Alan Scott (2 March 1936 – 26 January 2009) was a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
and
baking
Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred " ...
traditionalist who designed and built
brick ovens and coauthored a book promoting their use for cooking
bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
s and
pizza
Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...
.
He built ovens in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and started the Ovencrafters company.
[ ]
Life
Scott was born in
Toorak in
Victoria, Australia
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
on 2 March 1936. He graduated from
Dookie Agricultural College
Melbourne University, Dookie campus (formerly known as Dookie Agricultural College) is an agricultural campus of Melbourne University near the town of Dookie, Victoria. It is the oldest agricultural college in Victoria.
The campus has a broadacre ...
,
[ and afterwards went to work for a fertilizer company.][ Leaving his job at 25,]Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, and Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
—all hitchhiking. Eventually, he settled in Denmark and opened a jewelry store.[
Scott emigrated to the United States from Australia in the mid-1960s, where he opened a smithy in Northern California. When a friend, Laurel Robertson, commissioned him to forge handles for a brick oven she intended to build, Scott became interested in the oven itself. He redesigned the oven to better retain heat.][ Scott soon became an expert in the construction and use of brick ovens. In 1999, he published ''The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens'' with his apprentice Daniel Wing.][ ''The Bread Builders'' contained a treatise on the history and science of ]bread making
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made food ...
, and gave detailed specifications for how to build a brick oven.[ The book eventually sold over 25,000 copies.][ He also became involved in the effort to recommence operations at the ]Callington Mill
Callington Mill is a Lincolnshire tower mill built in 1837 in Oatlands, Tasmania by John Vincent. It has recently been restored so that it is now in full working order and is the only operating mill of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. It is t ...
.[ Scott's interest in the project stemmed in part from the desirable properties of slowly stone-ground flour, which include the wheat's germ oil being ground into the flour and the retention of nutrients due to low milling temperatures.][
Scott died on 26 January 2009 in ]Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
of congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
. His company, Ovencrafters, is now run by his children. The company designs and builds custom brick ovens,[ and has designed and created numerous ovens for clients throughout the United States, as well as in other countries, including Canada and Australia.]
Advocacy
Scott spent much of his time conducting workshops and overseeing the building of community ovens, which he believed brought communities together.[ He further lectured on and encouraged small-scale industry, environmental stewardship, community connectivity and spiritual consideration.][ His business, Ovencrafters, pushed for "policy with principles, commerce with morality, wealth with work, and science with humanity".][
]
Bibliography
*
References
External links
Ovencrafters
Interview with Alan Scott
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Alan
Australian blacksmiths
American bakers
20th-century Australian non-fiction writers
1936 births
2009 deaths