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Cooking Methods
There are two cooking systems available using the same wood-burning oven:
The PIZZERIA system
With a hot oven and open oven door, you leave a little burning wood on one side of the oven. On the other side you cook the pizza, foccacia, bruschetta etc. directly on the oven's cooking surface.
The PANIFICIO system
You heat the oven to the desired temperature, burning all the wood inside. You put the food that is to be cooked in the oven, close the door and wait until it is cooked.
With this system you can cook roast meats and fish, bread, whole roasted pig and pastries.
Since ancient times the wood-burning oven has been used to bake bread and other foods. Its origin is lost in time but leads us back to the origin of bread.
The only way to bake it was by means of a wood-burning oven.
As well as bread, other foods can be cooked such as, in first place pizza followed by roast meats, pastries and cakes. The wood-burning oven provides the food with a cooking and above all with a wholesome flavour that cannot be achieved with other types of cooking.
COOKING TIPS
Helpful wood fired oven cooking tips - What is the difference between cooking pizza and bread?
Pizza is cooked at approximately 350ºC and bread at 200ºC approx
Directly after firing your oven is the best time to cook pizza, but if you want to continue cooking many pizzas, you will have to maintain the fire in the back or side(s) of the oven to keep the desired temperature. This is not too difficult, as most pizzas take between 2 or 3 minutes to cook.
If you wish to cook bread, the best thing to do after firing is to sweep out the embers once the oven has reached maximum temperature (the walls of the oven will be almost white hot) and then wait for the temperature to drop from 350º to around the 200ºC required for most bread baking. This is where many people will cook a few pizzas while they wait for this temperature drop to occur.
As mentioned, generally cook on a falling heat – when the desired temperature is reached, place the food in the oven and cook. This principal remains the same even down to very low temperatures desired for drying fruit and herbs.