Community Cob Oven Pizza and Bread Open Bake
In old Europe, instead of everyone having their own oven, there was a community oven and everyone shared it. The oven could hold a lot of baked goods so everyone would bring their dough to the oven to bake it. We have two wood fired ovens at Sweetwater and in this event we’ll be firing up our cob oven for the entire community to bring their bakeable goods and bake and share delicious food.
If you have a great pizza dough recipe, love making pizza from scratch, and of course, love eating pizza, come and pop your pizza in our oven and it’ll be done in a few minutes. Or if you have a great flatbread recipe or anything that can be baked in a cob or brick oven, the oven will be hot. The best time for pizza is early on, then comes the breads, then anything else that cooks at lower temps. You can also bring potatoes or squash to bake in the bread range of temps. The farmer’s market will be happening so you can enjoy the market while we bake.
The cob oven bakes a small pizza in about 90 seconds, so we’ll have pizzas going in and coming out quickly. We’ll have a staging area for rolling out dough and prepping your baked goods. Bring your dough and toppings too and we can build our creations on the spot. Flat breads are welcome too. If you want to bring gluten free stuff you’ll probably want to bring a baking sheet to prevent contamination.
Register for this free event so we know who’s coming. We’ll contact you to ask about what you plan to bring. If you just want to come and see if you can find some delicious baked goods to eat and attend the farmer’s market, feel free to stop by. There will probably be extra.
We’re hoping Greg Seymour will attend and can give pointers on the use of the oven. If you’ve taken an artisan pizza making class with him, this is your chance to try out your skills.
Admission is free but registration is required and you’ve gotta bring something to bake.
Although this event is free, Sweetwater is a nonprofit that puts on educational programs for elementary schools in the neighborhood and teaches them about food systems and basically where their food comes from. We also host community volunteer days and a farmer’s market every Sunday from November through May. You can donate to Sweetwater in addition to your course fee if you’d like to help us continue our programs. And if you want to get your hands dirty in our gardens you can contribute your time by volunteering Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings from 9-12.
