Can You Cook Anything In A Brick Oven?

Brick Oven Bread MakingAre you wondering if it’s really worth investing in a pizza oven or can you cook anything in a brick oven?

Did you know that is just the start of what you can cook in a wood-fired pizza oven? There are so many different options and recipes available, both in terms of the style of cooking and the food you can create.

What Foods Can Be Cooked in a Pizza Oven?

The amazing thing about wood-fired pizza ovens is just how versatile they are. Just like with your regular oven in your kitchen, you can pretty much cook anything you like – all you need is the right tools and to find the right temperature.

Once you have got the hang of your outdoor pizza oven, you can cook foods such as:

  • Roasted vegetables
  • Baked or grilled fish
  • Slow cooked meats
  • Flamed ribeye steak
  • Smoked and barbecued meats
  • Jacket potatoes
  • Freshly baked bread loaves
  • Focaccia and flatbreads
  • Side dishes such as shrimp, potato wedges, and baked feta
  • Stews and casseroles
  • Hot desserts
  • In fact, you really can be as adventurous as you like!

Are You Unsure Why You Use A Brick Oven?

One of the main benefits of cooking with a brick oven is that it can reach higher temperatures than a conventional oven. This is due to the fact that bricks are excellent thermal conductors, meaning they can quickly and evenly distribute heat.

How Does A Wood-Fired Brick Oven Work?

After starting a fire in the oven, the dome chamber absorbs the heat until it becomes white hot (sometimes up to 800 Fahrenheit or more). At that point, the fire is either extinguished or left burning gently. The embers from the fire can be swept out before using the oven to cook. Once the oven is up to the correct temperature, the oven door is closed to contain the heat. After the heat has lessened a bit and evened itself throughout the oven, it’s ready to use. The heat that has been absorbed by the oven walls and floor now radiates from them.

Construction of Outdoor Italian Brick Ovens by Gappsi IncWhat Materials Are Used To Build A Wood-Fired Brick Oven?

A wood-fired brick oven can be built from regular red clay bricks but the placement and design are key to a consistent temperature. They can also be built from a heat-resistant concrete mix or refractory fire bricks used in kilns. Ovens often have fancy trim or decorative brickwork as they are constructed by specially trained craftsmen, frequently trained in southern Italy. If the wood-fired brick oven is meant to cook pizza, the walls are thinner. Ovens meant for bread have thicker walls that hold the heat longer.

What Fuel Does A Wood-Fired Brick Oven Use?

As long as it isn’t coated with fire-retardant chemicals or paint, any type of wood can be used. Tree branches, waste wood, and old furniture also work well.

A wood-fired brick oven is a great tool for making pizzeria-quality pizza and meals of all kinds. However, it involves some expertise to monitor the temperature for optimal results, and get the perfect pizza you desire.

They all come with a standard finish. Which includes stucco, pebble rocks, random cut stones, and tiles. We also offer custom finishes to your specifications such as personalized engraving of your favorite pictures hand-painted by our artists on the exterior of the

Brick Ovens Construction Methods

As part of our Brick Ovens Construction Methods, we can also cast your desired words on the oven metal door. If you are in the market for a brick oven and do enough researches you will learn about the Biscotto di Sorrento, many companies that use something similar to the Biscotto di Sorrento will make a big deal about it, and also will charge you more money as an upgrade of the floor of the oven. Many of you would ask? What is the Biscotto di Sorrento? The Biscotti di Sorrento is a terracotta brick manufactured from clay that is only found in Italy in the region of Campania in the Sorrento area on the Amalfi coast. This clay is rich in natural minerals that will absorb, retain and release the heat uniformly; making your cooking process the most natural cooking experience you can get using a brick oven.

The difference between a Gappsi Biscotto di Sorrento and the competition is that many companies claim to use the only use to make the base on the oven,

Gappsi builds the entire oven, floor, walls, and dome with the same material. The Gappsi method of building brick ovens is a tradition that dates back over 300 years From one of the first producers of the Biscotto di Sorrento is still in business in Italy today after many generations.

