Brick Oven Wood-Fired Pizza Ovens

Brick-Oven-Wood-Fired-Pizza-OvensWe are passionate about brick oven wood-fired pizza cooking. Gappsi specializes in wood-fired appliances. We build handcrafted firebrick pizza ovens, grills, smokers, and fireplaces. For each customer, we build a fire-breathing work of art.

Wood-fired pizza ovens have gained a lot of popularity in recent years. The main reason for this fame is for sure the excellent taste and flavor of Neapolitan-style pizzas, cooked in a wood-burning pizza oven.

But, besides beautiful pizzas, in a wood-fired pizza oven, you can bake and cook plenty of other foods.  And, there’s not only tasty food and the unique outdoor cooking experience that matters. A wood-fired pizza oven is an excellent place for socializing and hanging out with your friends and family.

Almost all brick ovens are single-chambered or ovens with direct combustion. It means they have one chamber, both for firing and cooking.

Assembled Wood-Fired Pizza Oven – Best of the Best

Without a doubt, purchasing an assembled pizza oven is the shortest way to get the best pizza oven. A completed oven is settled on the pre-prepared desktop or counter, ready to use.  Assembled ovens are mostly made of prefabricated refractory elements. Of course, they’re entirely insulated and with a finished exterior, practically ready for use.  Some producers of assembled brick pizza ovens also use bricks for their ovens, especially for commercial ovens.  The best-assembled pizza ovens are cured in a factory, while others need curing before regular use.

How to Cook In A Wood-Fired Pizza Oven?

Your wood-burning oven will need a bit of time to preheat before you can start cooking, though this duration is considerably shorter than what you might expect in a regular, in-home kitchen oven. When firing your oven up, use small pieces of kindling to get a blaze going before switching to medium-sized cut logs.

Brick-Oven-Wood-Fired-Pizza-Ovens2For best results, use dry hardwood in your outdoor pizza oven to get the optimum temperature without lots of smoke.

Depending on how big and well-insulated your oven is, preheating can take anywhere between 20 to 60 minutes. A brick oven will take longer to heat than a stainless steel oven.

You won’t need a pizza stone or a baking stone when cooking in an outdoor pizza oven. You will cook directly on the oven floor so you want to have the right temperature on the cooking surface. To get high temperatures on the oven floor, spread out a bed of hot embers where the pizzas will cook before pushing the fire to the back of the oven in preparation for cooking.

Get It Crispy!

For pizza with a crispy crust and perfectly cooked toppings, high heat is required. This is where wood-fired ovens shine since they can withstand temperatures far greater than those of regular conventional ovens. A Margherita pizza needs a temperature of approximately 600 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the thermometer on most home pizza ovens is sufficient for getting a rough idea about how hot things are inside, some extra peace of mind can be found by using an infrared temperature gun. An infrared thermometer will provide more reliable results of how hot the inside of a pizza oven is and how hot the floor of the oven is.

How long it takes to cook your pizza will depend upon your oven’s internal temperature, and can vary from as long as 4 minutes to as quickly as just 90 seconds!

Pizza Dessert Made at the Gappsi OvenThe Key Is The Peel

Remember the flour that went on your pizza dough? This is where it becomes important. We don’t advise throwing a raw pizza into your oven with your bare hands, so a trusty pizza peel will be a valuable investment in your outdoor baking supplies.

A Pizza Peel is a flat, wide tool that helps you move pizza pies around. Some pizza peels are better designed to transfer a pizza from the countertop to your pizza oven floor while others are better for turning the pizza while it’s cooking in the oven.

Before You Buy: 4 Things to Consider When Purchasing the Wood-Fired Pizza Oven

  • Your residential habits – If you move homes often, you’ll want to take your oven with you. In this case, an assembled brick oven or portable oven would be the best choice. On the contrary, you may hardly see yourself in a new house then a masonry or modular brick oven makes sense.  It could happen that you must move anyway. A brick oven settled in an outdoor kitchen is an extension of the living space that will add significant value to your home.
  • Location of your oven and access – Are you installing an assembled oven?  It is recommended to test the oven’s placement possibilities before the actual installation. To get started, determine the dimension of the oven as well as the weight which are the most important figures to consider.

CHECK OUT GAPPSI’S BRICK OVEN WOOD & GAS FIRED MODEL OVEN GALLERY

  • How much time will be spent cooking outside with your wood-fired oven?  If you can afford a few hours to yourself to heat your masonry oven, then it makes sense to maximize its potential.  When you start with pizzas, you can go ahead with baking bread. Then you may add your food for dinner. Once that is complete, you can also take advantage of the oven’s retained heat for overnight slow cooking.  Cooking in a wood-fired Gappsi Oven can be a whole day activity. At the same time, you can use it as a “social corner.” It’s an excellent opportunity to hang out with your family and friends.
  • Dimensions of cooking surface – You will often cook only one pizza at a time because it’s much simpler and more manageable. It is important to have some extra space on the cooking floor. First, you need space for handling and rotating pizzas.  You will not want the pizza right beside the fire. In this case, you’ll have to turn the pizza all the time. Otherwise, you’ll burn it.

