Angela Slater

20 July 2017

Daughter of a farmer and market gardener so have always had a connection with the outdoors, whether it was keeping animals or producing fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Along with my work at Hayes Garden World I also have a smallholding, mainly breeding rare breed pigs. I gained an HND and BSc in Conservation and Environmental Land Management, as a result I am an ardent environmentalist and have a keen interest in environmentally friendly gardening. In my time at Hayes I worked for several years in the Outdoor Plant and Houseplant areas

Alfa Toto Wood Fired Oven And BBQ/Grill

Enhance your outdoor living space with a chic Italian cooking centre

Alfa, the iconic Italian manufacturer of stylish wood fired ovens, has brought out the Toto, a new BBQ/grill and wood fired oven combined in one unit. This gorgeous piece of kit means that you can cook almost anything out of doors that you can cook in the kitchen, so why not make the most of the long summer days and enhance your outside living space. Roasting, grilling, baking, barbecuing, pizzas and there’s even a space for a wok, so anything is possible.

Alfa Toto wood fired oven and BBQ / grill

Alfa is a family owned business and was founded in 1977, creating ovens and fireplaces both for home and professional use. So far they have sold over 500,000 ovens in 100 countries so their wealth of experience is extensive and means that you can have complete confidence in your oven. The ovens are 100% designed and manufactured in Italy so as you would expect from Italian styling they are sophisticated and modern, yet would still fit into a traditional English country garden.

Positioned in your outdoor space so that it makes a focal point, the Toto is not just for cooking, but you can light the oven, leave the fire in the mouth and enjoy the primeval feel of a real fire on a chilly evening. Forninox TM technology combines a refractory tiled oven floor with a 1/10” thick stainless steel dome. The 0.3sq m (465sq in) oven floor area will quite comfortably cook two large pizzas at once. The oven can reach a maximum temperature of 400C (752F) in just 15 minutes, consuming an average of 3kg (6.6lbs) of wood per hour. The BBQ/grill has a total cook area of 0.36sq m (558sq in) with a 20cm (8”) hole to fit the wok. (Click here to read the blog and watch the video showing you how to light the wood fired oven.)

Alfa wood fired Italian oven

The outer coating of the oven is dust and weather resistant so can safely be left outside but the grill will need covering. There is no cleaning involved inside the oven as all you do is move the fire over any food residue, which then burns off, so all you have to do when the fire has been extinguished is brush out all the ash.

All in all the Toto has the capacity to easily cook for a large party of people and also to cook a variety of dishes at the same time, catering for all the diverse tastes of your guests. Why not set out your pizza ingredients and let your friends participate in the occasion and make their own.

Pizza cooked in the Alfa wood fired oven

Posh bruschetta

thick slices fresh bread
tomatoes; de-seeded and diced
fresh basil; torn
fresh oregano; chopped
garlic
olive oil
sea salt
ground black pepper
mozzarella

Let the oven come up to temperature then lightly toast the bread on both sides.
Rub one side of the bread with the cut garlic cloves.
Mix together the tomatoes, herbs, olive oil and the seasoning. Pile onto the toast.
Add some small pieces of mozzarella.
Place back in the oven until the tomatoes and cheese are hot.

Alfa Toto wood fired oven and BBQ / grill