Black, smoky, charred bubbles encase the soft, chewy, and moist doughy crust; that’s exactly what you get with a brick oven pizza. Oh, and the taste is better too!
The next time you’re craving pizza, prioritize brick oven pizza over homemade or oven-cooked pizza. It tastes better, is more authentic, and could also be healthier.
At Cafesano Italian and Mediterranean Bistro, we pride ourselves in using the hundreds-old tradition of cooking brick oven pizza and using fresh, flavorful ingredients.
The minute you bite into a brick oven pizza, you’ll notice a world of difference from that homemade or frozen pizza you popped in the oven last weekend.
Our ancestors used brick ovens for thousands of years. However, when modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, in the 17th century, brick oven pizza became a favorite worldwide.
Brick oven pizza is often called Neapolitan pizza because of how it is cooked, the bubbly crust, charred edges, and thin, doughy crust.
These brick ovens are often large in size and have a dome covering them with a chimney to lead the smoke out of the building. Some are even decorated on the outside with tiles or mosaics.
But what is the difference between a brick oven and your normal convection oven at home?
A brick oven is enclosed by bricks or stone that can maintain a very high temperature for hours with just a flame. These brick ovens get much hotter than a normal oven, reaching up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, when cooking brick oven pizza, this temperature usually ranges between 600 and 700 degrees Fahrenheit. This is often why you will see pizza makers using a long wooden tray to insert and take out pizzas from a burning brick oven.
The pizza cooks from above and below thanks to the natural air circulation throughout the oven and is contained by the brick sides.
Brick oven pizza is a way to taste a bit of history and experience what our forebears may have eaten hundreds of years ago before the electric or gas oven was available.
Now that we know what a brick oven is, why does brick oven pizza taste better?
From how the pizza cooks in the brick oven, there are certain features and flavors that conventional ovens can’t deliver.
Thanks to the high temperatures that a brick oven can handle, an entire pizza can cook in about two minutes. Any longer and you may end up with a burnt pizza!
This is excellent for restaurants that make hundreds of pizzas a day for customers. It’s also especially beneficial to hungry customers who don’t want to wait very long for their pizzas to arrive.
The texture of a brick oven pizza is the perfect combination of crispy and soft. The outside of the crust is often charred and black while the inside is moist and doughy. It’s the best of both worlds!
The pizza itself often has a thinner crust that does not get too hard and crispy, allowing you to truly enjoy the texture and flavor of the pizza dough.
Since the oven is set to such a high temperature and the pizza cooks faster, the toppings can become crispy and even more delicious.
Toppings such as vegetables also retain more of their nutrients due to the quick cooking time. So, in theory, brick oven pizza has more health benefits than a conventional oven pizza!
The most unique thing about a brick oven pizza is the crust. We keep raving about its crispiness, charred bubbles, and doughy interior. You’ll understand once you’ve had a taste of it yourself!
The high temperatures cause the dough to cook quickly, allowing the exterior to get a nice crunch while keeping the inside soft and chewy. It also prevents the rest of the pizza from getting soggy in the oven.
The taste that you get when eating a brick oven pizza is unique and cannot be replicated by a conventional oven. It has a rich smoky flavor that comes directly from the flames of the brick oven.
Pizza lovers, especially those with a taste for barbecue, absolutely cherish this unique flavor in their pizza along with the toppings they’ve chosen to complement it.
After reading about all of the deliciousness in an eight—or 12-inch brick oven pizza, it’s no wonder you’re craving one!
Cafesano is Dulles, Virginia’s go-to restaurant for those craving a Mediterranean-inspired meal and authentic brick oven pizza.
We use fresh Mediterranean ingredients to make some of our most popular pizzas, such as Margherita, Carne Amante, Formaggio, Greek, and more! Check out our full menu to see which pizza will satisfy your craving now.
If our pizzas aren’t catching your eye – or your tastebuds – you can create your own brick oven pizza to be made just to your liking!
Don’t feel up to sitting in a restaurant and enjoying your meal? Not a problem!
Cafesano also offers the healthiest takeout in the area. Simply call or order online and come pick up your freshly made brick oven pizza.
Did you enjoy learning about brick oven pizza? Read What Spices Are Used in Mediterranean Food?, next!
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