni, you can be sure there are wood burning pizza oven models for everyone’s style.

Q: Can the oven be installed in my outdoor kitchen?

A: Absolutely. Although some owners simply leave their Fontana Forni ovens in a freestanding spot on the back patio or deck, others have a grand vision for a large outdoor kitchen – and we completely respect that. The freestanding ovens can easily have an outdoor kitchen cabinet/countertop built around them, and the built-in models can be built into nearly any wall, indoors or out.

Q: Are these strictly pizza ovens, or outdoor pizza ovens that can accommodate other dishes as well?

A: These are ovens that can accommodate all kinds of dishes, including but certainly not limited to pizza. Fontana Forni ovens can also bake chicken, beef, pork, bread or desserts, and it can roast any of the aforementioned meats as well as vegetables. Your Fontana Forni oven is almost as versatile as the conventional oven inside your house.

If you have any further questions about Fontana Forni outdoor pizza ovens, please leave a comment; we will do our best to answer you.

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Why Wood Fired Ovens are Perfect for Vegans

Vegans have a very strict diet – more strict than standard vegetarian diets, as most people know. The vegan diet not only excludes meat, poultry and fish, but also dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt and butter, in addition to eggs and other animal-derived ingredients (for many vegans, that means even no honey).

So with those things in mind, it’s appropriate to ask the question: Can someone with a vegan diet still find use for a wood fired oven? Absolutely! Because today’s vegans are often very motivated to cook innovatively, our wood fired ovens are a great addition to the vegan kitchen, whether it is indoors or out. We even feature some vegan recipes on our Facebook page, including:

• Roasted beets

• Grilled eggplant towers

• Stuffed tomatoes

• Roasted small potatoes

Of course, any breads you make in your wood fired oven can certainly be vegan breads. They can even be gluten free breads, if you happen to have that dietary restriction as well; simply substitute the flour in our recipe with your favorite gluten free flour.

The same goes for pizza, which can be made with a gluten free crust. As many vegans know, pizza can be made without cheese or with an acceptable cheese substitute product that is made especially for vegans. Whatever your preference, your favorite vegan pizza can be even more delicious in a wood fired oven that cooks it to a perfect crisp.If you are committed to a vegan or gluten free diet – or, another lifestyle with dietary restrictions – your cooking regimen can be significantly enhanced by owning one of our wood fired ovens. At Fontana Forni USA, we welcome customers of all types, and are committed to building wood fired ovens that can appeal to cooks of all varieties.

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