We’ve been asked many times, so we delivered!
How to get your pizza oven to temperature?
We filmed a video showcasing our preferred method for reaching high temperatures (750-900F) in your Forno Venetzia wood fired oven. If we can do it in the midst of Canadian winter, so can you, wherever you live!
The caveat? Cooking pizzas in 800-900F wood fired oven, with a floor temp higher than 650F will cook VERY fast and can transform a thin crispy pizza into a burnt pizza in a matter of seconds.
How to properly balance temperatures in a wood fired oven?
If you like a chewy pizza crust inside and a nicely grilled pizza underneath, especially if you are using our pizza dough recipes, with yeast or sourdough pizza dough recipe, we actually recommend a floor temperature of 600-650F and an oven temperature up to 700F. Especially if you are just beginning to bake and cook in a wood fired oven!
In our experience, these temperatures allow the bottom to cook for about the same time as the top while having time to control even cooking.
How to measure temperature in your pizza oven?
To measure floor temperatures, we highly recommend a laser thermometer. These instruments are easy to find and not terribly expensive.
Baking a great pizza is all about balance. You need a balance between the baking temperature of the top and bottom of the pizza. If the baking surface is too hot, the bottom of the pizza may burn before the top is done. Likewise, if the heat from above the pizza is too hot compared to the floor, the toppings may burn while the bottom is still uncooked.
As an added tip, if the top of your pizza is not completely cooked, you can lift your pizza, using the pizza peel, closer to the dome to finish grilling the top.
How long does it take to get your oven to temp?
For wood burning ovens, before you start cooking, you need to build the fire. It can take from 25 minutes to 45 minutes to reach higher Neapolitan pizza style temperatures. As you’ll see in the video, we recommend building the fire slow and steady versus adding too much wood at once. Dry hard wood is, of course, also recommended. We use kiln dried wood for our Forno Venetzia wood fired oven.
Once it reaches the right temperature, you will need to continue adding one to two small logs of wood every 15-20 minutes to maintain temperature.
For gas ovens, preheat your oven with the gas control knob on high. Once the oven has been fully preheated, adjust the gas control knob as necessary to maintain the desired.
It’s best to heat your oven to high as the refractory bricks will store the heat and help to maintain the temperature as well as provide conductive cooking.
Cooking Pizza in a Forno Venetzia oven
Once the fire is hot and controlled and the temperatures on the floor and in the oven are where you want them, move the embers to the left side of the oven and maintain the flames which will arch over the dome of your Forno Venetzia oven. This is what creates convection cooking.
For gas ovens, the burner is already on the left side, so you just have to monitor and maintain the temperature.
Using a pizza peel, place your pizza on the oven floor, making sure you rotate it to get even cooking. It should only take between 90 seconds to 2 minutes per pizza depending on thickness.
And remember, always leave the door off when baking pizza AND when starting your wood fired oven.
When do I use the oven door?
For wood burning ovens, the door should only be used when baking at low temperatures such as 350 F and lower and with no live flame. The door should never be used when pre-heating the oven to increase the draft or cooking at high temperatures as this will cause potential damage to the door and oven. When pre-heating the oven and for the majority of cooking the door should be removed entirely. Forno Venetzia ovens use a traditional flue design where the flue opening is on the outside of the door when closed. Using the door when pre-heating the oven and cooking at high temperatures negatively effects the air flow.
For gas ovens, the door can be used to preheat the oven. However, we suggest leaving a space on the end open.
What kind of wood should I use in my wood fired oven?
The two main criteria for wood is that it is a hardwood and dry/well seasoned. Preferably cut, split and stack and left for at least 2 years to thoroughly dry. If the wood makes a sizzling sound when burning and/or you see “suds” coming out the end of the log, there is still moisture in the wood. This will not burn as hot or as thoroughly and will not generate the desired temperatures. It will also generate more smoke.
More questions? We suggest reading our Q&A section.
