How to feed a pizza oven?

December 17, 2024 3:12 PM

How much wood does a backyard pizza oven typically use to get to 8-900ºF ?

I recently got an Ooni Karu 16 wood-burning pizza oven, and I've made some pretty good pizza with it, but it seems like I am using a lot more fuel than I see people using on YouTube etc. If anyone has one of these things, how much wood do you find it takes to get to a proper temperature, and how can I get the most out of these approximately 1" x 1" x 6" kiln-dried oak sticks I've been using?

posted by bashos_frog to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Best answer: A lot! I have the same oven and to save wood, increase stability, and get going quicker, I start with lump hardwood charcoal which i highly recommend. That establishes a pretty stable temperature base, usually around 700-750 degrees, and then i add two oak chunks about a minute or two before launching each pizza, with a few more charcoal chunks after each pizza. I used Tom Voyage’s videos to get started.

I’ve been more into both the propane attachment and New York and Detroit style pizza recently; much less stressful.
posted by supercres at 3:50 PM on December 17 [2 favorites]

You might want to get some thicker logs, because what you’re burning there is basically kindling & will be gone instantly once there’s an actual fire burning.
posted by rd45 at 4:05 PM on December 17 [9 favorites]

The videos never seem to show as much wood as I burn in the same oven, but rd45 has a point that thicker wood will last longer. On a average summer day, I might fill the fire box two times over to get to pizza temp with logs that I spilt to be about the inches across
posted by advicepig at 5:37 PM on December 17

Response by poster: Thanks so much for the input!

supercres - I love Detroit style, too. What pans are you using, and how's it going?

I'll probably wind up getting the propane attachment, once I also have a propane burner to use for my home-brew boils. Until then, maybe I'll just get regular oak firewood and split it into bigger chunks.
posted by bashos_frog at 6:23 PM on December 17

I use the Lloyd pans which seem just as fine at the 650-700ºF of the Ooni as the 500 of my indoor oven. If I get more I'll probably get carbon steel though. I parcook the crusts (73% hydration) for about a minute with a 180º rotation before topping.
posted by supercres at 7:17 PM on December 17