Strega Nona's Oven
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Kenny Kingswell had never baked a pizza before, but that all changed after a trip to the home of the pizza pie. He spent some time in Naples, Italy for his son-in-law’s wedding and it was there that he caught the pizza bug. “That was the inspiration,” Kenny said. “For two weeks, that’s all we ate-- breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snacks.”
As soon as he got home, Kenny started experimenting. “For two years straight I made pizza in my home oven,” he said. “People told me, ‘This is pretty good.’”
Eventually, he took his baking to the next level and started coming to farmers market. “I saw that people were putting wood-fired ovens on trailers for catering,” he said.
Strega Nona’s pizzas are a reflection of Kenny and his tastes. He uses local farmers’ products on on his pies, and uses a style of dough with high hydration and long, slow fermentation that occurs over several days. “The longer fermentation makes the digestibility easier for people with gluten issues,” he said. “It doesn’t sit in your stomach like a big brick.
Strega Nona’s Oven offers many different kinds of pizzas fresh-baked at market, but Kenny knows what he likes. “I’m a pepperoni guy,” he said. “If you can’t make a good pepperoni pizza, you have problems!”