Brazilian native creates portable wood-fired ovens at his GHT home

Thu, Jul 2, 2009    to del.icio.us

Hugo Laranja's portable wood-fired oven does more than just cook a pizza.

It brings people together, the Grand Haven Township man says.

Click to enlarge
"The oven says, 'Let's sit down and enjoy this meal together,'" Laranja said. "It's not something you throw on quickly, make the food, leave it and eat it. Behind the functionality of it, it brings people together. It brings people to enjoy the outdoors in Michigan."

Laranja, owner of Forno de Pizza, has been constructing and perfecting his wood-fired oven in his home for more than three years. But he grew up in Brazil, a country where having a wood-fired oven is common.

"We entertain there," he said of his home country. "It's a tropical climate and that's basically what you do — you entertain kids and family."

When Laranja moved to the U.S., he desired his own wood-fired oven. However, he said the idea of placing a large oven that could ruin the rest of his meticulously constructed backyard with its size was something he was not ready to do. Laranja said he needed something that would fit next to his barbecue grill, but yet have the authenticity of a wood-fired oven.

"People in the U.S. move all the time," Laranja said. "And then I associated that with why people go to the store and buy smaller grills — they are portable. Why can't I make a pizza oven that is portable? And that's how my brain started rolling ideas."

The oven's ratio — which ensures that heat is transferred equally — has been around for centuries. Laranja said he spent his evenings after work reading books about ovens and drawing sketches of ovens. He called different oven companies in Virginia and California to become as knowledgeable about the subject as possible.

Click to enlarge
Laranja said all of this oven work was done when he wasn't busy with his other jobs — which includes being a residential builder, designer and surgical technician.

"I would be working late at night when everyone was asleep," he said. "There is still a passion for it because you can't just expect something to work if you don't put all of your thoughts behind it."

Laranja said he wanted his oven to be functional and successful. After just trying to use wood to cook his food, he found the heat was lost if the wood was wet.

That's when Laranja thought to use a gas line. "That way, the heat comes from every way," he explained.

And that is how his dual-fuel function oven became a reality.

"There are other portable ovens out there, but none of them have what mine has," Laranja said. "They don't have the dual-fuel capability and they don't have the design of transportability."

Laranja said one person can transport the 300-pound oven, and it can be moved to wherever the customer desires.

"If you move, you can take it with you," he said.

The oven can bake pizza, grill steak and smoke fish. The interior of the oven can reach over 500 degrees, but it is still safe to touch because of its patented insulated safety material, Laranja claims.

The design of the oven is not by accident, Laranja said. Every piece of it — from the steel door to the stitching on the cover — has a meaning.

"My artistic ability makes me very picky," he said. "The design has to have meaning. Everything has to flow. There is always an idea — and in order for that idea to work, there has to be harmony with all the other ideas."

Laranja's Forno de Pizza, which means "pizza oven" in Portuguese, can be bought online from his Web site. The oven will be delivered and set up for each customer, and it can be bought as an open cart ($2,900) or a closed cabinet ($3,100).

Each oven comes with three aluminum pizza plates, two wooden pizza peels, an aluminum pizza peel, a brass bristle brush, and a heavy-duty steel oven door with cedar handle and thermometer.

"It doesn't look like an oven that was built in 2009, it looks like an oven that's been around centuries — and that's because it has," Laranja said.

Laranja said he's sold three of the ovens as of this week. He will be showcasing his oven at a summertime tasting event on the grounds of a Franciscan monastery in Cedar Lake, Ind., on Aug. 1.

On the Net:

www.fornodepizza.com