We recommend that meat and fish or any dish that will produce fat or liquid from cooking should be placed in a container to avoid tainting the oven floor.

Depending on the oven size, it should take about 50-60 minutes to heat up to pizza-making temperature. The size and length of the fire will determine the temperature of the oven. The oven is at its optimum when all of the black carbon has burned off.

No. All firelighters should be free from kerosene or other additives that may soak into the floor of the oven and, in turn, taint the taste of your food.

When firing up your oven, to prevent black smoke from discoloring the front of the oven, it is recommended that you put your oven door in place, to the front of the flue so as to direct the smoke upon the flue rather than across the facade of your oven. If you do get black smoke residue on the front of your oven, this can be cleaned off with a brush and hot soapy water. It is also important to make sure you are using properly seasoned hardwood with a moisture content of less than 25% such as, redgum, box or Tassie Oak, ironbark or eucalypt. Most seasoned fruit woods are also suitable. Manufactured woods such as Il Faggetto are ideal due to its low moisture content and high BTU output and it burns hotter for longer periods and produces very little smoke and ash.

First of all, remember to sprinkle the pizza base with flour or semolina and make sure your preparation area is floured well. Don’t wait too long to cook after adding your topping to the dough as it could start to soak it up and become sticky. Make sure you don’t have any holes or thin spots in your pizza base as these can allow moisture to penetrate and cause sticking

Make sure the oven door is removed to allow a free flow of air. Closing the door restricts the oxygen supply and will extinguish a fire within a few minutes.

Absolutely, although it’s a good idea to light a small fire to slowly warm the oven before you want to start cooking to “ part cure “ your oven again.

You can buy infrared thermometers and other types of thermometers to give you exact readings. However, once you have used the oven and experimented with it, you will get a “feel” for the temperature.

Simply close the oven door. This will block the oxygen supply to the fire, extinguishing it in just a few minutes.

No. The oven can be used for pizza, bread, meats, fish and vegetables. A wood fired oven can cook anything a conventional oven can. The main difference is that this oven can reach temperatures higher than 842°F.