- How to build a fire! - How to stretch dough!
- How to cook pizza on a large WFO!
As many of you know, I’m a bit of a pizza addict! I have been fortunate enough to cook on a variety of backyard pizza ovens and recently I was able to do some testing of another through my partnership with Fireplace Stone and Patio, the Hearthstone Patio Oven 5.8.
This is a gas or wood fueled option oven, with a ton of deck space. Running gas allows you nearly 6 square feet of cooking space! When you run wood, the fire will take up some of this space, but you are still left with plenty of room to cook a couple of pizzas at a time. I did some testing of the gas option and was able to maintain temperatures of 800+ degrees, no problem, using propane. If you have a natural gas hookup, the oven will also run on that fuel as well. Using propane, I have cooked for more than 6 hours total and still using the same 20lbs tank, although I think it’s nearly empty.
I’m a massive fan of real wood fire taste, both for pizza and with BBQ, so I decided to document my process for firing up and running the oven with a real wood fire.
In this video, you will see how I build a fire using the ‘raft’ technique, which applies to running nearly any wood fired oven like this. It’s a fool proof way to get a very good fire started so you can keep the oven running for hours on end with ease. I also demonstrate how I stretch dough and how I cook pizzas under these conditions.
The Hearthstone Patio Oven worked flawlessly and is very user friendly, as you will see. It’s worth noting that while I do have experience cooking pizzas on a variety of backyard pizza ovens, this was my first attempt at lighting a fire of this size for an oven of this size. For a first time, I think you can see how simple it is to get started and to cook with. During this cook, I let the fire burn for about 30 minutes before pushing it to the side. Next time I cook with it, I will let the fire burn for an hour or longer, to get the fire brick deck a little hotter. I will also probably move the fire back to the center every 4-5 pizzas, to heat it back up as pizza dough sucks the heat from those bricks pretty quickly. I suspect this will cook the base a little further, creating slightly more crisp and crunch. That said, it cooked just fine running it this way.
Dough Recipe Here:
Hope you enjoy! Any questions, as away!
-Matt
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