Cooking the First Pizza in the Brick Pizza Oven!
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Date: 2022-11-30
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Comments and reviews: 14
Timothy
I was baker at replicated Fort Vancouver (Hudson's Bay Post) some years back. The first skill you need to acquire is to learn to tell temp by feel - stick your hand in oven to test temp. Some use their elbow. You will learn quickly. We fired up the ovens first thing in morning and while it was heating prepared dough. Once fire had burned down we pulled out the coals with a rake and then used a mop to remove most of the ash. You want some of the ash left to prevent sticking. Cook directly on the floor of oven. We used wooden peels and didn't need to use cornmeal or oil on them - I suspect the ash did all that for us. We baked mostly hard tack and loaf bread but when people weren't looking we threw in a pizza. Pizza likes higher temps so it went in right after fire was removed. Other breads like lower baking temps. I've never seen anyone bake in a brick oven with the fire still in there but maybe someone does.
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I was baker at replicated Fort Vancouver (Hudson's Bay Post) some years back. The first skill you need to acquire is to learn to tell temp by feel - stick your hand in oven to test temp. Some use their elbow. You will learn quickly. We fired up the ovens first thing in morning and while it was heating prepared dough. Once fire had burned down we pulled out the coals with a rake and then used a mop to remove most of the ash. You want some of the ash left to prevent sticking. Cook directly on the floor of oven. We used wooden peels and didn't need to use cornmeal or oil on them - I suspect the ash did all that for us. We baked mostly hard tack and loaf bread but when people weren't looking we threw in a pizza. Pizza likes higher temps so it went in right after fire was removed. Other breads like lower baking temps. I've never seen anyone bake in a brick oven with the fire still in there but maybe someone does.
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Sac
Congratulations guys, it looks great and it obviously works. And you're right, wood burning ovens like that work best if you let the fire burn down to coals, and then spread the coals out along the circumference of the cooking area. It keeps the heat even all around. Or you can just scrape out the dying embers altogether, that oven will hold its heat for hours. You could also drill a small hole in the door and glue in an old fashioned meat thermometer to monitor the temperature. Another successful build, I hope you put it to good use in the years to come!
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Congratulations guys, it looks great and it obviously works. And you're right, wood burning ovens like that work best if you let the fire burn down to coals, and then spread the coals out along the circumference of the cooking area. It keeps the heat even all around. Or you can just scrape out the dying embers altogether, that oven will hold its heat for hours. You could also drill a small hole in the door and glue in an old fashioned meat thermometer to monitor the temperature. Another successful build, I hope you put it to good use in the years to come!
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Judith
hear in france there is a whole series of things that get cooked in a bread oven as the temperature decreases. First pizza/foccia type quick food with the fire died down slightly and pushed to the sides, then bread after having swept out the fire and quick cleaned with a wet cloth on a stick (to reduse smuts on the bread but also to add humidity, then pies or cakes, then (I can't remember, finishing off with an over night dish of tourgoul which is like a rice pudding and then with the very last of the heat it was used for drying chestnuts.
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hear in france there is a whole series of things that get cooked in a bread oven as the temperature decreases. First pizza/foccia type quick food with the fire died down slightly and pushed to the sides, then bread after having swept out the fire and quick cleaned with a wet cloth on a stick (to reduse smuts on the bread but also to add humidity, then pies or cakes, then (I can't remember, finishing off with an over night dish of tourgoul which is like a rice pudding and then with the very last of the heat it was used for drying chestnuts.
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Solar
If you can get a roasting tray that has 2 triangle mounts one either end to hold a rotisserie chicken. So all you have to do is use a long fork to spin the chicken every now & then plus have some small quartered potato pieces as well as butternut pumpkin in the base of the roasting tray with all the oil dripping over it, plus heat up some mint peas & string beans. Bring a box of chicken gravy mix with some hot water to have chicken gravy over your baked dinner in the bush camp.
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If you can get a roasting tray that has 2 triangle mounts one either end to hold a rotisserie chicken. So all you have to do is use a long fork to spin the chicken every now & then plus have some small quartered potato pieces as well as butternut pumpkin in the base of the roasting tray with all the oil dripping over it, plus heat up some mint peas & string beans. Bring a box of chicken gravy mix with some hot water to have chicken gravy over your baked dinner in the bush camp.
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Tahoe
A bit of corn meal on the peal before you put the pizza on it will help keep it from sticking to the peal. Let the fire cook down a bit more. Cook it on the bricks to get that crispy crust, but rotate the pizza after a minute or so to keep it from burning on one side nearest the fire.
You could do bread, a chicken, a roast, or anything else you'd do in an oven. You can also put your dutch ovens in there for beans, soups, or stew type dishes.
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A bit of corn meal on the peal before you put the pizza on it will help keep it from sticking to the peal. Let the fire cook down a bit more. Cook it on the bricks to get that crispy crust, but rotate the pizza after a minute or so to keep it from burning on one side nearest the fire.
You could do bread, a chicken, a roast, or anything else you'd do in an oven. You can also put your dutch ovens in there for beans, soups, or stew type dishes.
