Of all the vendors at the farmers market in Hobart, Ind., probably the most unique is The Rolling Stonebaker. Owners Jim Chaddock and Andrea Georgian have converted an old Studebaker fire truck into a mobile pizza oven.
"It started out we were just going to build an oven in our backyard as a place for a barbeque. And our whole idea kind of grew in baby steps like that. It's kind of like planting a flower and not knowing what color you're going to get when it comes up," said co-owner Jim Chaddock.
They buy thin flatbreads from a local baker, then top them to order. Anything from a basic margherita - featuring fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil - to a white pizza, which omits tomato sauce, but includes roasted garlic, artichoke hearts and mushrooms and a stark white canvas of ricotta, mozzarella and provolone.
Their Purple Pig pizza has become a bit of a signature item: homemade barbequed pulled pork is shredded across the top and after it bakes in an oven that routinely reaches temperatures exceeding 800 degrees, they top it off with a tangy purple coleslaw. They key to the quick cooking is that custom-made oven, which cooks each pizza in about a minute-and-a-half, until the top is barely blistered. Using exclusively hardwood to heat it obviously helps.
"With the wood it's a really dry heat and it really helps us get a really crisp crust. We get a nice little char charred ring and it's nice because we go home smelling like campfire," Chaddock said.
The Rolling Stonebaker
Summer hours:
Tuesday-Saturday 11am-8:30pm
Sunday (breakfast pizza) 8:30am
2 W Dunes Hwy
Beverly Shores, IN
Every Saturday 8am-2pm
220 Broadway
Chesterton, IN
Every Thursday 2pm-7pm
3rd & Main St.
Hobart, IN
rollingstonebaker.com
219-246-0068
