Before you install or have your wood fire pizza oven installed for you, you need to choose the location carefully. Always ensure there are no overhanging branches or other debris in the area that could be a potential fire hazard. The ground should be comfortable to work on, and level, but it’s most important that the base of the wood fire pizza oven is level, and positioned at hip-height this will make for a more comfortable cooking and serving surface.
Once installed curing your pizza oven is the next important step, before you cook anything in your oven for the first time, it must be cured, this is achieved by lighting a series of fires that gradually increase in size and temperature over a period of time. Never let the fire die out or allow the oven to become cold, it is important that you build the temperature from 50C to 300C over time. Heat beads will give you a constant heat that you can control which means your fire will burn for longer – heat beads are a great fuel to cure the oven.
Always light your fire in the centre of the oven so all sides of the dome receive even heat distribution.
It’s also important that you understand how your oven works and why it works so well for cooking food. The goal when preparing the oven is to heat it up evenly and store enough heat in the refractory so it can be released while cooking. Food is cooked by three types of heat that are stored during the heating up process.
● Conductive heat – the heat transferred by the firebricks of the cooking base
● Radiant heat – the heat that is released by the refractory dome
● Convection heat – the heat created by the interaction between the fire, the chimney drawing action and the fresh air from the door opening circulating inside the dome shaped chamber.
How to light your wood fire pizza oven –
● Use only dry and seasoned wood, the wood needs to be clean, free of glue, paint and chemicals
● Use a soft wood to start the fire then a hard wood to maintain the fire
● To start the fire, you can use crumpled newspaper or fire starters
● The easiest way to start the fire is on a pizza paddle then place it into the centre of the oven
● As the fire increases add more hardwood
Caring for your wood fire pizza oven –
● Make sure water doesn’t get into the cooking base, always close the door when not in use and place a cap on the flue.
● High temperatures inside the oven kill off any bacteria or bugs
● All you need to do when the oven is cool is sweep away any ash with a natural bristle or wire brush.