To all those who have helped us accomplish the dream of owning our own business, thank you so much.  For all those who helped us pull off our first 2 events your help was invaluable.  S and J’s Kickoff Party went off without a hitch due to the hardwork of Sarah, Jake, JT, Jeff, Margie, Matt, Natalie, Lois, The Drayton Woods Recreation Club, and Rachel. Of course we have no money or time to give you but maybe y’all will settle for having a cold beer with us.  Please know that when we reach the top we won’t have just stepped on your shoulders to get their but instead step on your shoulders and then pull you up right with us.  SJP never forgets.

Side Note: If you are interested in joining the S & J's Woodfired Pizza team and are willing to work hard for very little money but have a good time in the process let us know by giving us a call or shooting us an email.

The first pizza has been sold.  What an awesome feeling.  It has been about 9 months since the inception of S & J's Woodfired Pizza and the hard work and stress has finally paid off.  Our first farmers market went well on Friday.  We got going about 1 hour late due to the weather and then lost about an hour or so due to rain during the market but we still sold 22 pizzas and had a good time.  The business is so much more work and complicated than I originally thought but our concept is still present and the heart behind S & J's Woodfired Pizza is still beating strong.  The food that came out of the oven on Thursday at the kickoff party was well received and the paying customers that we finally met were all very pleased with both our pizzas and our pretzels.  We still have some kinks to workout but our end product is really good.  Looking forward to chillaxing at the Grant Park festival this weekend selling some ‘za and having a good time.  ‘Cause in the end, we are working for ourselves and for the time being the Man has inched his boot off our necks.

Lets just say the first attempt at baking bread did not go as planned. The bread was doughy and tough. #2 just about the same. But #3 was great. Homemade sourdough bread baked in the oven the morning after our first pizza. I ran the oven to a floor temperature around 650 degrees and ceiling temp was well over 1000. After spreading out the coals and closing the door the oven regulated and stayed warm until the morning. Approximately 10 hours after the last pizza, the oven was still 400 degrees and produced some great sourdough bread. Crispy on the outside and light on the inside with a pat of butter and bliss was achieved. For my 3rd attempt at focaccia, I changed up recipes and tweaked some things here and there and just crossed my fingers. The result was good. Not great but good. The oven was a little hot so the top got done a little soon but the taste was there. I figure if perfection was so easy to be achieved more people would seek it. Trust me, there will be more to follow.

And finally the first pizza has been served. It was August 11, 2010 at approx 8:30 pm when the piping hot plain crust flatbread left the blazing hot oven. It was charred on the edges and after a spray of garlic butter was a delish first attempt at perfection. The pizzas to follow were made from a variety of different toppings including home-grown tomato sauce, 100% local Berkshire Pork sausage, local organic cherry tomatoes, pepperoni, roasted red peppers, onions, and mushrooms and they were all better than the first. Thanks for all those, especially JakeTheGreat, who lended their taste buds to the Great Pizza Experience of the last 2 nights. We had a blast and I hope y’all did too. Both of us are so tired but so excited to get this thing going we can’t even describe it. The feeling of all that hard work going into a delish, hot, incredible 9in taste of heaven is truly cool, especially when you control every step from beginning to end. Get ready for the RIDE.

Prep table cleaned. Pizza peels, pizza pans, lexans metal and plastic with lids cleaned. Dough boxes and lids, pizza cutters, sheets pans, saute pans and one nonfunctioning electronic thermometer cleaned. T-shirts ordered. Kick-off party invitations made and dispersed. Trailer shipped.

Whoever thought making a pizza would involve so much.