Pizza and Beyond: Wood Fired Oven Weekend Master Class set for March 9-11
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Celebrated cookbook author Brigit Binns hosting class at Refugio
Cooking in a wood oven is personal and intuitive rather than scientific, and involves a steep and fairly fast learning curve. Those who are new to the practice should first understand a few basic principles.
“Once you begin to experiment, you’ll quickly develop an instinct for the heat and the primitive, living force of the fire itself,” says Brigit Binns, a celebrated cookbook author and owner of Refugio in Paso Robles.
“You’ll learn to listen and look: Those two senses must become your guides rather than a clock or a timer. I was lucky enough to learn the basics from one of the great wood-oven chefs in California, Clark Staub, owner and pizzaiolo of the famous Full of Life Flatbread, in Los Alamos, California. “
“My goal is that students leave the Refugio kitchen with several life-altering takeaways. Like, ‘Wow I never knew that if you soak red onion in iced water it takes away the bite,’ or ‘I’ll never cook steak by any other method again!’”
“Decades of translating chef-speak into home-cook-friendly language—and writing 12 books for Williams-Sonoma” has left me with, I think, a unique ability to take students to the next level of their cooking skill in a user-friendly atmosphere. With wine.”
In this class, Brigit will teach:
- Fire Management: An Art, not a Science
- The Basics of Wood Oven Heat: Conduction (the floor/hearth), Convection (the air circulating in the oven, and Radiant (the mass of the oven/dome)
- Getting To Temperature
- Fully Utilizing Your Fuel
- Using Your Oven’s Heat
- Tools and Tech I Couldn’t Do Without
Friday evening: Wood oven demonstration class and dinner
Saturday: Farmers market visit followed by a hands-on pizza-intensive class, and lunch in front of the oven
Sunday: Wood-oven brunch, followed by a private barrel tasting to wrap up the weekend.
Dishes learned, and eaten, throughout the weekend:
• Brigit’s amazing and life-altering 48-Hour Cold Fermented Pizza Dough — a tangy miracle with large bubbles!
• Wood-Oven-Baked Eggs
• Ember-Roasted Artichokes
• Wood-Roasted Caramelized Brussels Sprouts
• Calamari and Chorizo Pizza with Caramelized Fennel and Shaved Manchego
• Spinach, Mushroom, and Egg Pizza
• The Pig & The Fig Pizza
• Asparagus, Black Olive, Arugola, and Fontina Pizza
• Rapini, Salami, Meyer Lemon & Taleggio Pizza
• Smoked Duck and Fire-Roasted Mushroom Salad
• The Ultimate Thyme-Roasted Chicken
• A’Mores (aka Wine Country S’Mores)
This weekend experience is $350 per person and includes: Friday evening dinner class, Saturday morning field trip and lunch class, wrapping up Sunday morning with a brunch and private barrel tasting (personal transportation & lodging required). Class will be limited to 10 students.
Click here to reserve your spot (and please read “The Fine Print“).
Additional upcoming classes
Upcoming classes with limited availability include The Brunch Punch with chef Tim Veatch (formerly the chef at Thomas Hill Organics) on February 25; Two Girls, Two Grapes, with Ali Rush Carscaden of 15C on February 28; Elegant Nibbles & Rustic Bites on March 21; and Mastering Meats: Simultaneous Porkasm on April 18.
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