May 9, 2024 - 4:27am
Choosing the Perfect Wood for Your Wood-Fired Oven: A Pizza Lover's Guide
Hey pizza enthusiasts!
So, you've got your wood-fired pizza oven all set up and ready to go, but now comes the burning question: what types of wood should you use to achieve that perfect wood-fired flavor? Join the discussion and share your experiences and insights on the best wood types for your oven. From classic choices like oak and cherry to more exotic options, let's explore the world of wood-fired cooking together!
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I used to have a WFO, and I was able to get a lot of applewood. I liked that a lot. It burned well and cleanly. I think that other fruit trees, like peach, apricot, and cherry, would be as good. It all depends on what's near you.
I burned what I had on hand in the way of clean, "natural" (no lumber, plywood, particle board, etc.) wood. Since the fire was always pulled and ashes swept out before baking, I never noticed any different flavor based on the fuel, be it walnut, oak, cherry, pine. I still don't believe it makes a flavor difference if the oven is clean when you bake. I'll be watching comments here to see what other WFO bakers think.
Interesting discussion
OldWoodenSpoon
I agree with you and the reasons I liked the applewood were mostly that it burned cleanly and heated the oven relatively quickly. I also had a period where I burned a lot of fresh cottonwood - I had a lot of it - and despite all the water it contained it did fairly well. I just had to burn through a great deal of it.
When I built up too much soot I used to stoke the heck out of the oven - I could get the temperatures high enough to burn off the soot. Much too hot for baking bread but it always cooled down again...
I live in Australia where we have plenty of Red Gum. I use it exclusively in my brick oven.
i think Jarrah is king here, an exceptionally hard timber that was once used for railway sleepers and fairly resistant to termites and now prized for furniture an now recognized as a medicinal honey producer exceeding Manuka. i remember visiting a commercial bakery that has a 100 year old wood fire oven and he was using the recovered wooden stocks from surrendered rifles that had been destroyed in the gun buy back scheme. i was reading in Elizabeth David's book "English Bread and Yeast Cookery the use of scrub woods was common Furze and blackthorn which came from Hedgerows as well as Gorse from the downs it had to be collected and bundled into faggots and then dry stored for use.it is quite a good read and there is a section on the ovens used in different parts of the country and the fuels that were utilized
HI Derek,
Thanks for the info and history. Very interesting. I must look into Jarrah availability over here as it sounds really good. I've always gone for red gum as it's easy to source and affordable.
Down at my cousin Ray's vineyard the best choice of timber there is a white gum its hard and solid, heavy produces lots of heat and little ash its also the favoured timber for gate posts, also resists termites. Another source of wood for country bakers ovens that used to be in plentiful supply from all the farm land clearing was Mallee roots.