Wood Fired Bread Ovens

by Mark Toffle
(St. Louis Park, MN USA)

I've been toying with the idea of making my own grill, then I saw a wood fired bread oven at a potters place.
Do you think there is any advantage to baking bread the old way in a super hot brick oven? He said he can bake a pizza in 2 minutes in the thing.


Chef Todd Says:

A brick oven can add unique flavor to breads, and the high heat aids in crust development. Those that are skilled enough to use a wood fired oven can create outstanding results.

However, a wood fired oven, a charcoal gas grill, a wood-burning fireplace all have one great variable, controlling the heat.

Baking bread is an unforgiving task even in a gas oven with a thermostat. You can control the temperature precisely. There's no temperature knob on a wood burning oven, you'll need to have enough experience and skill to gauge the temperature of your oven and the single-source heat you've created.

A great benefit of a brick oven is that over hours of time, the bricks get very hot and radiate heat. The longer your oven burns, the more you can control the heat.

But here's the question. Do you want to build a fire, maintain it, wait hours to bake one or two loaves of bread? If so, then you're creating a new hobby for yourself. Your brick oven breads may be the best ever. However, if you're more into baking bread than messing with fires, a gas oven is easier to control and will give more consistent results.

It's a little like your home fireplace. I'd much prefer to have a wood burning fireplace in my home, but I chose gas instead. The process of storing wood, trying to light it, keep it going is too much when I just want a fire for the evening. Same with charcoal versus gas grill. I'd love to cook on charcoal, but am impatient for preheating, and often frustrated by uncontrollable heat.

Wood fired ovens can be great, but the work doesn't stop once you've built the thing.

Chef Todd.