What Are Wood Fired Pizza Ovens Exactly?
Wood fired pizza ovens are an ancient invention. Despite the great advances in technology today, there are still many people all around the world who feel this simple oven cannot be surpassed in the cooking of superb breads, pot casseroles, roasts and of course that great favorite the humble "Pizza". If you are a real pizza fan, you have just got to have one of these.....!
This type of outdoor pizza ovens are usually masonry, ie made of brick, clay, cob or fire resistant concrete. Cast iron is also a popular choice. Quite often it will have a stone floor but sometimes brick or occasionally earth. It works on the principal of residual heat. Kindling and wood are lit within the oven and built up until a white heat level is reached. This process can take up to 2 hours to reach. The fire is then allowed to die off and glowing embers scraped out or to one side allowing you to introduce your food for cooking with a temperature gauge as a guide.
Initially the temperature when still very hot is ideal for cooking pizza. A pizza slid into the oven will cook extremely quickly, actually in the space of a few minutes. It will absorb a wonderful smoky flavor and the base will be crisp and light as the stone floor will absorb moisture fast. Some wood fired pizza ovens are known as white ovens, some black. This describes the sooting of the oven. In a black oven, the process is as described above. In a white oven the cooking is carried out in a second chamber, heated with hot gas and air transferred from the furnace, but no soot or smoke is transferred, thus keeping it 'white' and clean.
Wood fired pizza ovens can be supplied ready cast and assembled on site or built in situ. A typical household wood fired pizza oven has 4-6" thick walls and be 36-48" wide. There is a special relationship of 65% concerning the height of the front opening and the overall height of the inner dome. This is a factor in determining the heat that builds up within the oven. There is often a door of some kind, but it is not necessary. Sometimes there is a chimney or flue, but again this is not an essential. Specialist companies can provide plans and build one for you or you can make one yourself for far less cost.
The design of the oven keeps it hot for a very long time allowing staggered baking. First pizza, then bread, then meats and casseroles. In some villages in Greece for example, people still have a communal wood fired pizza oven where people gather to bake and gossip! These ovens and the results they produce are a world apart from the metal baking sheet we associate with home cooked pizza today. If you are lucky enough to have one of these built for you you will appreciate the results greatly.
If this is way beyond your budget, you can purchase a couple of pizza stones to pop in your oven indoors for little cost, or perhaps you can invest in on of the countertop style home pizza ovens which mostly have a removable stone base. These will improve upon the metal baking sheet at least!
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