Loose Leaf Notes

~The following was published in The Floyd Press on May 14, 2009
There’s a new Friday night street attraction in downtown Floyd. Jamboree goers lined up on a recent Friday for fresh baked pizza from an open wood-fire oven on the back of a pick-up truck. John Roberts pulled pizzas in and out of the homemade oven with a long handle paddle while his friend and business partner Scott Smith laid out dough and spread sauce and toppings under the Dogtown Pizza tent.
With a special crust that Smith describes as complex and tangy, mostly local ingredients, and a name that pays tribute to a days-gone-by area in Copper Hill, the pair pooled their talents to launch Dogtown Pizza after a couple of years of testing, tasting, and perfecting their baked goods from Roberts’ wood-fire oven at his Copper Hill home.

“We thought about a restaurant but decided to take it on the road and go to places we want to go, like the Jamboree. We love being at the Jamboree,” Smith said while working the dough. He described the “Aha” moment when the idea for the portable traveling business became clear. He and Roberts had been looking online for oven designs when they saw an Old Word photo of a man pushing a pizza cart.
Already vending at the Blacksburg Farmers Market, Roberts and Smith envision Dogwood Pizza being a regular offering at the upcoming Floyd Farmers Market, which will be situated where the Pizza stand was set up between noteBooks and the old Mama Lizardo’s building being renovated by Floyd Country Store owners Jackie and Woody Crenshaw. “We plan to do baking classes too,” Smith said, gesturing to the outside venue.
“We’ve contracted with Across the Way Productions to do all their events,” he added, explaining plans to build a permanent bigger wood-fire oven at the Floyfest site on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The entrepreneurs also do catering and employ an event coordinator and pizza making line workers when needed. ‘Dogtown Pizza makes a party out of any occasion,’ their website reads.
Smith, who has cooked at the Roanoke Coop and “got the bread program going at Local Roots Café” in Roanoke, said his love of baking began while watching his Italian grandfather make pasta and bread, something he remembers from when he was a boy who could barely see above the kitchen counter. He met Roberts while shopping for building materials when Roberts headed up Eco-solutions, a green building supply company that was once based out of Floyd. Roberts and Smith soon discovered a mutual interest in local food economy and wood fire baking.
A Dogwood pizza begins with a sourdough starter. “Even our yeast is local,” Smith said, as he explained how ice water is used to retard the growth of yeast for a certain amount of time, a step that contributes to the flavorful crust. Eight inch pies start at $10. On this particular Friday night, sausage from Bright Farm in Floyd and spinach from Greenstar Farm – an organic farm in Blacksburg – were incorporated. Basil and fennel added aromatic flavor. Caramelized onions and feta cheese were also featured, along with standard pizza ingredients.
In the end, the proof is in the tasting. Homemade pizza to the strum of a fiddle under an evening sky: “It’s very good,” reported more than one satisfied diner munching on a freshly baked pie.