Have you invested in a new pizza or wood-fired oven during lockdown? Now's the best time to be cooking outdoors, here are our top tips for using yours:
1. Stock up on fuel! Before you can start cooking, you need to make sure you have enough of, and the right kind of fuel. Pizzaz Pizza Briquettes are perfect for wood-fired ovens as they get up to temperature much faster than normal logs and burn for a lot longer!
2. Light your oven in advance - this is to make sure your oven has time to come up to the ideal temperature before you start cooking.
3. Distribute the heat. Push the burning wood and embers to the left or right side of the oven, or divide between both sides, and make sure there’s always at least a little bit of flame — you don’t want just smouldering embers.
4. Cool down your oven if you need to - You may find that your oven gets too hot and is burning your pizza bases before the top is cooked! If this happens, leave your oven door open for 15 to 20 mins to let it cool down. Test the temperature by throwing a little flour onto the deck, if it burns straight away, your oven is too hot.
5. Take notes! During some sessions, you may turn out perfectly cooked pizzas, and at other times you’ll burn several in a row. If you take notes about what works and what doesn't, you'll get the hang of it much quicker!
