Reflections on cooking in the wood-fired oven, through the medium of food porn...

About one month on from completing the pizza oven, I've built up a bit of practice at using it. 

Here it is in action. Below are some reflections...

Cooking in a closed wood-fired oven

First thing to note - 

• Wood-fired ovens can get way hotter than a domestic oven. (more than 500C)  
• Pros - super fast cooking of pizzas and pittas, naans etc
• Cons - if you don't pay attention to the top down radiated heat, you will burn the outside of things before the inside is cooked.

After the initial intense heat that is good for pizzas and roasting potatoes, the oven stays hot for hours, so you can slow bake other things like bread in the leftover heat. 

Here is a rather slapdash chart of the cooling over time of one session using the oven. It is very efficient. Cooking over many hours needs only a pretty small pile of wood. This comes from the attention taken to insulation.

This is using readings from an ambient temperature thermometer at the door of the oven. Inside the main body of the oven, it is hotter, especially with radiated heat from the top of the oven, which can get above the 550 C upper limit of my spot thermometer.  Tip - use foil over things if needed. 

The sensor end of this thermometer is inside the oven almost flush with the door end of the mouth of the oven, so it does not measure the temertaure of the radiated heat from the top of the oven, nor the standing heat of the floor of the oven. Both are always hotter than this reading at the door.  

The money shots

Steak and kidney pie and chips

This was superb, but as you can see, I came close to burning everything. I should have either used foil at the start or waited for the oven to cool a bit. 

Pulled pork

This was perfect. 

NB - I always pressure-cook the meat separately before slow cooking. Pressure cooking really softens up the meat into those lovely strands without drying it. Then a couple of hours of slow roasting in the oven in sauce builds up a rich smokey flavour. This used soy, garlic, brown sauce, chilli sauce, herbs, spices, tomato puree, etc

Rye bread (using yeast)

This was pre-baking in the oven...

And after baking - I got this one about right. The oven was around 180C, cooling to about 150C

Again, close to burning, but just caught in time. The crust was epicly crunchy.

Pittas (plain strong wheat flour, yeast leavened) 

These cook in about 2-3 minutes - they need careful attention and turning. These ones were cooked when the oven was really hot, so you get almost a grilling effect from the top down heat. They need flipping and rotating to avoid uneven cooking.

PIZZA!

These can be made perfectly in a pizza oven  - somewhat unsurprisingly!

Cook when the oven is really hot. The brick floor is 230c-250c and crisps the pizza base. The top down heat is 400-450C and grills the top.

They only about 3-4 minutes to cook. You need to turn them, as the edge facing the wood fire will burn if you don't.

More pulled pork. 

Really tasty, but a bit too charred, due to not covering with foil before the oven cooled off a bit.

Delicious and succulent. I like a bit of charring, but not everyone does, so choose your style to suit yourself (or your guests).

Plain naan with cumin seeds (yeast leavened)

Terrible picture, but superb naan - puffed up all fluffy from just a minute or two each side.

Olive bread (using yeast) with some dark rye and some wholemeal wheat flour. 

A bit wet, but actually really delicious and kept well for days without going stale.

Wheat and rye bread with walnuts

Perfect inside. Slightly close to burnt on the top crust. needed foil for the first half hour.

Roasting

While bread can get burnt, the very high heat is excellent for roasting. Here are some oven chips. These turn out really well. This batch was using a slightly poor variety (can't recall the name of this one, but not quite floury enough), but if you use a par-boiled Maris Piper or King Edward, these are exceptional when you get them right. 

Needs regular tossing periodically and plenty of oil. I normally use cold-pressed rape seed, but if I am doing with pork, I quite often start off by separately cutting off the pork rind (the skin) and the underlying fat layer (which is what pork scratchings are usually made from, I  believe). That makes incredible roasties. Roasting renders down the fat (lard) from the pork and then you pop the par-boiled spuds in after about half an hour. In the high heat of the pizza oven, you get crisping and caramelising really quickly. Just keep an eye on it 

Steak and kidney pie again

Same one - a bit close to the edge on burning the crust here!

More rye breads

These ones had foil over the top crust initially, so while there were nicely browned, they weren't burnt.

More wheat and rye breads with walnuts

Left hand one used a darker rye. Right hand one a white rye. 

Tandoori chicken and naan

Both cooked when the oven was blisteringly hot (450C+ on the oven roof) . The chicken was marinated in spiced yoghurt overnight, then roasted tossing frequently. This seared the outside and the steam cooked the inner meat really succulently. Perfect.

The garish red colour comes from a tandoori spice mix. God knows what is in it, but it doesn't feel right unless it is gaudy.

The same chicken in after about 5 minutes. It doesn't look hot here, but the top down heat is like a grill - 400C-500C It start browning pretty quick. The yoghurt stops the actual meat burning and drying.

Oops

Pulled pork if you cook at too high a temperature - the middle was good, the edges a bit charred and dry. Not a complete disaster.

Spicy chicken wings

These were exceptional. Lots of marinade for 4+ hours, then roasted in very hot oven to char grill them.

You need to toss or turn themso one side doesn't get burned. These were just caught in time.

Pulled pork again

When you get it right. It just falls apart.

For this, pressure cook for about 90 minutes, then let the poressure cooker cool without opening it (takes several hours), then slow cook for another 3-4 hours in the smoky oven when it is passed its main eat (150C or less)

White wheat sourdough with sesame seeds

Excellent texture inside and a really crunchy and tasty crust.