Al Forno

Al forno is an Italian term meaning to the oven, used to describe food that has been baked in an oven rather than cooked by other means. The technique is applied to a wide range of Italian dishes, including pizza, bread, and baked pasta preparations such as lasagna, where the oven both cooks the filling and melts the cheese on top. In pasta dishes prepared al forno, the pasta is often parboiled before baking, which gives the finished dish a softer texture than the firmer al dente style. The method is closely tied to the wood burning brick ovens long used across southern Italy and, more broadly, the Mediterranean and Middle East. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/