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Wood-Fired Oven Starting

post #1 of 7
11/16/03 at 10:08pm
Thread Starter 
I work for a chain that has wood burning ovens. I'm wondering what might be the best way to start an oven of this type. We have an oven that is about 6 feet round and has fire bricks in a dome shape rising straight up on the sides for 10 inches and then curving towards the middle for a top height of about 3 feet. The opening is about two feet wide by one foot tall. The flue is at the opening and is fan-forced.

I have found that placing the wood in the back is the best way to heat up the logs and get them to fire-up.


Any ideas?
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post #2 of 7
11/17/03 at 8:38am
Hi pizzasalpper, welcome!

We've recently had a similar discussion here .

My friend is a restauranteur who inherited a pizza oven when she purchased her place. After much experimentation and asking around, she found that the best solution for her was to start the fire with newspaper and kindling to light up the logs in the right side of her oven. This way, the fire (and its accompanying mess) is always accessible. I should mention that unlike you, she doesn't have anything wider than 25 cm to bake in there..

Hope this helps.
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post #3 of 7
12/2/03 at 12:08am
Thread Starter 

Starting a fire

One thing to remember when starting a fire in a "constantly hot" oven is to throw the wood in and let that wood get up to temp... then one can start the pile with a wad of paper towels. However, a wad of pt dipped in fryer oil works very well ; ). Waxed cardboard (seafood and produce boxes) seems to work fairly well.
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post #4 of 7
12/2/03 at 9:54pm
2 inch perforated 1/2 hotel pan, filled with cheap charcoal (10-12 pieces) on top of a saute burner until its barely lit, put it in the oven on the side to burn until its covered in white ash, then put the hot coals onto a pile of small diameter logs and start rolling doughs
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post #5 of 7
12/2/03 at 9:54pm
2 inch perforated 1/2 hotel pan, filled with cheap charcoal (10-12 pieces) on top of a saute burner until its barely lit, put it in the oven on the side to burn until its covered in white ash, then put the hot coals onto a pile of small diameter logs and start rolling doughs
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post #6 of 7
12/4/03 at 12:46am
Thread Starter 

Not an option

The charcoal idea is good, but it is not an option for me... I'd get raked if I did that.
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post #7 of 7
12/4/03 at 6:41pm
wood chips could also work, think burnable surface area and alot of it.
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