Report from Peter Dicken:
I arrived on site 0855 0n a fine but windy morning, no staff around, no-one at all in fact, but a gazebo was in place and there were two bags of kindling and a woodpile. Next to the gazebo was a likely looking tarpaulin which opened to reveal a shiny stainless steel spade and a goodly pile of fine builder’s sand. Pallets were stacked beneath the gazebo and only needed re-positioning to ensure maximum weather protection and minimum fire risk. One pallet was positioned behind the main stack to provide a plinth to store bags, spare kindling and equipment on.
To hide the front of the pallet stack and make it more presentable, woven green polyester fabric was trapped beneath the oven base and secured at the sides. Part way through the oven building, Louis,(1) a parent arrived and provided welcome muscle, shifting insulation sand into the oven box. The worktable and marble top were positioned to the right of the oven, handy to work on and to keep an eye on people preparing pizza bases whilst at the same time fuelling the oven. Tools and ingredients were also laid out but a system of hooks and portable shelving would be useful as staff’s tendency to put tools down anywhere became most frustrating.
There was a cool breeze blowing across the face of the oven which made lighting the fire difficult and the need for well dried kindling was highlighted, blaze was eventually achieved with staff’s last heather faggot which attainted a sufficient temperature to ignite larger fuel. A good supply of these faggots would help the situation. Wood provided by the venue was not dry enough to maintain a good blaze under the windy conditions and steam and wood smoke proved a constant nuisance. Dry wood from home saved the day and the oven never achieved its heat potential until quite late in the day but never the less did provide a slow but steady stream of hungry children with a hot and tasty snack. Once the wind had dropped, before changing direction 180degrees, a really good fire burned, with hot oven sole and air temperature, producing white ash and the final dozen or so pizzas were produced with crispy burned edges, bubbling cheese tops and crispy bases, all seemed to be consumed with satisfying sighs of contentment.
On arrival, the pupils showed great interest in the oven with parents contenting themselves with socialising and the occasional passing comment. Oven staff became baking instructor as children and later, adults, were advised to roll out the dough as thin as possible. Two parents discussing this mused on “deep-pan” pizzas, deciding that they didn’t like them anyway, and why did they appear so popular? What an opportunity for a philosophical discussion! But alas, the moment was lost in the need to move forward, create the pizzas whilst there was a chance to bake them and then melt into the milling throng. Another parent, having made her pizza dough in a bread making machine remarked that some recipes seemed to make the process unreasonably complicated, surrounding it in mystery and mystique, staff has very little patience with such an approach and advice and recipe was given for an adequate product meeting the needs of a busy person.
Parents overcame their initial shyness later in the day and became curious about the oven – who made it?, what is it made of?, how do you transport it? How does it work?, what is the point of it?, do you do this for a living?, can I/we have one?, how much do they cost?, etc. There was sufficient interest to make staff feel it was worthwhile taking the oven to the venue and that there was a better than even chance that one might be “ordered” for Hunter Hall School, as one parent enthusiastically questioned Dr. Winzor about the prospect.
Comments made by parents arriving with two gas fired bbq’s created a discussion about efficiency and sustainability as the bbq-ers seemed to believe that their machines were more efficient that the wood burning oven, completely ignoring the facts surrounding manufacture, materials, transport etc.
Rained stopped play about 5.30pm, parents and children awaiting pizza baking, soggy pizzas of indeterminate shape and value at the ready, dragged themselves off to the school kitchen whilst oven staff collected equipment and wended a weary, bedraggled but ultimately satisfied way home.