Outdoor Pizza Oven getting it to temperature

I own and build the ovens I call the "Backyard Bistro" and am always learning new things about the oven and wood fired cooking. The Oven can be found on the website "Outdoorpizzaoven.net".

I have found that with a well seasoned hardwood such as alder that I use it takes about 2 hours to peg the temperature on the oven to well over 600 degrees. The goal of reaching such a temperature is well worth the effort when the pizza cooking begins. I haven't timed the cooking time, but it is close to 5 minutes and the results outstanding. Crisp, crunchy, melt in your mouth crust on the bottom with the blistering of high temperature on top. I will no longer settle for the temperature at 450, which can be reached in less that an hour with a good fire, but I will always peg the temperature by being a bit more patient and starting a bit earlier. The results are well worth the wait. After all, the process is supposed to be as much fun as the result when cooking with wood the old fashioned way! I'll time my next pizza at the pegged temp and post it for you.

Greg Gerot

The Pizza Crust

Two nights ago we had pizza cooked to perfection on the deck using our wood fired oven.  The crust had a light crunch that melted in my mouth.  The sauce had enough pungency that it was noticeable to the "just right" extent, and the topping....barbequed chicken with a mild barbeque sauce by Fletcher was perfection.  Topped with fresh tomatoes after taking it out of the oven was the final cou de gras.  After a lot of experimenting with the dough and with the sauce, and seeming to have found a level we have been looking for, I will share my secrets.  

Of course, the foundational key to good pizza is the crust.  I have found the following dough recipe to work consistently well and it can very successfully be used to make bread in your oven as well.  Here it is:

Start out with one and a third cups of warm water 85 degrees or so.  Mix in with the water one packet of dry yeast or two and a quarter teaspoonfuls of bulk yeast and let sit for 10 minutes.  Measure out and sift four cups of white flour and add one teaspoon salt and two tablespoons olive oil.  When ready, mix in the yeast and water mixture and knead for 10 minutes.  I use a Kitchen Aide Mixer with a dough hook and put the speed on two and just let it go until the dough is kneaded.  Place in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let sit in a warm spot until it rises, usually an hour or two.  This dough rises quickly and is very forgiving, so could be used if in a hurry after an hour very easily.  For one full sized pizza with a thicker crust, which I like, I use half of the batch to make one crust.  I knead it out by hand, quickly flattening it out with flour to keep it from sticking on my stainless steel work area.  Once dry enough, I lay it on parchment paper and roll it out to the size and thickness I want, add my sauce, cheese and other condiments, and slide on the peel.  I cook on a pizza stone in my wood fired steel oven for a perfect finish.  I slide the pizza on the stone with the parchment paper in place and after a few minutes of baking, slip the peel under the pizza and pull the paper off so that the crust has direct contact with the stone.  Cook until golden and enjoy a perfect crust!

Now you have the foundation of a perfect pizza!  Enjoy!  Next article I will share with you my pizza sauce.   

Wood fired pizza oven

Tonight we're using our wood fired pizza oven to provide the center around an evening of entertaining for our friends.  We'll be serving barbequed chicken pizza (the chicken we have pre-roasted over our open fired rotisserie, over alder wood.)  We will add barbeque sauce (Fletcher's) and warm a bit before we top the pizza with it.  We make our own pungent tomato based sauce and our own crust.  Once the pizza is served, we'll bake our chocolate cake (see blog recipe) and finish off the evening enjoying together.  And, as the evening cools we can linger, tucked into our mountain surroundings,  relaxed around our wood fired oven and enjoying the warmth it will add to our night.

outdoor pizza oven

I have an outdoor pizza oven called the "Backyard Bistro" which is sold by Studio 205.  This happens to be one of the best outdoor pizza ovens on the market, made out of 11 gauge steel and lined with firebrick to hold the heat and create a buffer between the fire source and the oven.  I have had so much fun cooking everything from delicate desserts to roasting meats that I want you to know that this is a viable alternative to the brick fired or masonry fired oven.  This gives you all those sought after qualities provided by such ovens but gives you so many more trouble free and easy barbeque qualities that so many people appreciate.  All in one unit!  You need to try this thing.  It's a wood fired pizza oven and so much more.  Take a look at outdoorpizzaoven.net to get the inside information on this wonderful outdoor pizza oven!

