So yesterday (sunday) I cooked the first pizza in my Vitcas oven.
I haven't finished the whole outdoor kitchen build yet but the only thing left to do on the oven was paint it so with a reasonable weather forecast yesterday it was pizza time.
First off get a good fire going
After about 45 minutes the oven was up to temperature
Then push the fire over to one side
And cook your pizza
And finally shove a Tartiflette and a chicken in the oven to roast for dinner later
We cooked around a dozen pizzas for lunch and the fire was plenty hot enough and my peel technique improved as I went on.
So things I have learnt from this first cooking session are:
-The oven works really well and retains heat wonderfully
- I need a longer peel. I bought my current peel ages ago for my indoor kitchen oven but need a longer one for this beast (I singed my hair and eyebrows
)
-The purchase of a pair of welding gloves from ebay for £4 was money well spent
- The cooking process would be easier with a long turning peel (the smaller metal round ones) as I had to withdraw the peel from the oven to turn the pizza around.
- The whole cooking process takes more effort than you think. With dough to roll out and toppings to put on and 2 pizzas at a time to look after it gets a bit frantic. I had planned to use my good camera but ended up taking pics and videos on my phone as I was a bit busy. This was with the family helping out. This was compounded as due to it being freezing outside all the prep was taking place in the kitchen and I was running backwards and forwards with the peel. However next time I will manage it all better and hopefully have outdoor worktops to prep on beside the oven (weather permitting).
- If you are taking photos with your new phone so close to the oven your hand is getting too hot then it is probably not too good for the phone either
- You need a lot of preparation space for all your toppings and an area to roll your dough out as well as somewhere to eat it all
- These pizzas are REALLY hot when they come out of the oven and they are best left to 'set' for a minute or two before cutting and definitely before putting molten cheese in your mouth.
- Eating home made pizza from your own wood fired oven is a very satisfying and tasty experience ;D
Although we were full after all the pizza it seemed a crime to waste all that oven heat so I knocked up a quick tartiflette and stuffed a chicken full of herbs from the garden and put those in the oven to cook for dinner. The tartiflette was wonderful and the chicken took on an incredible smoke flavour much like I get with a 3 hour smoke on my charcoal BBQ. I don't think I could bear to waste the residual heat after a pizza firing so will now always have something ready to cook in the oven afterwards.
The only quandary I'm left with is what to do about the smoke blackening on the front of the oven. I'm planning to paint the oven, its base and the outdoor kitchen in a cream colour. Anyone got any views on whether to leave the front of the oven to blacken naturally or paint just the front black or do something different?