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25
APR
2014

Best Flour

 When asked what is the best flour to make dough for wood-fired pizza, I usually start by saying “anything you make yourself in a wood-fired oven will taste fantastic. You can make great pizza from many different flours.” We’ve made outstanding pizza from store bought unbleached...
17
APR
2014
Use the time to heat a wood-fired pizza oven for a pizza party

Time to Heat a Wood-fired Pizza Oven

I’m frequently asked, “Doesn’t it take a long time to heat a wood-fired pizza oven?” The answer is “yes and no.” On average it takes an hour and a half for the oven to reach 900 to 1000 degree—temps that give you phenomenal pizza in 90 seconds. However you don’t have to wait for...
10
APR
2014

Your Wood-fired Pizza Oven Makes a Great Smoker

Those of you who own one may not know that your wood-fired pizza oven makes a great smoker. The wood-fired pizza oven handles the two biggest challenges associated with smoking meat: keeping a consistent low temperature and guarding against an over-smoked bitter taste. Nine of us...
03
APR
2014
Light an efficient and smoke-free fire with seasoned wood. If you aren’t sure about the moisture level in your wood, a moisture meter will measure the wetness of a split log. Seasoned wood should have a moisture level under 20%.

Seasoned Wood Key to Efficient Fire

Burning properly seasoned wood in your oven has several benefits.  When you read on-line comments and advice about seasoned wood, everyone agrees that it lights fast and burns hot and clear. Clear, meaning with a minimum of smoke. (See our blog about how to build a low-smoke...
27
MAR
2014

Pre-Bake Pizza Dough Shells

The longer you own a wood-fired oven the more you find to cook in it. What you cook in a conventional oven, on the grill or in a smoker can be prepared with convenience and great taste in a wood-fired oven. But everyone associates wood-fired ovens with fantastic pizza (calling...
20
MAR
2014

How to Build a Fire in a Wood-fired Oven

A properly built fire not only lights quickly and reliably, it doesn’t make a lot of smoke. We have two suggestions that will help you build great fires with minimal smoke and ash. First: use dry, properly seasoned wood (we’ll cover that in a later blog). Second: build an...
14
MAR
2014
Delicious and healthy whole wheat pizza dough

Best Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Most people with wood-fired ovens love to make pizza, and are always looking for the perfect pizza dough recipe. I began making pizza more than 20 years ago following a fine recipe in 365 Easy Italian Recipes. When I became interested in making great pizza, I tried a number of...
07
MAR
2014
Building the dome of a wood-fired oven in Texas

When to Build Your Wood-fired Oven?

That’s a good question, fairly easy to answer here in central Texas where winters are usually mild. Road, residential and commercial building continues year round with only a few interruptions for weather. So the best time for a wood-fired oven to be built on your property lines...
28
FEB
2014

Sourdough Starter with History

A healthy starter can be kept alive forever with proper cultivation. Some of the bread companies in San Francisco have been using the same starter, fed daily, for more then 150 years! (Peter Reinhart, “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice)  During World War II, Ted Smith flew 90 missions...
11
OCT
2013
Wood-burning pizza oven with small wood curing fire.

Keeping a Wood-burning Oven Cured

How important is it to cure your oven? Actually, it is very important to properly cure a new wood-fired oven. A new oven that has been allowed to set and cure (dried of imbedded moisture) will sustain high internal temperatures without excessive cracking. The construction...