You’d think that most people juggling a full-time job, two young kids and a postgraduate course at university wouldn’t be overly keen taking on extra work.
Not Ruth Thomas.
She’s proving that there’s no such thing as spinning too many plates since starting her own pizza business, Firemill Pizza and Grill, last year.
Her visits to Tuscany cooking with Italian nonnas made Ruth first fall in love with authentic Italian cooking.
Now, she’s brought traditional Neapolitan style pizzas to Milltimber via Firemill’s neatly decorated pizza trailer and the locals have been flocking for a taste of la dolce vita.
We caught up with Ruth to find out more about Firemill Pizza and Grill.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a West Country lass through and through. I was born in Devon, then spent ten years there and another ten in Cornwall. My background is in geoscience, and eventually I went into the oil industry in 2001, where I was based down in London at that time. But the company relocated me to Aberdeen, so I’ve come from a far-flung part of the country to another far-flung part of the country.
I’ve lived up here since 2003 and I do prefer living in the north-east. Growing up in Cornwall was fantastic, but you can’t really work down there; there isn’t a lot of job opportunities. I’m also quite a creative person; I’m into music, Latin dancing was a huge thing for me before lockdown. But during lockdown, I felt very much starved of any creative outlet. So, when people ask me, I tend to say that the pizza business is my creative outlet.
Where did you learn how to make your pizzas?
About seven or eight years ago, I bought a little outdoor pizza oven called an Ooni. Really, my journey started then – but my pizzas were rubbish! My pizza making has only been honed in the last 12 months, though I was heavily influenced by visiting Tuscany.
I stayed in the Tuscan countryside on holiday a few years ago with my kids in this beautiful, big house with lots of other families. I remember being with the nonnas, the Italian grandmothers, going into the kitchen at 7am and preparing the most amazing spread for the guests and their families, which we’d all eat together. They would cook over open coal, they’d cook with pizza ovens, and I got the opportunity to go into the kitchen and learn a lot of the skills to make pasta, gnocchi, sauces and things. I just loved it.
As well as running your own business, you’re a mum of two, an MSc student and you have a full-time job. You must like a challenge?
So, over the last five years, the oil industry in Aberdeen has been extremely volatile (excuse the pun). I’ve been at risk of redundancy so many times so I decided that I needed a plan B. That’s really where the idea for the pizza business came from. That and complete and utter creative boredom during lockdown. But I’d say I’ve had a lifelong passion for cooking, particularly outdoor cooking, and it only really kicked off in earnest in September last year.
How does the business operate?
I still work full-time and have the kids, which is why I only run it every other weekend at the moment. I run it from my pizza trailer in my driveway in Milltimber and people use the website to book pre-order slots for picking up pizzas. I’ve actually just hired a helper for the business since my kids are still a little too young. But that said, my 9-year-old daughter, Isla, is fantastic. She helps where she can and she hosted her own margherita Monday a few weeks ago. She went out there doing all the orders, all the payments, sorting all the boxes and cooking some of the pizzas too. She was fantastic, I’m so proud of her!
What makes Firemill’s Neapolitan style pizza different from any other?
The Neapolitan pizza has a specific look, taste and texture. I was really keen to get that perfect. I prove my doughs for three days which means that they’re much more digestible and you don’t feel bloated like you would with a pizza full of sugar and oil. The time and effort I put into the dough is what makes my pizza different.
The most popular ones are essentially the most basic like the margheritas and the pepperonis. But I also offer quite a nice selection of fancy pizzas. There’s one in particular which has a butternut squash base instead of tomato. Then it’s topped with red onion and ‘nduja (which is an Italian spicy sausage paste). Once it comes out of the oven, I top that with honey and chilli. It’s the combination of the heat and kick from the chilli with the earthiness of the squash that’s great.
What’s your kids’ favourite kinds of pizza?
Oh, they’re boring! Ethan is seven and he’s a margherita boy. And Isla, she’s very much a pepperoni girl. I keep trying!
Do you source any of your ingredients locally?
I very much try to stick to traditional Italian ingredients for the pizza bases, sauces and cheese. The Neapolitan pizza is essentially classified by the ingredients you use like a ‘00’ wheat flour, San Marzano tomatoes and traditional Italian cheeses.
I chatted to Mark Reynolds who owns Piggery-Smokery in Alford about collaborating on an ‘epic bacon’ pizza. But at the moment, I’m using mostly Italian produce. Using more products from the local area is definitely something we’re looking to move towards in the future.
What’s been some of the main highlights you’ve had so far?
My first ever pizza pop-up event was the single most stressful day of my life. But I guess one of the highlights of it was discovering that I could bash out 70 pizzas with very little help. I’ve come a hell of a long way in the last year from being almost clueless to being extremely confident. People around here have just been going mad for it. There’s been fantastic support received from my neighbours and the wider community have also been brilliant.
