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All Guides
How to Cook Pizza in a Wood-Fired Oven
Beginner

How to Cook Pizza in a Wood-Fired Oven

Master the art of wood-fired pizza at home. From choosing the right oven and making proper dough to achieving a blistered, leopard-spotted crust in under 90 seconds.

Prep: 24 hours (dough)
Cook: 60–90 seconds per pizza
Serves: 4 pizzas
beginner

Introduction

There's nothing like a 60-second pizza with a blistered, leopard-spotted crust — and you don't need a brick oven to get it. Portable pizza ovens hit 450°C+ and make restaurant-quality pizza at home. Whether you're feeding a crowd or impressing mates on a Saturday night, a wood-fired pizza oven transforms outdoor entertaining from standard to spectacular.

The best part? It's not complicated. Once you understand the basics — oven temperature, dough hydration, and timing — you'll be pulling perfectly cooked pizzas out of your oven consistently.


Choosing Your Oven

Your oven choice depends on fuel preference, space, and whether you want a rotating stone for even cooking. Here's the breakdown:

Fuel Types

Gas-Fired Ovens are consistent, easy to control, and maintain steady temperatures without constant feeding. Perfect if you want to focus on the dough and topping rather than wood management.

Wood Pellet Ovens offer that authentic wood-fired flavour while using convenient pellet fuel. They're cleaner than traditional firewood and easier to manage than gas if you want wood-fired taste.

Product Recommendations

ModelTypeBest For
ZiiPa Piana Gas Fired Pizza OvenGasBeginners wanting consistency and ease
ZiiPa Piana Wood Pellet Pizza OvenWood PelletsAuthentic flavour with modern convenience
Witt Etna Fermo 16"Wood-FiredTraditional cooking; fixed stone
Witt Etna Rotante 16"Wood-FiredEven heat distribution; rotating stone
Witt Piccolo Rotante 13"Wood-FiredCompact spaces; rotating stone for consistency

Pro tip: Rotating stone models (Rotante) heat your pizza evenly without manual rotation, though the Neapolitan method of hand-rotating is part of the charm if you want it.

Browse our full range of pizza ovens here.


The Dough

Great pizza starts with simple dough. You don't need fancy ingredients — just flour, water, salt, and yeast.

Basic Neapolitan Dough Recipe

Makes 4 x 30cm pizzas

  • 500g tipo 00 flour (or bread flour)
  • 325ml water
  • 10g salt
  • 3g instant yeast (or 1g fresh yeast)

Method

  1. Mix flour and water until combined; rest 30 minutes (autolyse)
  2. Add salt and yeast; mix thoroughly
  3. Knead 10 minutes until smooth
  4. Bulk ferment 2–3 hours at room temperature
  5. Divide into 4 balls; place in containers
  6. Cold proof in fridge for 24 hours (or up to 72 hours)

Why This Works

  • High hydration (65% water) creates an open, airy crumb
  • Long cold proof develops flavour and makes dough easier to stretch
  • Tipo 00 flour gives that delicate Neapolitan texture, but bread flour works if you can't find it

Remove dough from fridge 30 minutes before cooking to bring it to room temperature.


Getting the Temperature Right

Neapolitan pizza cooks fast at high heat. Your target is 430–480°C — the higher the temperature, the quicker the cook.

How to Know Your Oven Is Ready

Infrared Thermometer Method: Point at the stone from the side and take a reading. Aim for 450°C+ for beginners; 480°C once you're confident.

Flour Test: Toss a pinch of flour onto the stone. It should brown (not blacken) in 3–5 seconds. If it burns instantly, it's too hot; if it takes 10+ seconds, it needs more time.

Preheat Time

  • Gas ovens: 30–45 minutes
  • Wood pellet ovens: 45–60 minutes
  • Wood-fired (Witt): 60–90 minutes (depends on firewood and oven design)

Rotating stone models heat more evenly, so you can start cooking slightly sooner once the target temp is reached.


The Cook: Step by Step

Stretching the Dough

  1. Flour your hands generously
  2. Pick up the dough ball; let it hang from your fingertips, rotating it as you go
  3. Gently stretch it to 30cm diameter (or your oven's sweet spot)
  4. Never use a rolling pin — you'll compress the air and end up with dense crust

Topping

  • Use a light hand: sauce (100g), cheese (80g), toppings (sparingly)
  • Heavy toppings = soggy pizza
  • Room-temperature ingredients cook better than cold

Launching and Cooking

  1. Place stretched dough on a floured peel (wooden pizza shovel)
  2. Add sauce and toppings quickly
  3. Launch onto the stone with a gentle flick and slide
  4. Immediately rotate 15–20 seconds (use a wooden turning peel)
  5. Repeat rotation every 15–20 seconds
  6. Total cook time: 60–90 seconds

Watch For

  • Leopard spotting on the crust (dark blisters = good)
  • Cheese bubbling and starting to brown
  • Dough puffing at the edges (indicates it's cooking through)
  • If the bottom is cooking faster than the top, move the pizza closer to the flue

Beyond Margherita

Once you've nailed the basics, your oven becomes a multi-purpose outdoor kitchen:

  • Garlic Bread — Brush dough with oil and garlic; 2–3 minutes
  • Calzones — Fold and seal; rotate like pizza (slightly longer cook)
  • Flatbreads — Thin dough, minimal topping; 45–60 seconds
  • Dessert Pizzas — Nutella base, strawberries, dust with icing sugar; 60 seconds

Check out our pizza accessories for peels, covers, thermometers, and more.


Conclusion

Cooking pizza in a wood-fired oven is one of those skills that looks harder than it is. Once you understand temperature, timing, and the hand-stretch method, you're golden. Your first pizza might not be perfect — and that's fine. By pizza number three or four, you'll be pulling out beautiful, blistered Neapolitan-style pizzas consistently.

The best part? Every pizza you cook will taste better than takeaway, and your mates will be impressed.

Ready to Get Started?

  • Shop pizza ovens — Find the right oven for your space
  • Shop pizza accessories — Peels, covers, thermometers, and more
  • Not ready to buy? Try our pizza oven hire — Test before you commit

Happy cooking.

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