Category: Tips and Tricks

The wood you choose for your pizza oven can make all the difference in creating the perfect pizza. From achieving high, consistent heat to adding subtle smoky flavours, selecting the right type of wood is essential. In Australia, we’re fortunate to have access to some of the best hardwoods, perfectly suited for wood-fired ovens.

The Best Woods for Pizza Ovens in Australia

When it comes to top-performing woods for pizza ovens, Australian hardwoods take the lead:

• Ironbark: Known for its exceptional density and long burn time, Ironbark is another top choice. It produces minimal smoke and ash, making cleanup easier.
• Red Gum: Popular for its availability and heat output, Red Gum is a favourite for many Australian wood-fired oven owners. Its slightly sweet aroma adds a unique touch to pizzas.
• Jarrah: Jarrah is a dense Australian hardwood that burns slowly and provides intense, steady heat. It’s ideal for longer cooking sessions and imparts a mild, earthy flavour.
• Yellow Box and White Gum: These hardwoods are excellent alternatives. They’re dense, burn hot, and are widely available in Australia.

For those looking to experiment, fruitwoods like apple or plum are excellent for adding a touch of sweetness to your pizzas. These lighter woods burn faster, so they are best used in combination with denser hardwoods.

Why Wood Selection is Important

Your pizza oven thrives on clean-burning, efficient wood. Hardwoods, especially those native to Australia, provide the intense, long-lasting heat required for authentic pizza baking. They also produce minimal smoke and ash, ensuring a smoother cooking experience. The wrong wood, like softwoods or treated timber, can result in poor heat retention, excessive smoke, or even unsafe fumes.

Key Considerations When Choosing Wood

• Seasoning: Properly seasoned wood (dried for at least 6-12 months) burns more efficiently and produces less smoke. Wet or unseasoned wood struggles to reach high temperatures and creates excessive smoke, impacting both cooking and flavour.
• Size: For optimal performance, use wood pieces cut to fit your pizza oven. Splitting larger logs into smaller, evenly sized chunks ensures even burning.
• Moisture Content: Aim for wood with a moisture level below 20%, as this promotes clean combustion and consistent heat.

What to Avoid When Choosing Wood for pizza Oven?

Not all wood is suitable for your pizza oven. Softwoods like pine and spruce burn quickly and release resin, creating sticky residues and excessive smoke. Likewise, avoid any wood that has been treated, painted, or chemically processed, as it can emit harmful fumes and ruin your food.

After curing your oven you will be ready to start cooking in it.  Your aim when cooking in the oven is to create, and maintain, a controlled and even heat which is generated from the cooking surface, the dome and the hot air circulating inside the oven.

Build your fire in the middle of the oven, using 7-9 sticks of dry kindling, a couple of fire lighters and 2-3 pieces of medium sized wood.  The flame should reach the centre and front of the dome without reaching too far out of the oven opening.  Once the fire is established, add more medium-sized (wrist-width) wood and wait for about 20 minutes.

At this point you will notice a small white spot at the centre of the oven dome above the fire.  This ‘whitening’ will begin to expand across the top of the dome and is a sign that the oven is reaching the desired cooking temperature.  Once this whitening begins, start building the fire towards the walls by adding wood to either side of it.  Within a few minutes, you will see the whitening spread down the walls of the dome and after a period of time around two thirds of the dome should be white.  At this point the cooking surface should have reached 370 – 400°C – the desired temperature for cooking pizza. The Courtyard and Midi ovens will take around 35-45 minutes from time of lighting to reach a desirable cooking temperature, and the Original oven will take around 50-60minutes.

The basic rule for maintaining high temperatures in the oven is that while the dome remains white it is at an ideal temperature.  Once the dome begins to darken again, the fire needs to be increased.