What is average time you guys heat up ovens to cook pizza?

[stevef22]

Working on a 36" brick oven and wondering how long you "heat up" oven? Just curious if its 20 mins.... or 2hrs..... etc. Thanks

[MarkJerling]

With my 40" oven, I find that it's possible to heat the oven in as little as 2 hours, but it holds it's heat much better if heated more slowly over 3-4 hours.

Usually, we only do pizzas once every week or two or three over Spring and Summer, commitments and weather dependent. However, this last weekend I wanted to do an early lunch on the Monday (a public holiday) and I was worried that I'd struggle to heat it in time in the morning. So, the previous evening, we had a BBQ and I slowly fired the oven up while we were having the BBQ. The over provided a nice bit of heat and ambience. It was up to pizza temperatures by the time we were done with our BBQ and I fitted the door soon after. On Monday morning, when I opened the oven the remaining coals started glowing red pretty quickly and I added kindling and wood. Within about an hour with only a small fire the oven was ready for pizzas!

Moral of the story: I should keep it going all week long! LOL

[UtahBeehiver]

3 hours on mine for good floor saturation, even then part way through a large party I recharge the floor by respreading the coals on to the cooking area for 15-20 min.

[stevef22]

Thanks for all the input!

[Petter]

2-3 h, 2" cast dome. 3 h is better. I cook at about 900 F deck temperature.