My dad often tells the story of when he first opened his Italian restaurant in Albuquerque after having moved from Italy. Time and time again, he tried to get the city to permit him to install an indoor wood-fired pizza oven. But they made the task an impossibility, citing a laundry list of regulatory violations and requiring numerous meetings and inspections. These days, it seems the city has warmed to the idea, although I’m sure it’s not
. Thankfully, as home bakers, we don’t need any permits and have more options, since many companies now make wood-fired pizza ovens for home use. I’ve long wanted one of these models, and at the end of last year, I finally got my grail and have been cranking out wood-fired pizzas ever since.
It’s hard to capture in words the delicious kaleidoscope of flavors and textures of pizza cooked with live fire. The high-heat and burning wood gives the pizza a shockingly thin and crisp crust, an interior that’s supple and chewy, and a slight kiss of smokey flavor. To me, this is how pizza should have always been cooked–it’s a return to the original, if you will.
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Before we dig into making a pizza, let’s first go over some high-level information on using a wood-fired oven (a larger guide to this is coming soon!), then we’ll look at the wood-fired sourdough pizza dough recipe, and finally some common pizza-related questions.
: If you’re looking to make pizza in a home oven at a lower heat, see my home oven sourdough pizza dough recipe.
A wood-fired oven is just that: an oven heated by wood burning inside of it. Some wood-fired ovens have a very thick masonry mass to them; that is, their sidewalls, top (dome), and bottom (floor or deck) are made from a thick material (usually, brick) that retains significant heat. Other ovens use a material that doesn’t retain heat for as long but can heat faster.
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Within this broad definition, there are many styles of ovens, from high dome to low dome pizza-specific ovens, general-purpose cob ovens, and everything in between.
My oven, which was given to me by Fontana Forni (who is partnering with me on this post), is a Fontana Forni Marinara Wood Pizza Oven made in Italy. This oven is unique in that the floor is made of very thick brick that retains significant heat for hours after proper firing (heating up), but the top and sides are made from high-quality steel that has less heat retention but gets hot fast. This combination makes it possible to sufficiently fire the oven in as little as 30 to 45 minutes, whereas a wood-fired oven with more masonry mass would take up to several hours to heat up fully. And thanks to the thick floor, which retains significant heat for several hours, it’s possible to bake sourdough bread, desserts, and pastry with the residual, reduced heat of the oven.
The solid construction of this oven makes operating it a treat, and with the included front door and damper control, I’m able to manage the heat inside not only to cook exceptional pizza, but a variety of other foods as well. One of my favorites lately has been my sourdough focaccia Pugliese which has potato added to the dough for a little extra chew.
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First, be sure the damper is open. On the Fontana, this means the handle of the damper is in a straight position, perpendicular to the ground2.
With a wood-fired oven, you often build a fire in the middle of the floor, and you then push it to the left or right once the floor beneath it has been sufficiently heated. But I’ve found with my Fontana oven that it’s not necessary to do this, and I simply start the fire off to the left behind the steel wood holder (a removable piece that helps keep the fire neat and away from any cooking pizza).
I first construct what’s called a “log cabin” with small pieces of wood (kindling): Stack thin pieces of wood in a number sign orientation (“#”), and then stack more pieces in this fashion until you have a few layers. Then fill the middle of the cabin with tinder: branches, clean brown paper, or a natural firelighter. Finally, place one medium-sized piece of wood across the top. Light the tinder you’ve placed in the middle of the cabin. Once the fire starts, close the door, making sure to leave it ajar to allow air to flow into the oven.
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Let the fire burn for 5 to 10 minutes. Check it, adding a piece or two of wood to the top of the cabin as necessary to continue to heat the oven. Be sure that you always have ample airflow inside and around the logs in the fire, which will reduce smoke and encourage optimal burning of the wood.
Let the oven heat for 30 to 45 minutes; during this time, add pieces of wood as necessary until the oven floor reaches your desired temperature for cooking pizza (more on this soon). Check the ambient temperature in the oven as well; it should be around 650°F (340°C) for the style of pizza in this recipe.
The thermodynamics of a wood-fired oven are pretty straightforward. The area closest to the open door will be cooler (since this is where air rushes into the oven to fuel the fire—a good thing), the area near the fire will be hotter, and as you move through the oven away from the fire the intensity of heat is reduced. I notice a small uptick in heat near the far right wall of the oven as well.
How To Make The Best Homemade Pizza
Managing heat in a wood-fired oven is accomplished by controlling the intensity of the fire, removing or closing the front door, and controlling the damper. The following sums up how I use the door and damper to manage heat in the oven:
When the fire begins to burn low, I use my pizza turning peel to add a single log to the top of the pile. Be sure when doing this that the log doesn’t completely smother the fire, but rather, it’s propped up to allow ample airflow below (I’ll usually lean it on the steel wood holder holding the ashes in the oven).
When cooking pizza in a wood-fired oven you must consider two things: the oven’s floor temperature and ambient temperatures. The floor temperature will dictate how fast the bottom of the pizza cooks, and the ambient temperature dictates how fast the edge of the crust (
Neapolitan Pizza Recipe
I like to cook my wood-fired sourdough pizza dough with a floor temperature of 600-700°F (315-370°C) and a reduced fire with just a few active flames. I use an IR thermometer to accurately measure the temperature of the floor in the area where I cook my pizza (more on this in a minute). At this temperature and fire intensity, the result is a pizza that’s crisper and firmer than a Neapolitan-style pizza (which is softer and floppier since it’s cooked faster at a much higher heat).
Before placing dough into the oven, be sure to sweep any ashes that may have fallen over onto your active cooking surface. Use a brush that can withstand the heat of the oven; I like to use the metal wire brush that came with my oven to quickly sweep the ashes over to the left of the oven near the fire.
Remember to monitor the heat as you cook your pizzas. I almost always keep the damper completely open the entire time. I keep the door in place and slightly ajar when preheating the oven or between cooking pizzas. When I slide pizza dough into the oven, I do not replace the door until I remove the fully cooked pizza.
Best Brick Oven Pizza Near Me
When it is time to cook the pizza, I first load the dough in the back near the flames, where the floor and ambient temperatures are hottest. Then, I rotate the pizza periodically to ensure even cooking. I’ll usually do 2 to 4 rotations of the pizza during its total cook time, around 4 to 6 minutes. Each time I rotate the pizza, I move it slightly closer to the oven opening, thus gradually moving it to cooler and cooler parts of the floor as it gets closer to the oven opening.
In some cases, the pizza needs a few more minutes to even out the cooking of the bottom crust and the toppings:
It’s very hard to find high-quality wood appropriate for cooking (which should be a dry, no-sap hardwood like oak) here in my city, so I’ve been sourcing my wood from Cutting Edge Firewood. It’s top-quality, though expensive with shipping. Their wood is well seasoned, very dry, and free from pests, and it lights almost immediately.
Best Easy Pizza Dough
Depending on your preference, you can use a wide range of flour for your pizza. I like to use primarily “Tipo 00” flour, an Italian classification of flour that’s white and low extraction (meaning it’s the whitest and finest flour in Italy). My go-to flour brand for this is Caputo from Italy (I
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