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Man builds wood-fired pizza oven in his yard

By TIFFANY ARNOLD, The Herald-Mail

Published 10/25/09

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — It was love at first bite for Hagerstown resident John Cangemi.

Kevin G. Gilbert — The Herald-Mail via AP John Congemi shows off a pizza baked in his wood-fired pizza oven behind his home in Hagerstown.

The scene was Italy, where Cangemi and his wife, Joan, were visiting family years ago. The thief of 54-year-old John Cangemi's heart was the oven-baked Neapolitan pizza he tasted there.

No American version could compare, he said.

Cangemi was so obsessed with the pizza that he built his own wood-fired pizza oven in his backyard, off Howell Road. The oven was completed about three and a half years ago and took him around four months to build.

The front of the stove has a scene in mosaic tile of Teatro Greco in Sicily, with a view of Mount Aetna and the coastline. It's a place he and his wife visited on their trip. He said that part of the tiling only took about two weeks. He plans to add mosaic tiles on the sides and back.

Cangemi, a graphic artist, is doing the tile work himself.

"Once you get all the colors in and you've got the design already laid out, putting the tiles on the mesh is pretty easy," Cangemi said.

As for cooking, pizzas only take about two minutes to cook in the oven, which is heated to somewhere between 800 and 900 degrees.

"The great thing about a pizza oven is, too, that when you're cooking in an oven outside, it's drawing in moist air from the outside," Cangemi said. "You can roast a chicken in two and a half hours and the breast meat and everything inside is completely moist. There's no dryness whatsoever."

Friends and family have benefited from Cangemi's passion. He fires up the oven every weekend. "Rain or shine, snow, whatever — doesn't matter. I'm out here," Cangemi said.

To do it right, the cook must be willing to do the leg work — make the trek to an Italian market to get imported ingredients. He has adapted a recipe that can be made in any kitchen oven.

Cangemi grew up in Rockville, Md. He met his wife in high school and has been married 35 years. They have three adult sons. Cangemi comes from an Italian family and was visiting a cousin in Italy when he was introduced to pizza ovens.

The quest to build the perfect outdoor pizza oven began the moment Cangemi returned to Hagerstown.

"I was at Border's books and they actually had a book called 'The Bread Bakers' Apprentice,' or something like that, and inside were plans to build one of these ovens," explained Cangemi. "And you wouldn't believe it. On Yahoo, hundreds of people have done this and they even have their own home-built-pizza-oven users group. So, it's like, resources aren't hard to find. No matter where you go."

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Rick M - 2009-10-29 13:22:41

I was just trying to make a joke but see it didn't work.

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Mary Ann Donnell - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

Local - 2009-10-29 13:16:21

Good point, Rick. Despite the relative success we have with regional news the reason we're here is LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL. So, Robin is correct. We SHOULD do the story on her South County neighbor. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't run the story about this guy in Hagerstown.

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Nick Lundskow - Annapolis, MD Staff

Nick - 2009-10-29 12:53:09

I was not trying to imply the AP was cheap. They are a legal news outlet. I understand it costs to be a part of that organization. But, it has to be cheaper than spending 2 people on a 4 hour trip for a 10 minute interview.

Personally, I like stories like the human interest stories like the wood pizza grill.

Cable news and other print news service are full of news. But, they lose the human element that local reporting captures.

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Rick M - Laurel, Md - Karma: Excellent

Copy/paste & cheap AP - 2009-10-29 11:38:35

I sometimes write comments in Word and then paste into the comment window. One problem I've found is that sometimes punctuation marks - especially quote marks and apostrophes - are dropped. I hope we can fix that one.

I use the Firefox browser which will automatically underline misspelled words even when typing in the comment box.

As for the "cheaper" AP: Our membership dues to the Associated Press are a very significant cost to this company.

I've found that regional stories from AP and Capital News Service (not affiliated with The Capital) get a lot of hits. I try to provide more regional news than the paper has room for - although this particular story was in the paper too. It's not really an issue of "let's run this AP story instead of running a local story." When I see stories like this on the wire that I think people will be interested in I put them up. This story made it into our top 10 which was a big surprise to me.

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Nick Lundskow - Annapolis, MD Staff

Copy & Paste - 2009-10-29 10:51:51

One solution. Copy comment into open word document. Spell check, then copy and paste into the comment box, and then hit send.

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Rick M - Laurel, Md - Karma: Excellent

Matt - 2009-10-29 10:36:09

Dang that spell check!! I'll bring the Miller Lite. I'd offer Yeungling but I don't know how to spell that either.

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Mary Ann Donnell - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

Mary Ann - 2009-10-29 10:16:06

I guess your getting voted down for misspelling Jeans name. Anyways, I'm with you two - party at Congemis place this weekend? Looks like he wouldn't mind.

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Matt B - Deale, MD - Karma: Excellent

Hey Jen - 2009-10-29 08:29:54

I'm with you.

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Mary Ann Donnell - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

Stop with the stupid stuff! - 2009-10-29 07:31:25

The only question we should be asking is "When can we come over for Pizza?"

Yeah!

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Jean Richards - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

Robin - 2009-10-29 07:22:40

All papers use the AP. Its cheaper. You think the Capital has enough "capital" to send reporters and photographers to every location?

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Rick M - Laurel, Md - Karma: Excellent

Pizza Stove - 2009-10-29 06:51:02

The Capital had to go to the AP for this story? I have a neighbor in South County that has a hardwood pizza stove. I guess it's easier to have AP supply a story from somewhere outside the local area than actually report on it yourself.

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Robin Stanek - Churchton, MD - Karma: Neutral

I wonder... - 2009-10-26 18:13:12

What something like this would cost to build. It's beautiful... with my husband and son's addiction to pizza this would be something great to have.

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Ann S. - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

Photo - 2009-10-26 15:23:53

Cori is correct that this isn't our story. As you can see AP did move the photo - I just didn't get to when posting Sunday's edition. Local stuff gets priority. I never imagined that when I came in this morning it would be in our top ten stories from Sunday.

I bought a pizza stone and use it on my gas grill. I'm sure it's nothing like what this guy can do, but it's sure a lot cheaper ... and the pizza is a lot better than from out of a plain old oven.

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Nick Lundskow - Annapolis, MD Staff

hmmmm - 2009-10-26 15:15:32

maybe you were complaining to the right people after all :-)

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Cori C. - Edgewater, MD - Karma: Good

Thanks - 2009-10-26 14:30:46

For adding the picture. It really helps! Now, I wonder where I can get my own. :)

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Rick M. - Laurel, Md - Karma: Excellent

Hagerstown - 2009-10-26 14:29:43

I think this article is out of the Capital's jurisdiction, so a lack of a camera wouldn't be their fault. This is from the The Herald-Mail, and unless they are affiliated with the Capital in some way, I think complaints should go to them. Just an observation.

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Cori C. - Edgewater, MD - Karma: Good

Editors - 2009-10-26 07:20:39

Guys, it is too much to ask for a small snapshot picture to go along with the story? Digital Cameras are cheap and easy to work, with more than enough clarity to be printed in the paper.

We went through before. I remember the home-made grill/smoker.

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Rick M. - Laurel, Md - Karma: Excellent