What Makes Our Italian Brick Ovens Superior?

We construct Gappsi’s brick pizza ovens in Nassau & Suffolk County using a special clay. We get this clay from Sorrento, Italy, and mix it using a traditional mixer. This particular clay is rich in volcanic pumice and silicon. We place a wood mold on top of a platform and spread the clay in it by hand. It creates a spongy finished product, which allows the heat to spread evenly and slowly in the finished oven. Our clay bricks cannot be mass-produced since we pour them by hand for each new Italian outdoor brick oven.

Can You Cook Anything In A Brick Oven?Outdoor wood Fired Oven Ridge Long Island NY

This Sorrento oven was delivered to a Gappsi client in ridge New York. The Sorrento oven has a Uniquely shaped smoke stack built on the outside of the oven over the volcanic marble mantel. The Sorrento oven stands on a custom-built cart constructed of fine materials starting with the stainless steel base and door. The exterior of the oven is veneered with rustic-cut brown limestone. This oven was sealed with a clear natural stone sealer to make it watertight and water-repellent. Gappsi offers many styles of ovens including custom-size options.  In addition, the oven can be fitted for gas, propane, or wood-fired, or we have a hybrid option as well.

Can You Cook Anything In A Brick OvenSCHEDULE A MEETING TODAY WITH GAPPSI

View Gappsi’s YouTube channel for videos of Can You Cook Anything In A Brick Oven?

 

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Italian Clay Bricks In Pizza Ovens Handmade

Italian Clay Bricks In Pizza Ovens

Italian Clay Bricks In Pizza Ovens have been around for centuries, and for good reason because they produce uniquely spectacular pizzas. It is much more than a pizza oven. Gappsi Brick Ovens open up a wonderfully savory world of open hearth cooking, including meats, fish, vegetables, bread, and even desserts. Crafted with an artisan’s soul, a passion for detail, and unmatched customer service, Gappsi sets the industry standard for performance, practicality, and longevity for Outdoor Ovens.

What Makes Brick Oven Pizzas Special?

Neopolitan-style pizzas are special. The crust is crisp and flecked with tell-tale charred spots, evidence of being baked in an extremely hot oven. The interior of the dough is soft, elastic, tender, and fragrant, and the toppings are cooked to perfection.

Achieving the perfect pizza is not easy! The pizza pros usually use brick ovens that heat from 625ºF – 700ºF.

For perfect pizza, the cook must balance the two so that the dough and the toppings finish cooking at the same time. For that, they need to get the oven temperature right.  The Roman pizzaiolos (pizza bakers) used the high temperature, combined with the thermodynamic properties of the bricks. The vaulted cavity of the brick oven and the thick layer of bricks at the bottom of the oven guarantees even heating of the pizza. Brick ovens are ideal because the crust heats at a high but reasonable temperature giving the toppings enough time to properly cook.  This combination adds to the secret of the perfect pizza.

Italian Clay Bricks In Pizza

Italian Clay Bricks In Pizza Ovens Floors

The clay is one of the most important parts of making the brick and if your clay isn’t of high quality, there’s no way your pizza oven is going to be high quality.  The video below it shows the floor of the pizza oven and how the Artisian makes it using the traditional mixer.  This machine mixes the clay gathered locally in the region of Sorrento Italy.  The Clay is rich soil with volcanic pumice and silicon, a particular characteristic beneath Sorrento’s famed citrus orchards.  An oven base needs to be porous.  The pours help to warm up early and maintain the heat for a long time, releasing this heat evenly.

This is an old manufacturer that has been around for hundreds of years in Italy.  Time and tradition keep with each generation.  as the clay is mixed and poured to make the brick.

A wood mold is placed on top of a platform and the clay is spread by hand.  Simply spreading the clay by hand and not pressing it creates a more spongy finished product.  The bricks can absorb the heat and release the heat slowly. The clay is found locally and has been used for hundreds of years too.  Gappsi Italian Clay Bricks is not a product you can mass produce, the clay is being excavated locally in Sorrento Italy, and poured by hand for your next Italian Pizza Oven Order.

