Firing WFO for low temp

[matthanna]

Hi all,

i've built a beautiful WFO, and it's awesome. Have been using it now probably once/twice a week for the last 5 months.

We take the same approach to firing it every time. We build a fire in the center then after about 30 minutes we move it to the back where it stays there about 90 minutes, then we move it around to the sides. Whilst we are heating it up it's not uncommon it ends up around 550C, then we cook at around 400C depending on load. I guess it's fair to say it takes about 2.5/3 hours to heat up thoroughly. After it's heated properly, it retains heat for 5 days, and apart from the on-night firing to make pizzas and other great foods, we find ourselves quite often cooking on the 3rd or 4th day when the oven is still about 100-120C. We'll throw in anything that needs slow (6-12hours) cooking.

We would like to be able to prepare the oven in such a way that low temp could be usable on the same day. The few attempts I've had at doing this hasn't really worked out. Is low firing actually possible without a full firing, and if so what process would I use to light and use the oven at low temp within say a 6 hour window?

I guess my concern is if the oven hasn't cleared, could this have a bad effect on the food if used prematurely? When we cook on the 3rd/4th day, the oven is clear and not a concern, as the oven has already been fully fired, cleared, then emptied, so there's wood pollution.

Any recommendations or advice is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Matt

[Toomulla]

when you fully heat your oven for pizza you allow the bricks to become heat saturated, this heat then radiates back into the oven over time and at a fairly constant rate. when you partly fire the oven you have a surface heat load which is harder to control so heating up to clear dome then cooking on the cooling cycle is easier to control. for things such as a roast you can cook with an active fire which allows some control as well as adding a smoke flavour.,as for the residue on th dome provided you have clean wood there is no issue in using a partly fired oven

[matthanna]

Thanks for your response. I so much as figured it would've been a difficult thing to do as i've struggled so far, I guess it's just something to accept.

cheers

[Gulf]

Don't think of it as struggling. Think of it as a learning curve. It takes time and experimentation to learn an oven. They are all different. What works for me may not work for you. Too many variables IE: size of the oven, thickness of the brick, amount of insulation, type of fuel wood, fuel load, dryness of the wood, total time of firing etc. To nail a cooking temp without fully clearing the dome and waiting to cook on the decline is difficult. But, it can be done. Just time your firings and see what you come up with after the door is placed and the oven is allowed to equalize for about a half hour or so. Some cues you may notice might be a certain course of mortar joints or brick in the top of the dome that begin to clear. Take note of that, any other cues you may notice, and all firing times for future reference. In time, you will know what works for your oven. I also agree with Toomulla about the soot in the oven. If you haven't burned treated or painted wood, no worries .

[matthanna]

Thank you.. No, no treated or poor wood. We only use red gum and pink gum.

Cheers, Matt