Essential Wood-fired Pizza Oven Accessories

 If you are a ‘wood-fired pizza’ enthusiast, you need to know more about the essence of wood-fired pizza oven accessories. The enlisted pizza oven tools can add to your pizza baking experience as they promise to be efficient and user-friendly.

Along with the best  wood-fired pizza oven that you already own, you need a few more things for a foolproof baking experience. It has been observed that the wooden pizza peel proves to be one of the important wood-fired oven accessories for a pizzaiolo.

• Kitchen scale
• Dough Mixer
• Dough-proofing containers
• Dough/Bench scraper
• Pizza peel
• Pizza cutter wheel
• Ash shovel/brush
• Coal scoops
• Kindling axe
• Oven mitts/gloves
• Infrared thermometer
• Fireguard

Let’s start with the most basic thing, i.e., a digital kitchen scale which helps in measuring ingredients before working on any recipe and for pizzaiolos, the preparation of pizza dough is the most important step of the entire cooking experience. Therefore, for perfecting the recipe, it is recommended that a kitchen scale be put to use. Remember, cooking is an art, while baking is a science.

When it comes to relishing a particular kind of pizza crust, some fantasize about raw, authentic, hand-tossed crust while others prefer a much more professional and refined crust therefore, they need to possess a rolling pin to give the crust a perfect shape and width. Also, for preparing the dough, such perfection fanatics prefer a mixer to hand kneading. A Stand Mixer with a dough hook attachment is a very convenient appliance for kneading the pizza dough.

Dough-rising plastic containers with tight-lids are then used to store the dough for fermentation till it grows double in size. In place of it, a large Pyrex bowl can be used, large enough to let the dough rise, covered with a plastic sheet to keep the moisture off.

For the final proofing, a warm and moist environment is required which can be achieved by regulating the temperature and humidity in a dough-proofing container. An easy substitute for proofing containers is that the dough can be left in a microwave or any standard oven (turned off) and let the dough rise.

It is important to keep the work surface clear of sticky flour bits when bulk preparations are in action. For that, one requires a dough/bench scraper. Also, shaping and cutting dough is very convenient with the help of these scrapers. These are tools with a blunt-edged blade of either metal or rubber.

Once you’re ready with pizza to be put inside the oven, you require a very important tool, which transfers raw dough from the counter to the pizza stone in the oven, i.e., pizza peel. This is the launching stage and at this stage, a wooden pizza peel is preferred over a metal pizza peel, as it doesn’t allow the dough to stick to its surface and easily slips away from it in the oven.

• Professional Light Series 12 inch Square Peel
• Wooden Tapered Pizza Peel with 22 inch
• Professional Light Series 13 inch Round Peel
• Professional Perforated 12 inch Pizza Peel

With a  wooden pizza peel, you can place your dough circle and add the ingredients while on the peel. This reduces handling as opposed to building the pie, transferring to a peel, and then transferring into an oven. While retrieving the pizza, once it is baked, a metal/aluminum peel is used as they are thin and sharp and have an easy grasp over the baked pizza.

We specifically recommend high-performing, stainless steel perforated, high-quality pizza peel, which can deal with even the most delicate crusts. The perforations tend to reduce the friction between pizzas and peel and drain the extra flour from the base. The pizza must be completed on the bench or table and not on the peel, else it will stick. It may take some practice getting the dressed pie onto the perforated peel.

Metal, aluminum and wooden pizza peels are available in rectangular and round shapes with a choice of multiple sizes. The average length of a pizza peel is about 3 feet where the size of the peel ranges between 6” and 14” while the size of the peel handle varies from 22” to 36”.

To cut through the crisp cheesy layers of your pizza, you must possess a pizza cutter wheel. They allow you to easily cut equal slices of pizza. One must buy the best of these by considering their sharpness, material, design, and ease of cleaning.

 If you are a proud owner of a wood-fired pizza oven, you must have an  ash shovel or oven cleaning brush (ideally 6”) to brush off the ash from the oven floor once the fire has been moved at the back of the oven, before cooking. The brush and scraper variety is quite popular these days.

For a dome-sided oven, coal scoops are good to have. With them, you need not worry about burning hands and can flexibly move coal to light the perfect fire.

With wood-fired ovens at home, one needs to be equipped with a kindling axe or hatchet for splitting the hardwood into smaller pieces to be used for cooking in the oven. To start a fire in a wood-fired pizza oven, there are different sizes of firewood required at different stages. One must also consider aids to get the fire going, such as starter cubes or fatwood and butane or propane torches.

A moisture meter is another key accessory required to ensure that the wood is properly aged and dry.

While using wood-fired pizza ovens, your hands deal with temperatures ranging between 400-500°Ftherefore, it is beneficial to own oven mitts/gloves. Depending on the dexterity, length, and quality the gloves offer, these are primarily available in two varieties, namely, silicone professional mitts and Grill Armor gloves.

Possessing an infrared thermometer for one’s kitchen can serve myriad purposes. One can determine the temperature of the refrigerator, cooking surfaces, freezer, internal temperature of appliances like the oven, and more. In the case of ovens, one cannot just do with the pre-installed thermometer as it only records the internal temperature of the oven. It is also important to check the temperature of the cooking surface for which an infrared thermometer is a go-to.

Another accessory, which has been carefully and specifically designed for wood-fired pizza ovens, is a  stainless steel fire guard. It guards your food against unwanted embers (smoldered pieces of wood/coal) and prevents it from overheating. It also keeps your wood in a neat compact location, thereby maximizing your oven space.

To add even more sophistication to the process of baking, the following wood-fired oven accessories can be considered-

• Pastry cutter - It is used to blend the tomatoes while preparing for the pizza sauce as it gives a more refined texture to the sauce.
• Pastry brush - It is a multi-purpose, heat-resistant tool that serves in many cooking techniques from basting to grilling. Another important purpose of it is to brush the surface of any base or dough with sauce, oil, or glaze. The brush bristles must be soft and are mostly found in silicone, nylon, or boar hair.
• Frying pizza pan/cast iron skillet - These oven-safe pans, which have high heat retention, help you experience the best pan pizzas with perfect crusts. The holed bottom in a few pans allows proper cooking of the pizza in no time.
• Pizza sauce ladle - It helps in dumping a measured amount of sauce over the dough and spreading it.

We are dedicated to providing you with an amazing cooking experience with all the tips and information we have to offer. If you’re one of the happy oven owners, then we are determined to turn you into a happy pizzaiolo.