El Horno de Union es VIVO!!, Seattle Cob Oven

We had a party for all the people that helped build our oven and successfully fired it to full pizza temperatures this last weekend. The oven has been drying for about a month now and we have had some small fires but this was the first time we really fired the shit out of it. We don't have a thermometer but it was definitely super hot; the pizzas cooked in no time.

seattle clay oven

El Horno de Union day 3, Seattle Cob Oven

Structurally the oven is all done now. We need to let it cure for a couple more days and then we'll take out the door (praying that it doesn't collapse), and remove the sand form from inside. After that we will still only light small fires, curing it slowly for a couple more weeks. On Monday I used the grill area on the side; it worked but the fire didn't stay very hot so I may need to add a grate that the coals sit on for better air flow. The lines all over it are to enable the final decorative layer to stick. We'll do that layer out of terracotta colored clay and press beach glass into it. The chimney is made of an old Seattle clay sewer pipe that I got from my neighbor; it's not for the oven, it was intended to encourage good airflow across the grilling area but at this point it seems to be more for looks than anything. More pics at http://groups.google.com/group/seattle-hornos/web/union-framilys-horno-construction.

Bid adieu to 2008, Christopher's

Christopher, Jaimie & Matt through an awesome party on the Dec 13, 2008. El Horno (Christopher's cob oven) did his job tirelessly and baked to perfection 51 pizzas. Christopher deserves a round of applause for making 43 delicious dough balls and I helped just a little by bringing 8 doughs. The snow started falling early in the evening but with the oven and extra fire in the fire pit we staid nice and warm. It was really an incredible setting for the party.

I bought the real imported Italian pizza "00" flour from PFI this time. I'm really not into the import idea but I wanted to do a comparison to the local flour that I normally get in bulk from the Central CO-OP. I'm happy to say that it was unanimous among my house family (i.e. Samia, Steven, Tarah and I) that it tasted more like Via Tribunali but was at best comparable in quality and did not surpass the standard all purpose organic flour that I get at the CO-OP.

Visit Seattle Hornos for more pics and pizza fun.