Wood Fired Pizza Ovens

Buying guide

Cooking with wood is slower to start than gas, but it gives you the flavour of a live fire, the theatre of cooking beside the flames and an oven that keeps roasting and baking long after the pizzas are done. This guide explains how a wood-fired oven works, how to choose one and how to get the best from it.

How a wood-fired oven works

A wood-fired pizza oven heats in three ways at once. The fire radiates heat across the chamber, the dome reflects heat down onto the top of the pizza, and the floor (refractory stone, chamotte or firebrick) stores heat and passes it into the base. When all three are hot, a pizza cooks in a minute or two with a crisp, blistered crust.

Because the floor and walls store heat, a wood-fired oven keeps cooking as it cools. That is why owners roast vegetables, bake bread and slow-cook joints once the pizzas are done.

Our wood-fired ovens compared

Compact

Igneus Classico

A light, portable oven with a firebrick floor that heats in 15 to 20 minutes. Sits on a table or its own stainless steel stand.

See the Classico

Made in Italy

Fontana

Steel ovens with a refractory chamotte floor and ceramic-fibre insulation, rated at 9kW, in three sizes and three finishes.

Shop Fontana

Handmade in Wales

Firepits UK

Log-fired ovens in 3mm British steel: the Dome Oven with a rotating platform, and the 125cm Modular Kitchen Tall Oven.

Shop Firepits UK

How to choose

• Capacity. Two pizzas at once suits a family; four or five suits regular entertaining. Fontana gives place settings: up to 4 for the Margherita, 6 for the Mangiafuoco and 8 for the Marinara.
• Heat-up time. Lighter ovens heat faster. The Igneus Classico heats in 15 to 20 minutes, while heavier ovens take longer but hold heat for longer afterwards.
• Where it will go. On a trolley, a stand or a non-combustible countertop. Check the weight: from 45kg for the Classico to 150kg for a Marinara.
• Wood only, or gas too? If you want the option of gas on busy evenings, look at Fontana's dual fuel ovens, which run on LPG or wood.

Steel, stone or firebrick?

All wood-fired ovens need a hot floor, but they get there differently. Fontana ovens pair a refractory chamotte floor with a stainless steel inner structure and ceramic-fibre insulation, which holds heat well for long sessions. The Igneus Classico uses removable 28mm firebricks inside a light aluminium and stainless steel body, so it heats quickly and is easy to move. Firepits UK ovens are 3mm steel: the Dome Oven reflects heat down from its domed roof onto a rotating platform, and a bank of burning logs keeps it going for a party. Heavier ovens hold heat longer; lighter ones are quicker to start.

Which wood to burn

Dry hardwood is everything. Wet wood smoulders, makes thick smoke, soots the dome and struggles to reach cooking heat.

• Use: kiln-dried or well-seasoned hardwood such as ash, beech, oak or birch, split small (about the thickness of your wrist). Igneus recommends kiln-dried silver birch for a fast heat-up.
• Avoid: resinous softwood, painted, treated or pressure-treated timber, pallets, garden waste and anything damp.
• Buy right: in England, firewood sold in volumes under 2 cubic metres must be certified Ready to Burn, meaning 20% moisture or less.
• Store it dry: in a ventilated log store off the ground.

Our firewood guide compares the common UK woods.

Lighting and managing the fire

1. Build a small fire in the middle of the floor with kindling and a natural firelighter, and add small logs once it catches.
2. Let it burn until the floor and dome are hot. Check the thermometer where fitted.
3. Push the fire to the back or side with a rake or peel and brush the floor clean.
4. Keep adding a small log every so often to hold the heat and keep a lively flame.
5. Launch the pizza beside the fire and turn it every 20 to 30 seconds with a turning peel so the side nearest the flames does not burn.

If the oven is smoky, the wood is usually damp or the fire is starved of air. Clean, pale smoke means good combustion; see our guide to white vs blue smoke.

Cooking beyond pizza

As the fire dies back, the oven becomes a roasting and baking oven. Fontana rates its ovens for bread as well as pizza: 2 to 3kg in one bake for the Margherita, 3 to 5kg for the Mangiafuoco and 5 to 6kg for the Marinara. The Igneus cast iron pan set suits casseroles and skillets, and the Fontana grill and drip tray set turns the oven into a grill for steaks and vegetables.

Troubleshooting

Your first fire

Follow the manual for the first firing. A gentle first fire, rather than a roaring one, lets any moisture in a new floor and insulation escape slowly. Do the same after a long, wet winter.

A typical session runs in order of heat: pizzas while the fire is lively, then flatbreads and roast vegetables as it settles, bread once the flames have died back, and finally a casserole or slow-cooked joint in a cast iron pot with the door on as the oven cools overnight.

Placement and safety

• Stand it on a stable, level, non-combustible surface, its trolley or its stand. Igneus says any surface except granite or glass suits the Classico's wooden feet.
• Keep it clear of fences, sheds, overhanging branches and the house, with open sky above the chimney.
• Keep children and pets back: the outside of a steel oven gets very hot.
• Clear ash only when it is completely cold, into a metal bin.
• You can use an outdoor pizza oven in a smoke control area, according to government guidance. Burn dry wood to keep smoke down.

Care and covers

Brush the floor before each cook, never use water or oven cleaner on the floor or bricks, and let heat burn off residue. Bare steel ovens from Firepits UK weather to a rusty patina, which the maker says does not affect use or life. Fit a cover made for the model once cold: Fontana makes separate covers for trolley and countertop versions, and Igneus makes a cover for the Classico. See pizza oven covers.

Why buy from Glowing Flames

We stock wood-fired ovens from three makers we know well: Fontana in Italy, Igneus in Portugal and Firepits UK in Wales. Delivery to England and Wales is free, with large ovens delivered on a pallet at the kerbside, and you can return unused items within 30 days. If you are deciding between a light, quick-heating oven and a heavier one that holds heat, contact us and we will talk it through.