Wood-fired Pizza
My friend Alex came to visit for the weekend so I thought it’d be fun to try out the pizza oven I was given for my birthday. It’s not quite your authentic Italian brick affair, but rather an attachment that turns a kettle BBQ into the next-best-thing. We managed to get it up to an impressive 350°C despite it being about -3°C outside; so whilst we were freezing, the pizzas came out nice and hot!
RECIPE
METHOD
You first make a fire in the bottom of the BBQ. You’re really supposed to use a bit of charcoal as well but I couldn’t find anywhere selling it at this time of year. We used some kindling and some hardwood logs and managed to get a good old blaze going.
ASIDE: Taking the fire-making perhaps a bit too far we decided to try and light it without the use of matches. My housemate Rob has a steel-and-flint which I attempted to use to light some dry leaves. Seeing my failed attempts Rob came out with a tampon that he proceeded to pull apart (which he swears is a common survival technique). In fairness it did light very well and got the fire going in no time!
You then push the fire to the back of the BBQ and put the pizza-oven (which contains the pizza-stone) and the lid on top. Because it was so cold we actually preheated the pizza stone to prevent the sudden temperature change causing it to crack. It also meant the oven was up to temperature and ready to use in no time. Using a peel you then simply slide in your pizza, giving it a turn half-way through cooking to ensure it cooks evenly.
RESULT
We made 3 in total which got increasingly better. I think because it was so cold outside, and because we didn’t have any charcoal, the temperature peaked and then dropped quite quickly - so we had to give it a bit of a stoke and add some more logs after each one. By the third pizza it got up to about 350°C and cooked in 5 minutes or so. This heat is perfect as it gives you a nice charred crust and crispy bottom, but the dough is still soft inside and not too dried out. It was definitely the tastiest pizza I’ve ever made - light, crisp and with an authentic wood-fired, stone-baked taste.
