FAQ
Q. Where do you build the fire?
A. The fire is built right on the cooking floor. At first you build a small fire in the front to warm up the vent / chimney to create a good draw for the majority of the smoke. Then you add more wood in back of the fire to move the fire to the back of the oven. Once you get your fire going and get the oven " white hot" burning off the soot on the inside of the oven approximately 750 degrees push the coals to the side or back and sweep the oven floor with a brass or copper brush and your ready to start cooking right on the hot floor.
Q. What can I cook in the oven?
A. Just about everything you can cook in your conventional home oven or BBQ .
You can cook more than just pizza! Breads ,meats, shish kabobs, hamburgers, hotdogs, casseroles, slow cook beans, hams, turkeys, steaks and cookies.
( you will be glad to have a brick oven when the power goes out too)
Be sure to use approved terracotta bake ware in your high heat ovens. Regular PYREX dishes will break.
Q. What's the best way to measure the oven temperature ?
A. We use a hand held IR " infrared red " digital display. Point and shoot. The Harbor Freight models work just as good as a brand name model.
Q. How long does it take to heat up the oven?
A. Depends on the size of your oven. A smaller dome oven can be ready as little as 30 minutes.
Q. How long does it take to cook a pizza?
A. Our " Casa Giallo " model only takes 30 seconds for a 10 inch pizza and 40 seconds for a 12 inch pizza.
Other models take under 70 seconds.
Q. How hot do the ovens get up to?
A. Our ovens can easily reach over 1000 degrees. ( after the oven is cured ).
Q. What do you mean by curing the oven?
A. During the build of your authentic oven the mortar and firebrick haven't had time to air dry. It is simple and easy to cure your oven by building small fires each day for a period of 5 to 7 days. Each day your fires get progressively bigger and hotter in temperature.
Q. Is there any thing special about building a cooking fire ?
A. We use the " top down method " bigger pieces on the bottom , medium sized pieces in the middle and small kindling on top. Paper next.
If you use a small propane torch paper is not needed and can speed up your ovens ready time by 15 minutes.
Also the " top down method " produces less smoke.
Do you have more questions? Please contact us in the contact form.
We speak brick oven.