Monday, December 24, 2012

How To Light Your Wood Fired Pizza Oven

By Nora Seabolt


Even though it is possible to make pizza in modern microwave ovens, the old ways of making pizza were a class apart as they brought out special flavors and texture.

Traditionally, the best pizzas are made in pizza ovens made of brick that are fired by wood.This is also the reason why one can see many people constructing a wood fired pizza oven in their homes.

However, not only are such conventional ovens difficult to set up but also difficult to maintain and use.It is possible to counter these problems with the right kind of know-how and skill set.Pre heating is one of the most important actions when it comes to using such ovens.The reason for this is that pre heating influences the heat that the batter will get.Here are some tips on lighting the pizza oven.

Figuring out how the heating system works in a traditional oven should be one of your primary objectives. There are three ways through which the batter receives the heat in a traditional oven.The first is conduction where the heat is transferred through the bricks.The second is radiation wherein the heat is reflected from the dome above onto the batter.The last is convection where the heat reaches the batter through the air.

With this in mind, the oven is pre heated where the temperature is taken to its maximum before being brought down to the right levels.You should also know that when the brick oven is at its hottest temperature, a curing of its surfaces takes place.This means that the oven is being sterilized through heat instead of anything else.After such curing, all that you will have to do is take a metal bristled brush and sweep the ash out of the oven.

The type of wood being used to light the oven is also very important.It is important for the wood being used to be untreated.It should not contain any chemicals, glue or paint on it because when these substances vaporize they can be physically damaging.

Soft wood is the preferred wood for initiating the lighting process.Soft wood is recommended because it is typically easier to light and provides more heat.Once the oven has reached the right temperatures, you can switch to hard wood fired pizza ovens to maintain the temperatures.You would also have to pay attention to the size of the wood being used.No sliver should be thicker than your little finger.

When you are lighting the fire, you need to leave the door open because air is needed inside for the fire to burn properly.If you can ensure that there is enough air inside the brick oven then you will have managed one of the most important aspects of the lighting process as the right quantity of air can actually boost your efforts.You can start the pre heating process with the help of newspaper or other common fire starters.You can add hard wood to the fire once it has a good blaze going.Needless to say, it is always better to use a butane torch to light the fire than to struggle with a matchstick.




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