Cooking in the Oven

Cooking in your outdoor wood burning oven.

As detailed in our How the Oven Works section, your wood burning brick oven from Chicago Brick Oven is the most flexible method of outdoor cooking. Once the oven has been heated to the point the entire dome has turned a whitish grey, you’re ready to cook using either the open-door or closed-door method.

Open-Door Cooking

Open-door cooking is used to cook pizzas and other foods that require medium to high temperatures. To cook with an open door, keep the fire going in the back of the oven. Sweep out the front of the hearth with a wire brush and you’re ready to cook. Keep a small fire in the rear of the oven and it will generate radiant heat and flame that is the secret to the great wood-fired pizza taste. Most outdoor wood-fired cooking enthusiasts prefer the open-door method. It really creates an ambiance around the oven. We designed our ovens to achieve high cooking temperatures for cooking even with the door open! To learn more about the design of our ovens and see our FlameRoll,™ view The Difference section of our website.

Closed-Door Cooking

Your Chicago Brick Oven wood burning oven is more than an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven. It is a genuine in-chamber wood burning brick oven design, used throughout history to make breads, cook wild game and other exciting dishes. We built our outdoor wood-fired brick ovens to let you enjoy the same flexibility by combining our traditional design with a modern refractory material and a rust-proof insulating door.

Using your outdoor wood-fired brick oven as a professional grade baking tool is easy. Simply spread your fire throughout the oven. You will store ample heat in the hearth and dome by burning your fire hot for at least one hour. The longer you burn your fire, the more heat will be stored in the hearth and dome and the longer you’ll be able to bake. Once the fire has burned down and the entire dome of the oven is whitish grey, remove all coals and ashes into your ashbin. Sweep the hearth and you’re ready to go. Load your oven with breads, roasts or casseroles and seal the oven with the insulating door.

NOTE: For closed-door cooking, the quality of the wood isn’t a concern; you’re mainly concerned with building heat and storing it in the oven. However, never use treated woods. Save your flavored woods for open-door cooking!

Maximize Your ‘Real Estate’

After you have fired your oven to the proper temperature, it’s time to maximize your cooking “real estate.” Do this by removing the ashes and keeping just enough of the embers to create a small ember bed — about 4″ wide by 8″ long — on the hearth at the very back of your oven.