6. COOKING
To cook in your wood fired-oven, simply bring the oven to its maximum temperature then let it cool down
until it reaches your ideal cooking temperature. This is called regulating the oven. The ideal cooking
temperature will depend on what you're planning to cook:
• Pizza (300°C to 350°C optimium air temperature)
Build up a large bed of glowing embers and maintain a large rolling flame (you will need to add smaller pieces
of wood approximately every 10-20 minutes to keep it going)� The floor should read about 400°C on your hand-
held thermometer� There shouldn't be any visible black carbon build-up on the dome and the flames should reach
the middle of the oven� Bake your pizza on the oven floor, right next to the fire� Always leave the door off the oven
when baking pizza�
• Roasting (150°C to 220°C optimium air temperature)
Prep your oven to reach high pizza temperatures to sear meat (cover your food to protect it from burning) and then
allow the temperature to drop for slow roasting� You'll want a medium sized bed of embers and a small flame about
2 to 4 inches high (without any visible black on the dome)� If you're roasting for less than an hour, you can leave
the oven door off� If longer, you can position the door inside the arch to help control the heat (experiment with the
exact placement of the door so that the fire does not go out or keep too much smoke inside the oven)� If you need
more heat, add more wood to the fire and open the door more� Push your food further into the oven if you want it to
benefit from more heat, or bring it forward if you want it to cool down�
• Baking (floor temp)
Prep your oven to reach pizza oven temperatures then allow the temperature to drop for baking� The idea is to bake
using the heat retained in the oven dome and floor� You don't want a live flame but some glowing embers are fine�
Position the door inside the arch to completely close the oven� A floor temperature of 400°C works well for baked
pastas, casseroles or fruit cobblers� Simply place your dish in the oven and close the door� If there are glowing em-
bers in the oven, keep the door open a crack so that the inside of the oven doesn't get smoky� It may be a good idea
to place your dish on a trivet or inverted sheet pan, so it doesn't overcook�
• Bread oven (floor temp)
To maintain the baking temperature, keep the oven door closed for 30 minutes, then open it to check the floor
temperature� If the oven is too hot, leave the door off for 10 minutes, then put the door back in place for a further 5
minutes before checking the temperature again� Bake your bread on a floured tray�
1 1
160816
EN