Roast Chicken ala Backyard Bistro

Yesterday I not only cooked some wonderful Italian styled bread with my Backyard Bistro, but since the oven was hot (over 550 for the bread) I decided to roast a whole chicken.  I always roast in a pan with a roasting rack.  The chicken was fresh so did not need to thaw.  Sprinkled with garlic salt, sea salt, and ground pepper and placed it in a hot oven with alder wood as the heat source, turned down the air intake on the fire and the damper on the chimney, opened the smoke to the oven and let it go.  Within a half hour you could hear the chicken sizzling in the oven.  After about an hour and a half with the heat slowly decreasing, I had a beautiful finished product, golden brown with a perfect hint of smoked flavor.  Juicy and moist, this is the way to do chicken. And virtually trouble free!  Just pop it in and let it go.   Wow! This is really fun!

Gateau Au Chocolat

Here's a recipe that I picked up while in France in the summer of 2001 while traveling through the Loire River valley, visiting Chateaux country.  I baked this in my wood fired Backyard Bistro and it turned out luscious.  Bon apetit!  This would be a great finish to a wood oven roasted dinner on your patio.  This old world recipe will translate you to a night on the Loire as you wend your way through a memorable evening with your best of friends or family on a warm summer night.   Our experience in France dining in such a way is still one of the most memorable of my life.  To spend three to four hours dining is not unusual.

"In a bain-marie, melt 300 g dark cooking chocolate with 300 g unsalted butter.  When the mixture is smooth, add two spoonfuls creme fraiche and set aside.  Beat six egg yolks with 100 g sugar until white.  Add to the chocolate mixture and beat well.  Beat five egg whites until stiff then fold into the chocolate mixture.  Set one-third aside as topping.  Carefully fold in 100 g sieved flour then pour into a greased floured cake tin.  Ensure that you have already heated the oven.  Bake in a moderate oven, checking to ensure that the cake does not overcook.  When the cake is cooked, leave to cool and cut in two through the middle.  Spread with some of the mixture set aside, sandwhich the cake together again and spread the top with the remainder of the mousse.  Decorate with walnuts, other fruit or whipped cream."  (Recipe from:  "Recipes of the Chateaux of the Loire",  Gilles and Bleuzen du Pontavice)

Pork Spare Ribs in my Wood fired Oven

Three nights ago I cooked some beautiful pork spare ribs in my Backyard Bistro (outdoorpizzaoven.net) and was more than pleased at how they turned out.  Everyone who was lucky enough to get a sample loved them!  I heated the oven to approximately 400 degrees and put the ribs in a rib rack that I purchased at Home Depot for about 10 dollars.  Then I sprinkled them with sea salt, ground black pepper, and garlic powder.  Then I just loaded them into the wood fired oven and since I was burning alder as my cooking wood, opened the smoke to the oven.  I did not add more wood to the oven as the ribs progressed but let the fire do it's thing with an open draft.  As the fire began to burn down a bit the heat mellowed and the ribs slow cooked after being seared at the initial higher heat.  I cooked them this way for about an hour and a half and for the last 30 minutes shut the draft on the wood fired burner and the draft on the chimney and just let them percolate.  They turned out beautiful!  They had just the perfect patina.... seared, and a bit singed on the extremities, as though they had been grilled, but tender and juicy and delicately smoke flavored because they were oven cooked.  Outrageous!  Oh, I forgot to mention......also, at the half hour before taking them out.......I brushed on Fletcher's wonderful barbeque sauce...the spiciest form.... and was very pleased with the added twist.