Scan Magazine | Special Theme | A Taste of Denmark
Make some serious dough Danish mason Morten Gytz, owner and proprietor of Don Forno Original, is a man on a mission. “A couple of years ago, my wife and I were on holidays in Rome. Like many others, we ended up spending it chasing down little backstreet pizzerias and restaurants and devouring as many mind-blowing pizzas and crisp, fluffy loaves of bread as possible. From that moment on, I swore to spread to Scandinavia the secret ingredient behind the Italians’ delicious culinary creations.”
add presence; they’re easy to control and maintain, and they actually pay for themselves – pizzas take minutes to bake; the largest ones fit 200 kilogrammes of dough at a time and they’re cheaper to run than electric ovens. There’s a reason they’ve been around for hundreds of years.”
By Louise Older Steffensen | Photos: Don Forno Original
That secret is wood-fired ovens, also known as stone or pizza ovens. “Woodfired ovens can do things to dough that no other type of baking or cooking comes close to,” Gytz enthuses. “They keep in the intense heat from the burning wood, so they heat up much more quickly and reach much higher temperatures than electric ovens, cooking pizzas in less than four minutes. That quick-punch process packs in the flavour of the toppings and adds that irresistibly smoky, crunchy swelling to dough that I hope and pray most people have experienced.” Putting his 30 years of experience as a mason and bricklayer to good use, Gytz now imports oven chambers from Italy and dedicates his time to crafting unique wood-fired ovens to fit the specific requirements of the restaurants, bakeries and private individuals who wish to experience a little piece of paradise on their 66 | Issue 109 | February 2018
own premises. “I have two at home now, and I can tell you from experience that almost all dishes taste incredible when cooked in one of these,” he says. “We’ve cooked entire Christmas meals in them. My wife has to stop the kids and me from making pizza constantly.” Gytz has witnessed a steady rise in interest from private foodies, who often opt for outdoor ovens, as well as increased demand from upmarket restaurants. He recently built Scandinavia’s largest Valoriani oven for Meyers Spisehus in Lyngby, and more and more of the bakeries and pizza places found on every street in Danish towns and cities are catching on too. “I really believe that wood-fired ovens are the future for traditional Danish bakeries as well as pizzerias striving to survive in an increasingly competitive world,” Gytz enthuses. “Customers today demand quality and artisanship. These ovens really
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