A Real Master Piece and Italian Art In Your Home!

The Amalfi Oven

We design Gappsi Brick Ovens using a machine made in the most traditional way. The techniques used are no longer around or followed by any other manufacturer that makes bricks or pizza ovens. Smoothing out the top surface is what makes the stone denser on the surface. You are talking about something made by hand; a real piece of Italian Art. Here it is!  And it can be YOURS. We prepare each brick in the same way; it is a dying art. To make each stone you literally have to feel the product as you make it. Craftsmen that create these particular bricks have a passion for the trade and understand a very old method of producing a brick oven. Every brick made for a Gappsi customer oven has this much care in producing it!

Become inspired and learn how to use your wood-fired oven in a demonstration event at the Gappsi Showroom.  Signup to be notified of our next event.  

Wood | Gas Fired Pizza Ovens

The difference between Biscotto di Sorrento and other types of brick materials on the market is that it does not burn the bottom of a pizza, absorbing moisture from the dough.

Gappsi Artisan strictly follows the ancient tradition of manufacturing:

  • Manual extraction of the clay.
  • Mix clay using water, grinders, and mixers
  • Form clay into different molds: bricks or floor bases.
  • Dried for 3 days in molds
  • Dried for 10 days in a stacked position
  • Clay bricks turn light grey after we fire them in the kiln.
  • Dried for 7 more days
  • The natural firing phase.

This involves the continuous burning of wood for seven hours. Then, after four days of baking the bricks are ready and have acquired a natural red color.

The unique flavor of brick oven pizza can cause any foodie to wish that they owned a brick oven of their own. Not only are they useful, but brick ovens also add elegance to any outdoor living area.

SCHEDULE A MEETING TODAY WITH GAPPSI

VIEW OUR VIDEO OF THE MAKING OF ITALIAN CLAY BRICKS IN PIZZA OVENS

Our showroom display includes the most beautiful as well as unique imported natural stones for patios, walkways, and driveways.

We provide services in Nassau and Suffolk County.  Glen Cove, Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Babylon, Huntington, Islip. Commack, Kings Park, Quoque, Commack, and Smithtown. Brookhaven, Southampton, Riverhead, East Hampton, Southold, Old Brookville, Old Westbury. and Mill Neck, Nissequogue, Lloyd Harbor, Muttontown, Coldspring Harbor, and East Norwich.  Gappsi’s knowledgeable and experienced personnel can help you create the yard of your dreams!

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Brick Ovens Construction Methods Italian Style

Brick-Ovens-Construction-Methods-Italian-Style-Long-Island-NY

Brick Ovens Construction Methods. Welcome To Gappsi, My Name is Giuseppe Abbrancati and I will give you a demonstration  of our brick ovens construction and models. We carry 5 different styles  and  we have them displayed at the Gappsi showroom for you to view them in person. Gappsi brick ovens are by far the best on the market,

As far as construction, material used to build them, designs, finishes and functionality. They all come with a standard finish. Which includes stucco, pebble rocks, random cut stones and tiles? We also offer custom finishes to your specifications such as  personalized engraving  of your favorite pictures hand painted by our artists on the exterior of the

As part of our Brick Ovens Construction Methods We can also cast your desired words on the oven metal door. If you are in the market for a brick oven, and do enough researches you will learn about the Biscotto di Sorrento, many companies that use something similar as the biscotto di Sorrento will make a big deal about it, and also will charge you more money as an upgrade of the ovens floor. Many of you would ask? What is the biscotto di Sorrento? The biscotto di Sorrento is a terracotta brick manufactured from clay that is only found in Italy in the region of Campania in the Sorrento area on the Amalfi coast. This clay is rich in natural minerals that will absorb, retain and release   the heat uniformly; making your cooking process the most natural cooking experience you can get using a brick oven. The difference between a Gappsi biscotto di Sorrento and the competition is that many companies that claim to use the  only use to make the base on the oven,

Gappsi builds the entire oven, floor, walls and dome with the same material. The Gappsi method of building brick ovens, is a tradition that dates back over 300 years From one of the first producers of the biscotto di Sorrento still in business in Italy today after many generations.

