Alan Scott (blacksmith)
{{Short description|Australian maker of brick ovens and author of baking manual}}
{{other people|Alan Scott}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Alan Scott
|image =
|caption = Alan Scott in front of a brick oven
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1936|03|02}}
|birth_place = Toorak, Victoria
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2009|01|26|1936|03|02}}
|death_place = Tasmania, Australia
|other_names =
|known_for = Designing and building brick ovens and writing on the subject
|occupation = Blacksmith
|nationality = Australian
|spouse = Laura Scott
|children = 3
}}
Alan Scott (2 March 1936 – 26 January 2009) was a blacksmith and baking traditionalist who designed and built brick ovens and coauthored a book promoting their use for cooking breads and pizza.{{cite news |first=Dennis |last=Hevesi |work=The New York Times|title=Alan Scott, 72, Artisan of the Brick Oven, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/dining/06scott.html |date=5 February 2009 |access-date=8 February 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090418145102/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/dining/06scott.html| archive-date=18 April 2009| url-status= live}} He built ovens in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and started the Ovencrafters company.{{cite web| last = Betty| first = Carpick| title = 600 degrees on a Wednesday night| publisher = Thunder Bay's Source| date = 27 July 2006| url = http://www.tbsource.com/tblife/index.asp?cid=85015| access-date = 10 February 2009}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}
Life
Scott was born in Toorak in Victoria, Australia on 2 March 1936. He graduated from Dookie Agricultural College, and afterwards went to work for a fertilizer company. Leaving his job at 25,{{cite web| last = Reeves| first = Elaine| title = The fires keep burning| work = The Mercury | date = 7 February 2009| url = http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/02/07/54371_lifestyle.html | access-date = 8 February 2009}} Scott traveled throughout Australia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and 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.{{cite book|title=The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens|last=Scott|first=Alan|author2=Daniel Wing|year=1999|isbn=978-1-890132-05-7|publisher=Chelsea Green Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VA6y1EMnkpYC|page=ix|access-date=8 February 2009}} The Bread Builders contained a treatise on the history and science of bread making, and gave detailed specifications for how to build a brick oven. The book eventually sold over 25,000 copies.{{cite news | first = Deborah | last = Baldwin | title = Patio Trophy: Stoke That Backyard Bakery | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/garden/23OVEN.html?_r=1&fta=y | work = The New York Times | date = 23 December 2004 | access-date = 9 February 2009}}
Returning to Australia in 2004, Scott opened a practice in Oatlands. He also became involved in the effort to recommence operations at the Callington Mill. 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 of congestive heart failure. 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.{{cite web|title=Ovencrafters Oven List|url=http://www.ovencrafters.net/ovnlist.htm#list|access-date=9 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615032843/http://www.ovencrafters.net/ovnlist.htm|archive-date=15 June 2008}}
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
- {{cite book|title=The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens|last=Scott|first=Alan|author2=Daniel Wing|year=1999|isbn=978-1-890132-05-7|publisher=Chelsea Green Publishing}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.ovencrafters.net/ Ovencrafters]
- [http://sourdough.com/interview-alan-scott Interview with Alan Scott]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Alan}}
Category:Australian blacksmiths