Wood Fired Pizza Oven Fire Management 101 | Smoking | Baking | Searing

[@aronmcinnes8313]

This video is a game changer for my pizza oven. The little splits for keeping a small flame in the oven without too much heat. I will be cooking so much more in the pizza oven. The best cooking video on KZbin I have found, and I have watched a lot of videos.

[@stevenl2092]

This is a great tutorial video! Covering some of the small details like how to clean out the oven after a fire was an added bonus to learning about the different types of fire management. I feel like I have a better understanding on using a wood fired oven!

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

Glad it was helpful!

[@davidsmith8813]

really helpful this. from the UK and about to get my first wood fire pizza oven. i'm a complete novice here but looking forward to trying all the techniques!

[@lazydog274]

Woof woof from NorCal. That was a great fire info show….. and loved the Hawaiian shirt day of heat

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

lol thanks

[@RumandCook]

Good stuff. I learned pretty quickly that managing a fire in a wood fire oven is an art all in itself. Def a bit of a learning curve, but so well worth it.🍻 Great tips!

[@BehindTheFoodTV]

Some great lessons here James!

[@mdw-nc]

Great video as always-thanks! One thing that would be interesting is to have a retained heat graph for the piccolo like you did for your KJ. I know the larger pizza ovens will enable you to cook for hours on retained heat alone and I’m curious how efficient the piccolo’s insulation is. Also, is there a way to use the half moon heat deflector from your classic to block the logo cut out and retain more heat?

[@davelindey8023]

Great fire management tutorial for a Pizza Oven. Please consider one for a Kamoda style cooker? Thanks

[@emmgeevideo]

I highly, highly recommend a wood-splitter vs. a hatchet. I've never had a chop saw kickback but I've cut my finger with a hatchet. I have a small sledgehammer (i.e., a bit heftier than a hammer) and can cut up nice splits or thin kindling with no worries about my fingers. I have a local firewood vendor that sells larger fireplace-size splits and I reduce them into WFO size in one go with my chop saw and wood splitter. Lasts for months. I find the "wood chopping" experience to be part and parcel of the entire live fire experience. My inner cave man I guess...

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

I do need one of those I think

[@WKHC]

Thanks for doing this video James. The tips on vent control and when to add more wood were particularly helpful to me

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

glad you enjoyed

[@Gbaum515]

lol you got a good excuse to buy a table band saw to cut the wood now!!

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

Hahaha exactly

[@Keith80027]

Have you ever thought about using a LP burner or weed burner to get the oven up to temperature and then start the cooking fire? The Rocky Mountains doesn't have very much nature hardwood and I have buy import hardwood. Seems like you could really save on the cost of wood by starting with a LP burner. Are you still satisfied with this size oven or would think about or get the next size up? It is hard for me to really tell how much room you have left to cook in after pushing the fire to side and back from the video using wide angle lens setting. Great video on how to do the different types of fires and how to manage the smoke. I can't decide whether to buy an oven or an offset, only have room for one.

[@sygek95]

So helpful James 😊😊😊 It would be cool to test these techniques on your Kamado Big Joe dont you think 😀

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

for sure!

[@liamdesmond4504]

Is that oven really big enough to do a proper radiant cook??

[@stymer]

A somewhat related question. I believe you’re using the series 3 charcoal basket in your series 1 big Joe. If that’s in fact correct, are you using the bj basket or the classic joe basket in there?

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

Yes it’s the big joe basket. The fire box is the same so just ordered the basket and removed the stock grate

[@emmgeevideo]

I'm going to guess that putting wood on the side doesn't actually dry out the wood as much as it helps get it close to kindling temperature so that when you add it to the coals it instantly turns into flame. When you put a cold log onto a fire, the coals will cool down a bit as the heat energy transfers to the cold log. That doesn't happen to the same degree if the new wood is at kindling temperature.

[@SmokingDadBBQ]

Yes exactly