Wood Fired Pizza

I’ve written about pizzas that I have made in my home oven. And, those were really good. But really good was not quite what I was after. I wanted amazing! I am well on my way, with my wood-fired pizza oven, available on Amazon if you like at Pizza Party 70 x 70 . You can also read all about it (and purchase it) direct from the manufacturer at Pizza Party 70×70. I was reluctant to buy a wood fired oven (WFO) for several reasons: having to light a fire and having to go outside to make pizza were right up there with, “will I use it?” and “will I make better pizza than I already do?” This oven is relatively small and lightweight for a WFO, which means it heats up and cools down fast, and also that you can take it with you when you move. These are all pros or cons depending on what you want a in a WFO.  The hearth (floor) is made up of six fire bricks, which is like cooking with a pizza stone on steroids. The door is only 14 inches across so you won’t be making New York style 16″ diameter pizzas in this oven. My pies tend to be around 10 inch diameters and they are enough to feed one adult. It takes under 2 minutes to get a great pizza.  You can make a long pizza to feed more people if you like. I am still working on getting the longer pie to slide off the peel without making pizza train wreck.  When you do “make a mess”, you can clean it up by dragging a flaming log over the melted cheese and burned sauce, and wait for it turn to ash! I’ve had two pizzas burst into flame, though they did not flame so long that they were ruined. Yes, the oven gets that hot, and yes, it is incredibly cool to see that happen  Pictured below is my oven, chugging away. The first thing to note is that the fire is super easy to start. I bought kiln dried oak and mixed hard woods, and I can get a fire going with one match and some crumpled paper. It was expensive to buy the firewood. Make sure you price the wood before you decide to buy or build a WFO. On the positive side, I didn’t have to cut or stack the wood myself, and it is very clean so I don’t have to worry about spiders or wood rot while it waits in my garage. I also decided to buy a stainless steel table to put beside the oven for a prep table. That makes it easy to prepare the pizza outside, rather than having to do it in the kitchen and then carry it otu ot the yard. By now, you may be asking yourself, why bother?  First, starting fires is fun.  Second, cooking with an open flame is also fun. But, most importantly, the pizza is just better when cooked on a hotter surface. You can get similar results with less of a hassle with something like the Blackstone Pizza Oven, but I’ve not tried one of those, and more importantly, I didn’t want another propane tank to deal with. Plus look how cool this red oven looks…. Pizza baked at high temperatures is really quite different from the pizza made at lower temperatures–it is soft and tender, and makes your mouth very very happy. Here are some pies made the second time I used the oven. They will only get better with practice.