Brick-Oven-Wood-Fired-Pizza-Ovens1Check Out Our Latest Large Brick Gappsi Pizza Oven In Smithtown NY

This is a Gappsi Pizza oven we installed in Saint James NY. We built an island base including storage cabinets on one side, a refrigerator on the other side, and a wood storage right below the oven. The structure was built with Eldorado pre-made boxes and veneered with court stones. This gives the patio and the oven area a very rusty look. The oven was manufactured in Sorrento Italy.  In addition, it was veneered with Natural split-face rock, giving the oven a very rustic look. The oven size is 50 inches inside and is the best-made oven, with the highest material and craftsmanship. To learn more about Gappsi Ovens visit our showroom in Smithtown NY.

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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

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Construction of Outdoor Italian Brick Ovens by Gappsi Inc

Everything You Need To Know About Outdoor Italian Garden Brick Pizza Ovens in Nassau & Suffolk County, NY

Great pizza event at Gappsi oven!!

Italian brick ovens have been used for eons now. These ovens are renowned for producing drool-worthy pizzas. You can also use these excellent outdoor brick ovens for cooking all types of meats, vegetables, fish, bread, and even desserts. Gappsi produces an irresistible collection of durable Italian brick pizza ovens in Nassau & Suffolk County.

We use top-tier craftsmanship and the finest Italian clay bricks to construct our ovens. Our use of the Biscotto di Sorrento bricks, found only in a specific region of Campania on the Amalfi coast, makes these Gappsi brick ovens a cut above the rest. The clay used for the brick construction is mineral-rich. It absorbs the hat and disperses it uniformly, enabling the pizza to cook perfectly each time.

Here’s an overview of how Gappsi constructs its famous Italian brick ovens in Nassau & Suffolk County:

Gappsi’s Construction Method for Italian Brick Ovens

Here’s Gappsi’s construction process for its durable outdoor brick ovens made with Italian bricks:

The Construction of the Biscotto di Sorrento Bricks

The brick construction process starts when our artisans collect the clay and store it to dry. Then, we mix the clay until it becomes a consistent paste, which is molded into specific sizes. We stack the brick molds and let them dry naturally for several weeks. Then, we stack these bricks into a wood-burning fire chamber to cook them. These bricks are exposed to fire until they are ready to be used to construct the brick oven. We use these completed Biscotto di Sorrento bricks for our Gappsi brick oven floors and walls.

Italian Bread Made At The Gappsi Oven! (5)Basis Construction of the Oven

We start the brick oven construction process by building the metal frame base that works as the oven’s foundation. Our craftsmen insulate the concrete base’s underside to keep the oven’s bottom from overheating. We then install a wire mesh and pour the concrete. Then, our team assembles the brick oven floor by setting up the bricks and building the walls by putting the bricks in rows.

After assembling the first two rows, we remove the floor and fill the underside with volcanic sand and rock salt. This mixture acts as a subfloor to provide heat retention and insulation to the oven’s terracotta floor. Then, we install the Italian clay bricks on top of the volcanic sand mix. In some ovens, we drill a hole through the oven floor to fit gas burners inside.

Outdoor Brick Oven Walls & Door Frame

After building the base of outdoor brick pizza ovens in Nassau & Suffolk County, we erect the door frame. Out craftsmen cut the bricks to match the door shape. We install the first row of the Biscotto di Sorrento bricks vertically around the oven perimeter. We wedge the bricks together to minimize cement exposure on the inside of the oven. Upon the base wall completion, we install a top row of bricks to act as a bond beam. Then, we create the shape of the brick oven with a temporary volcanic sand dome. We use the wedged brick position to build the brick oven cupola.

Our craftsmen cover the brick dome exterior with a wire mesh and a reinforced layer of cement sand and clay pebbles. We do this to insulate the exterior crust of the oven.

Customization Based on Your Chosen Gappsi Brick Oven

We construct every Gappsi brick oven the same way up to a certain point. The interior is a symbol of impeccable craftsmanship, tradition, and beauty. It has remained unchanged for more than 300 years now. The exterior of all our Italian brick ovens in Nassau & Suffolk County features a large mantle made from volcanic black marble, which looks spectacular and offers heat resistance.

After the basic construction, we customize the Italian brick ovens based on your chosen finish and style. Gappsi brick ovens come in five incredible models – the Napolitano, the Vesuvio, the Sorrento, the Amalfi, and the Giotto. These models come in two sizes – inside diameter of 32inches and 44 inches. That said, we can customize your oven to any size you want and build it onsite.

Our Vesuvio ovens are built over the traditional oven shell. We build the dome for the smokestack over the metal frame and use a high-quality fiberglass blanket to insulate the oven domes. The Vesuvio ovens have a second frame with reinforced rebar and galvanized wireless to get a volcano-like shape. We also leave a cavity between the outside shell and the oven. Our craftsmen apply a layer of cement over the wireless dome. This air chamber serves two purposes – it offers insulation and ensures the exterior oven surface is cool and safe to touch.

For the Napolitano model, our craftsmen use different-sized river rocks for a unique look. The Sorrento model features random-sized natural stones and has brick accents. The Amalfi model features custom, hand-painted tiles. You can get a painting of your favorite picture with your loved ones and a name or message engraved into the oven’s metal door.

Construction of Outdoor Italian Brick Ovens by Gappsi IncWhat 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.

The Bottom Line

If you wish to invest in Italian brick ovens in Nassau & Suffolk County, contact Gappsi Inc. today. We can craft a top-quality pizza oven for your backyard!

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