| Pizza is one of the wonder foods of the 21st century. | | | | oven will take a different amount of time to get |
| With its emphasis on quality ingredients and artisanal | | | | properly hot but a good tip is to look at the inside of |
| methods of production, it strongly connects with | | | | the dome. At first it will be black with soot, but this will |
| modern ideas about how food should be prepared and | | | | start to turn white and then burn off completely. At this |
| enjoyed. And of course, it doesn't hurt that a good | | | | point, the inside of the oven is at pizza cooking |
| pizza can be absolutely delicious! | | | | temperatures. You may need to keep a roaring fire |
| It is perfectly possible to make delicious pizzas at | | | | going for a while longer to really get the heat spread |
| home using just a home oven and pizza stone. | | | | throughout the oven. With practice, you will find what |
| However for really authentic results you need to cook | | | | works best with your own oven. |
| your pizza in a wood fired oven. Wood fired ovens | | | | Once the oven is hot enough, you can remove a lot of |
| make such a difference because of the extremely | | | | the smaller coals from the oven. Have a metal bin or |
| high but even heat, which cooks the pizza in as little as | | | | similar ready to dump your hot coals, and be careful - it |
| 90 seconds. This quick cooking time allows the dough | | | | will heat up! Retain a good pile of coals, and push it to |
| to cook through but retain some moisture, so the base | | | | the side of the oven. Put one or two small pieces of |
| is chewy and tender instead of hard. The other benefit | | | | wood on this pile, and keep feeding it as needed to |
| is that cooking a pizza directly on a hot brick hearth | | | | maintain an active flame. This will keep the dome |
| allows some of the moisture under the pizza to be | | | | charged with heat, and make sure your pizzas cook |
| absorbed, so the base doesn't go soggy. | | | | properly. |
| When cooking a pizza in a wood fired oven it is | | | | Now all that's left is to prepare your pizzas and cook |
| important to fire the oven properly. This is done by | | | | them! Sweep the ash from the floor, or wipe it away |
| building a fire inside the dome of the oven. For best | | | | with a damp rag on a stick. There is a whole world of |
| results, use smallish pieces of wood - certainly no | | | | implements you can use to make the process easier, |
| thicker than your wrist. The objective is to heat the | | | | you will soon figure out what you need and track it |
| dome as quickly as possible, so build a big fire. Every | | | | down in a store or make your own. |