If you have watched Vito Iacopelli on Youtube make pizzas then this item is very similar to the box he uses. It is called a Madia. I was inspired to make one as I could not see where anyone else was selling something like this in the US. Check his videos out- everything he makes really does turn out well when you try it at home.
I make this item to order myself. It is very well made and sturdy. Measures approx 7 tall, 8x12 at inside bottom and 14X18 at the top. Solid 3/4" pine wood is used. The wood will have knots and other marks on it- it's wood and not a piece of machined steel. Sides slope at a 20 degree angle from vertical. Weighs about 7 lbs. No metal fasteners are used- all joints are glued to be water tight. I routed handle recesses in the ends to make it easy to grip.
CANCELLATION REQUESTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED AS I START MAKING THIS STRAIGHT AWAY.
A baking sheet can be used to cover the top, so you can let your dough rise in the box or just use the box to cover it. The wood acts as an insulator so your dough will rise nicely as it keeps in the heat that the dough generates.
The wood used on this alone is about $50 and it takes a few thousand dollars of woodworking tools and quite a few hours to assemble it. This is not made in an hour.
This box offers many advantages to making dough out on a counter:
You can make your dough anywhere without making a mess or needing a large flat work surface- bring it outside on a nice day and make your dough.
The dough has a hard time sticking fast to the wood, so it makes it easy to form your dough into a ball using a bench scraper without adding a lot of flour to it and changing the hydration. Sticky doughs will no longer be your enemy.
You can mix everything in this from start to finish. The box makes the whole process of making dough much less messy than doing it on an open surface as hardly anything comes over the sides of the box. You can proof 3 balls of dough that make 12" pizzas in this.
Easily cleaned in minutes. Just use a bench scraper and a damp towel- no need to use gallons and gallons of water cleaning up whatever else you would have used to make your dough. A 6 inch bench scaper is what I work with.
The very bottom that contacts your work surface is perfectly smooth and safe to use on any surface. You can move it with little effort. You can easily add rubber feet to it if you want it to stay in place or place it on a damp towel.
I do apply a beeswax finish to the outside of the box so it is nice and smooth. The inside is left alone.
I make these to order so there will be slight variations in appearance as wood of course varies. This is not a piece of fine furniture- there will be marks and other impressions on the wood, so no complaining about that. I avoid the use of filler as much as possible, but wood will have imperfections that sometimes need a touch of it.
Items shown were made from dough that was mixed and proofed in the box. I use an Ooni pizza oven so that is how the crust has some char on it. It was really good. You can have the same results too and it will be hard for you to get pizza and bread from any establishment that beats what you can make at home.
Ships via ground carrier and rate is good only for continental US and Ebays' global shipping program. Contact me for cost if going anywhere else.