Finding Firewood in Central Florida

[cdaily75]

I live in Winter Park, Fl and I'm in the process of building and oven. I'm wondering if anyone knows where you can find good firewood for wood fired cooking. Also, thoughts from Florida cooks on keeping the wood dry in this humidity.

Thanks

[kkgator]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

I'm 2 hours North of you and I source my wood from a local "fuel wood" operation. They are called Southern Fuel Wood and are located in Newberry, FL. You should have a local wood supplier near you. They kiln dry the wood that I use for making pizza & I have had no problem with the humidity affecting the wood performance or oven performance. The only thing I worry about is yeast amounts during the year.

[Laurentius]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

"The only thing I worry about is yeast amounts during the year."
What does this means??

[kkgator]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

It can be very hot & humid during the months of May through October. The humidity levels reach 100% and at these times I vary the amount of yeast that I use in my pizza dough. I have used as little as 1/4 TSP and as much as 1TSP. Yes, "proofing" can be controlled through refrigeration, but when I make dough in a 100F kitchen during the summer I use less yeast as well as pull my dough in and out of the cooler because it is rising too fast.

[kkgator]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

I'm talking about large batches of dough...say like 300 5oz dough balls.

[martin_80x]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

I live in Winter Park, Fl and I'm in the process of building and oven. I'm wondering if anyone knows where you can find good firewood for wood fired cooking. Also, thoughts from Florida cooks on keeping the wood dry in this humidity.

Thanks

Hey neighbor! I'm from Winter Springs and also have the same question.

[drogers]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

Our Ocala Craigslist always has firewood in the free section. You may want to check a location near you.

[jkiefer2]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

Publix carries bags of kiln-dried firewood in the winter. Lowes and Home Depot do too. I stock up then. However, I prefer to buy green wood from a local supplier and cure it myself.

[leemc]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

I'm a little late to this thread but I also live in Winter Park and had the same issue a while back. cdaily75 - would love to see picture of your WFO!

Anyway, there are several restaurants now that have wood ovens in Winter Park, but when I started doing my build, the only one around was Anthony's in Maitland. Whenever I went there I would always talk to the manager about wood supply - especially in the summer because you can't find it around here. He said he bought his from a guy that does tree trimming and removal. He said the guy was kind of a pain and would not recommend buying from him. That being said, there are quite a few tree removal people in Central Florida that would probably sell you wood on the cheap. Just don't expect it to be seasoned though. You might also talk to some of the other restaurants around WP with wood ovens - Prato, Armandos and Francesco's - and see where they get their wood.

I got lucky because my neighbor has a hunting lease on 5,000 acres of land up near Deland. He even has a log splitter up there so I just go up there with him and a chainsaw two or three times a year, cut up a dead tree somewhere on the property, split it all up and bring back a big pile of it.

[kbartman]

Re: Finding Firewood in Central Florida

Just quick note and idea on fire wood in central Florida. There are many citrus groves thru out the state that are dying do to a disease call Citrus Greening. The disease keeps the trees from getting the nutrients its needs to stay healthy. This disease has devastated many groves and there is a endless supply of this type of wood. Many citrus farmers do not have a problem letting you go and cut these dying trees or harvest this wood from a pile trees that have pushed up and usually burned shortly after.

Citrus wood is very dense and hot burning. I have no dampness problems with this type of wood here in Florida, even in our rainy season, as long as it is kept off the ground and covered in a way to allow air circulation.

Hope this helps.