How to light a wood-fired, pellet, or gas Pizza oven like a pro!

If you have invested in a pizza oven, mastering how to get the fire just right is part of the fun learning process to produce amazing pizzas with that authentic flavor only a pizza oven can produce. The process of lighting and prepping the pizza oven will vary depending on what type of pizza oven you have – whether that’s with wood, gas or wood pellets.

Depending on the type of fual you are using, you will need some time for the pizza oven to heat up before you start cooking. Wood-fuelled pizza ovens take about 40 minutes minimum; a gas-fuelled oven would take about: 25 to 30 minutes; and a wood pellet ovens about 20 minutes.

Below, we’ve put together a guide for all three from the experts to make lighting a pizza oven in your outdoor kitchen a smooth and stress-free process.

How to light a wood-fired pizza oven

Lighting a wood-fueled pizza oven the right way is a good skill to have! Typically, pizza chambers measure 24×24”. Before the embers are ready to bake, the fire must be started in the center of the oven floor so the heat penetrates the oven interior in its entirety. Once ready to bake, you would move the embers to one side of the oven.

These are the steps to follow for a perfect wood fire within your pizza oven:

1. Build up a stack of kindling. Set alight a few natural wood firelighters in the center of the stack.
2. Once the flame is going, add small bits of wood – these must be small logs that can burn quickly, not lumpy pieces you use in a wood burner or open fire – and gradually build up the fire.
3. Keep adding timber to the flame and after 40 minutes or so (depending on the time of year and outdoor temperature), the floor will be hot enough to get baking.
4. Drag the embers to one side of the oven and continue to feed the fire during the baking process.
5. A key tool to monitor the heat of the oven floor is a temperature gun [available at Amazon]. Regularly check the floor before and during bakes to ensure it maintains the optimal pizza oven temperature of 700 to 750˚F.

How to light a pizza oven using wood pellets

Compact wood-pellet-fueled pizza ovens are many people’s favorite type of pizza oven – especially for small backyards – as they are convenient to use and easily portable. For the pellets, you will want to use pure oak pellets, a high-quality pellet for your cook outs.

Here’s how to light Ooni Fyra wood-pellet-fuelled pizza oven – you can find more from Ooni:

1. Remove the chimney cap and make sure the chimney vent is open. Keep the door on.
2. Remove the grate and fill it with hardwood pellets (around 5oz or two handfuls to start).
3. Put a fire starter at the front of the grate. Light and push the grate back in.
4. Allow the pellets time to fully ignite, using the viewing hole in the door to check for a full flame. 
5. Top up the pellets gradually until they reach the top of the hopper and maintain this level when cooking your pizza recipes.

How to light a gas pizza oven

One of the benefits of a gas pizza oven is how easy it is to light.

Ensure you have the gas burner set up correctly and a gas canister safely attached before twisting the ignition knob to fire up the oven. 

1. If your oven doesn’t light on your first attempt, it’s important that you wait a minute or two to allow any gas that was released with the first attempt to dissipate before trying again. 
2. Your oven will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes to get up to temperature depending on what temperature you need and the weather conditions.

A pizza oven is so much fun to have. If you have thinking about creating your outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven, we would be happy to help with designing your outdoor kitchen. Feel free to reach out to us! We are happy to help.

– 4 Life Outdoor