Tracing Pizza Back to Its Brick Oven Roots

Image of Authentic Oven Cooked Pizza and female with nice nails taking a slice of Pizza.

An emerging trend that has been gaining popularity over the past few years for restaurants is cooking pizza in a brick oven. Tracing pizza back to its roots in Italy, ancient ruins of stone or brick ovens have been uncovered in Pompeii. Commercialization has deviated from the traditional style to keep up with the fast-paced world of pizza making and delivery on a large scale. However, wood oven pizza has distinct characteristics that truly put it on another level.

Over time, there have been few modifications developed to enhance the pizza oven. The ones found in the ruins of Pompeii would still be able to produce high-quality pizzas today with a few little changes in design. Pizza ovens were present throughout Europe during medieval times. During the Industrial Revolution, Victorian England began producing prefabricated metal ovens that nearly eliminated the desire for traditional stone ovens but thanks to those that desired to cook like their parents and grandparents, the ovens made it through.

Today, modern pizza ovens utilize highly efficient refractory materials and ceramic insulation that greatly reduces the necessary time to heat the oven up. Traditional Neapolitan pizza must be cooked between 60-90 seconds in stone ovens that are 800-905 degrees F. These wood fired pizza oven temperatures produce a signature crispy crust in just a few minutes that are iconic to the style.

The brick oven pizza history has not seen much change since the beginning, which means that things were great from the start. To enjoy a slice of history, head on over to Ironside Kitchen Pizza & Coffee Co. and order one of their authentic Neapolitan pizzas that are cooked in a wood-fired brick oven just like how pizza is supposed to be. Choose from the classic recipes like the Margherita or venture out and try a new flavor combination like the Quattro Stagioni. Check out their full Ironside Kitchen menu.

, , ,

Leave a Reply