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Mike
this style of oven/cooking rely on thermal mass, the more it weighs the longer it will take to heat and cool. normally a fire would be laid and fired the oven brought up to temperature and then the fire would be brushed out and cooking surface cleaned then cook whatever you want to. it will cook evenly this way instead of charring the side by the coals. i still believe you want another layer of brick and solid base. thanks for the videos
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this style of oven/cooking rely on thermal mass, the more it weighs the longer it will take to heat and cool. normally a fire would be laid and fired the oven brought up to temperature and then the fire would be brushed out and cooking surface cleaned then cook whatever you want to. it will cook evenly this way instead of charring the side by the coals. i still believe you want another layer of brick and solid base. thanks for the videos
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Iron
What an awesome outcome. And great memories with you and your dad. Get yourself a Pizza Stone. You put the pizza on it then use your paddle to slide the stone in and out of the oven. . That way the pizza doesn't sit in ash and the stone heats up and cooks the pizza fully even from inside out. They're designed to work in the home oven in your kitchen but they also work on an open fire or in your brick oven there. Good times.
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What an awesome outcome. And great memories with you and your dad. Get yourself a Pizza Stone. You put the pizza on it then use your paddle to slide the stone in and out of the oven. . That way the pizza doesn't sit in ash and the stone heats up and cooks the pizza fully even from inside out. They're designed to work in the home oven in your kitchen but they also work on an open fire or in your brick oven there. Good times.
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Robert
Great video. But on the construction of the oven I have a question. Why a smoke stack? A cob oven does not require one. You light a fire, heats the cob, or in this case brick, you rake out the coals, and the brick/cob retains the heat for hours. Smoke stack or pipe not required. If you are leaving the coals inside, you create a hot side and cold side. Not how they are supposed to be operated.
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Great video. But on the construction of the oven I have a question. Why a smoke stack? A cob oven does not require one. You light a fire, heats the cob, or in this case brick, you rake out the coals, and the brick/cob retains the heat for hours. Smoke stack or pipe not required. If you are leaving the coals inside, you create a hot side and cold side. Not how they are supposed to be operated.
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travel
yep, you got it - mostly in ovens like this you'd build the fire, then wait til it dies down and remove a bunch of the burning wood and coals. Then you cook in the residual heat
that's when you can put the door on, to keep residual heat in. you can't watch it cook, but it'll keep the heat in and cook it properly from all directions instead of burning it from just one with a live fire
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yep, you got it - mostly in ovens like this you'd build the fire, then wait til it dies down and remove a bunch of the burning wood and coals. Then you cook in the residual heat
that's when you can put the door on, to keep residual heat in. you can't watch it cook, but it'll keep the heat in and cook it properly from all directions instead of burning it from just one with a live fire
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Objective
With the high temperatures you want quick to cook foods. Start with Fish in the roasting pan with onions and chips [potatoes] and even tomatoes, butter and EVOO. Once the temp has dropped, then you cook breads, cakes, brownies.
Stews in the dutch oven inside the pizza oven would work well, as the fire dies down but the brick retains the heat.
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With the high temperatures you want quick to cook foods. Start with Fish in the roasting pan with onions and chips [potatoes] and even tomatoes, butter and EVOO. Once the temp has dropped, then you cook breads, cakes, brownies.
Stews in the dutch oven inside the pizza oven would work well, as the fire dies down but the brick retains the heat.
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Corretta
Fish, steak, chicken, pies (meat and fruit, bread (bring some frozen dough it could be biscuits, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, etc, veggies (proper roasted veggies, fruit baked apples or pears or peaches, lasagna, kebabs, sausages, bacon. try to rotisserie a chicken or small game hen in there. Don't forget the salad, condiments, butter, and drinks
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Fish, steak, chicken, pies (meat and fruit, bread (bring some frozen dough it could be biscuits, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, etc, veggies (proper roasted veggies, fruit baked apples or pears or peaches, lasagna, kebabs, sausages, bacon. try to rotisserie a chicken or small game hen in there. Don't forget the salad, condiments, butter, and drinks
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Rook
Rotate as it cooks, but at the end lift the pizza with the peel to the top of the oven for a few seconds to finish the top/center. Don't use the grill, you want it directly on the stone. Also if you do use fresh dough, it tends to stick to metal peels. Wooden peels are better, and of course use a thin layer cornmeal or flour to reduce sticking.
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Rotate as it cooks, but at the end lift the pizza with the peel to the top of the oven for a few seconds to finish the top/center. Don't use the grill, you want it directly on the stone. Also if you do use fresh dough, it tends to stick to metal peels. Wooden peels are better, and of course use a thin layer cornmeal or flour to reduce sticking.
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Rag
Guys, the way these earthen ovens are supposed to work is that you fire them up early on in the day, and let the fire burn itself out. When it's burned down to mostly coals, you scrape the coals out and it's the residual heat left in the oven that does the baking. If it was made right, the thing can stay hot for a long time with the door on.
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Guys, the way these earthen ovens are supposed to work is that you fire them up early on in the day, and let the fire burn itself out. When it's burned down to mostly coals, you scrape the coals out and it's the residual heat left in the oven that does the baking. If it was made right, the thing can stay hot for a long time with the door on.
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Eric
Obviously more pizza, especially with a yeast dough for the crust, would likely do better in there. Also bread and related items would likely do great in there, anything that would work well on a baking stone I expect. As others have noted, a bit of corn meal or semolina flour should help with sticking/charring on the bottom of the crust.
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Obviously more pizza, especially with a yeast dough for the crust, would likely do better in there. Also bread and related items would likely do great in there, anything that would work well on a baking stone I expect. As others have noted, a bit of corn meal or semolina flour should help with sticking/charring on the bottom of the crust.
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