The process of building Gappsi brick ovens starts with the collection of the clay and stored to dry. When it’s time to manufacture the bricks it gets mixed, the clay is then made in to a consistent paste and then molded in to specific sizes  and let to dry. The drying process continues for several weeks, smaller bricks are stacked and also let to dry naturally. The dried clay bricks are then stacked into a chamber and then a wood burning fire is used in the furnace below to cook the clay bricks into their final stage of manufacturing. These are the complete terracotta biscotto di Sorrento for the ovens floor and bricks that will be used to build the Gappsi brick ovens.

This is how we build Gappsi ovens starting with a metal frame base that works as the foundation for the oven; we apply insulation under the concrete base to keep the very bottom of the oven insulated, then we install wire mesh before the concrete is poured. As we pour the cement into the form we preset the hole for a future gas burner to be installed. Then we start with the assembling of the floor, we set up the biscotto di Sorrento bricks and start building the walls around , and after we complete the first 2 rows we ten remove the floor and fill the void with volcanic sand, mixed with rock salt, this combination acts as a subfloor that provides insulation and heat retention under the ovens terracotta floor.

Then the clay brick biscotto di Sorrento is installed above the volcanic sand. In this particular oven we drilled the hole completely through the ovens floor because this oven will have a gas burner and will work with both gas and wood fire. Here we are starting to build the walls, starting with erecting the door frame and cutting the bricks to match the door angles. The first row of biscotto di Sorrento bricks is installed vertically as a soldier course around the perimeter of the oven the bricks are installed in a wage position that minimizes the cement exposure on the inside of the oven in between brick joints. Bricks are plumbed and installed to perfection by artisans installers as the base wall is complete a top row of bricks is installed as a bond beam and the shape of the dome is created with a temporary dome made out of volcanic sand.

The dome is then built over using the same technique of waged bricks to create the cupola inside the oven. This process is used till the completion of the brick dome then the exterior of the brick dome is covered with a wire mesh  reinforced layer of a mix of cement , sand and expanded clay pebbles further insulating the ovens exterior crust. This is the ovens structure completed with the best clay bricks.

Every Gappsi oven is built the same way up to this point then it depends on the finish and style the oven will take the shape of the desired model. The interior of every Gappsi oven is a site of craftsmanship, Beauty, and History of a tradition that has been unchanged for more than 300 years and the exterior of every Gappsi oven comes standard with a large useful mentality, made out of volcanic black marble, which is beautiful and also heat resistant. Using the traditional oven shell,

Here we are building the vesuvio style oven a combination of brick accent, to face the front of the oven, the dome for the smokestack is being built over a metal frame and insulated all Gappsi ovens domes are insulated with a high quality fiberglass blanket, a second frame is built on the outside of the oven. all rebar reinforced and wrapped with galvanized wireleath. A volcano shape is accomplished and a cavity is also created between the oven and the outside shell.

True craftsmanship and precise execution goes into every Gappsi brick oven construction. A layer of cement is then applied over the wireleath; the air chamber created serves two purposes this provides more insulation for the oven and makes the exterior surface of the oven safe and cool to the touch, the final installation of the top cupola the smoke stack And the vesuvio model is Complete.

This is our Napolitano model veneered standard with river rocks. These are our craftsmen’s posing with the Sorrento model oven, Standard veneered with random sized natural stones and brick accents, And to complete our line of custom brick ovens is  the Amalfi Style finished with custom hand painted tiles from our artists of Your favorite memories with friends  and family and can also get your favorite name engraved into the oven metal door.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our brick ovens and construction process. Please visit the Gappsi showroom to view our brick ovens and all our unique products. If you are in the market for a brick pizza oven please do all your research and come to us last. We are very confident that we will  prove to you and that you will agree  that Gappsi ovens are the best quality brick ovens on the market.

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