Ode to the oven

Thin crust pizza with a chewy, bubbly crust. Sliding the elastic dough onto the dusty brick floor of an old world oven and cringing as the heat from inside the dome of earth assaults your face. Such an oven can do so much, so simply, so deliciously.

It’s a pity, really, that it has sat cold for so long, waiting for a roaring fire.

Walking by and looking at it everyday, mouth watering, wondering: why has the cob oven outside Smith, with its smooth, dried mud walls, been used so little?

Finally, this term, the workers at Food for Thought have arranged to use this magnificent device. Once a week, for 10 weeks, they will fire her up and bake pizza to sell in the student-run, vegetarian cafe.

The brainchild of graduate student Heidi Moore, the structure was built in the summer of 2006 as part of her thesis project. After allowing the oven to dry, it sat idle until earlier this term when representatives from Food for Thought met with Auxiliary Services representatives to determine how often, and under what circumstances, the students from the cafe could make food outside and sell it.

“We wanted to show people what a cob oven is,” said Mike Zotter, a graduate student who is one of the three who fire up the oven, prepare the outdoor space, bake the pizza and shuttle the molten finished product downstairs to the cafe.

Although the students are not able to sell food outside due to the close proximity of the Asian and Mediterranean food carts on the park blocks, the pizza baked Wednesday afternoons is available for sale in the caf퀌�.

“We’d love to do it daily,” said Soheap Kuch, a student who works at the cafe. Kuch enjoys the daylong process, from splitting the lengths of oak with an ax to stoking the four-foot wide, three-foot tall cavern with wood. He started this week’s fire and said it took about an hour and a half to heat up.

“All it takes to make this oven cook is wood and a lot of people power,” said Zotter, after explaining that it takes three people to put the whole operation together.

Zotter said that while the students who run Food for Thought Cafe hope that they’ll be able to keep the wood oven operating into summer and fall terms, its ultimate future has not been determined.

Make your own perfect pizza

When foamy and bubbly about six hours later, add flour and salt with a large spoon (or combine with hook attachment if using mixer, on medium speed). When the mixture becomes difficult to incorporate, turn onto a dry, clean surface and knead. Add more flour if necessary to achieve a doughy consistency–look for dough to spring back when touched, but dry enough to not stick to your fingers. Mix/knead about 5 minutes. Put into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to proof to double its size in a warm spot, about 3 hours depending on warmth.

Turn out onto an oiled pan or a floured peel, and press into a round shape or into the pan. Top with your favorite ingredients for focaccia, pizza or even calzones.

Extra dough can be frozen.

Bake pizza at a high temperature, about 400-450 degrees.

Makes a large pizza.