Dingley Dell Enterprises Wood Burning Oven Blog

How big is our medium Pizza Oven
Our Garden Pizza oven is 4ft long 3 ft wide and 2ft high.

What are our wood burning ovens made from ?
Each of our wood burning ovens are individually hand made on a wire mesh frame from expanded clay and refractory cements.Back to top

How many parts are there to one of our small outdoor pizza ovens?The smallwood fired pizza Oven comprises of. 1)The oven Dome 2)The oven Floor 3)4X Terracotta floor tiles 4)Oven Door 5)Chimney Lid Back to top

What other items do we need for our refactory clay pizza oven
You will need 1 A Peel , a flat shovel for getting Food into and out of the pizza oven 2 An wood burning Oven thermometer so you know how hot the pizza oven is 3 A coal hook , so that you can move burning logs around inside the wood burning oven . 4 some kind of stand to put the oven on.Back to top

How heavy is our woodfired pizza oven The dome of the oven weighs about 130 kg and can easily be moved by 2 people the base of the woodburning oven weighs about 100 kg and can easily be moved by 2 people .Back to top

What does the pizza oven need to stands on ?You can build your garden oven oven into or onto anything that can not burn, We would recommend that you use four 2 inch x 2 ft paving slabs as the base for the pizza oven to stand on you can build below the slabs using any method of construction you wish from wood to rock .Back to top

How high should the pizza oven be off the ground the floor of the wood fired pizza oven should be at elbow height this will mean that you do not have to stoop too low to see into the wood oven and you will be able to have a good peel action.Back to top

How long does it take to get the pizza oven hot ?If the oven is dry when you start then you can start cooking pizza's in about 20 minutes. If the oven is wet when you start it may take up to 2 hrs to get hot .Back to top

Your pizza oven looks quite basic compared to others we have looked at Why .Many imported ovens are made of terracotta and need a lot of insulating to protect them from the U.K Weather, and yet the functionality of the oven is exactly the same, other than a coat of cupernol each winter you will not need to do any other maintenance to one of our Pizza Ovens .Back to top

Some Pizza ovens we have seen are covered with vermiculite and other insulators will they work better than your oven ?The most important thing about any wood burning Pizza oven is the shape. and the type of cooking you want to do, Some of the more elaborate ovens take a lot longer to heat up than our oven. and then they also retain the heat for longer, when we designed our oven we took into consideration that most people who use a wood burning oven in England recreationally decide at about 11 or 12 o'clock that the weather is good enough to cook lunch outside , they then do not want to wait 3 of 4 hrs for the oven to heat up before they start cooking. by the same token when they have finished cooking there is no need for the oven to stay hot for 8hrs or more , wit this in mind we have made our oven to heat very fast and still maintain a good heat for up to 3 hrs .Back to top

Can I cover or and build over my Pizza oven ?Of course many people have purchased one of our ovens and then gone on to build an Italian style with full insulation and a little roof. this would give you all the benefits of a very expensive Pizza Oven.Back to top

How many people can the Roman oven cook for ?I have cooked for just myself as well as large parties, the most people i have cooked for at any one sitting was about 85 This was a pizza Party at the Tatton Park flower show, and I cooked for about 3 hrs .I also cooked a quarter of a pig at a game show and had about 45 guests so really as a domestic pizza oven you really can have a fantastic party.Back to top

How fast can you cook a pizza ?If you have he oven up to temperature you can pull a fresh thin crust pizza out of the oven every three minutes easily. I tend not to cook thick pie pizza as it is so much slower.Back to top

Where should the fire be in the oven?This is a matter of your own preference, on our large and medium sized ovens I always have my wood fire fire on the right of the oven just in from the door,this way I can add logs very easily ,the oven is then very hot at the back and cooler on the side opposite the fire. Some people like to have the fire right at the back, more difficult to maintain the fire but more effective for cooking 2/3 pizza at a time.in our small oven i always put the fire at the back . Back to top

How Hot can the Pizza Oven get?The best temperature for cooking pizza is about 450 deg the the clay that we use is rated to 1300 deg so it is almost impossible to over fire the oven, I have had a customer phone me saying that the thermometer did not work he said that he had a huge fire going for about an hour and the needle had not moved , it was found that when the oven cooled a bit the needle came down from 750 deg .Back to top

I have seen ovens buried in the ground can i do this with one of your Garedn Pizza ovens ?Yes you can , although we would recommend that you first cover it with some insulation and a waterproofing layer of plastic otherwise it really will take a long time to get hot .Back to top

Can i use the wood burning Pizza oven as a smoker ?The Pizza oven makes a fantastic hot smoker . simply heat the oven to your desired temperature, put the food that you want to hot smoke int the oven , put wet smoking chips onto the fire and seal the door and chimney , hey presto fantastic smoked food.Back to top

I see that your oven has the chimney at the front while others have the chimney in the middle what is the difference ?All authentic pizza ovens will have the chimney at the front just behind the door, The feed point for the chimney will also be lower than the top of the dome This is very important the lower the better,Heat is caught in this dome section and regulates the oven temperature if the chimney is in the middle of the dome the heat will just go straight up the chimney , no regulation , and no retention of heat al round a bad plan so check that any oven you decide to buy does not have a chimney in the middle of the dome ! also if the oven dome is made of several peices make sure that they all cement together otherwise youy will simply loose heat throu the joins not to mention the heat swerls and eddies that you will get comming off an uneven inside surface .Back to top

How do I clean my Wood burning Pizza oven .Due to the high heat that you will Be cooking at the oven is mostly self cleaning and any bugs or bacteria in the oven will be quickly incinerated , as far as wiping the ash out the way is concerned . I tie an old t towel around the handel end of the peel this I wet and squeeze dry in a bucket of water , just before I start cooking I wipe the cooking area with this to get rid af any ash or sand .Back to top

Are there any other tools I may need for the wood burning oven.I would suggest you also get a brass bristled brush and wa wide stainless steel paint scraper . attach these to either end of a broom handle this will help you get rid of more stubborn stains and burns on the terracotta tiles should you bubble over.Back to top

Can I extend the chimney on the wood fired pizza oven ?Yes by extending the length of the chimney you will improve the over all performance of the oven, easier lighting from greater draw hotter fire from greater draw, but more wood usage and faster cool down , so if you do lengthen the chimney do fit a chimney damper so that you can close off the chimney if you wish , very important when smoking food or doing long slow kleftiko dishes, and jerked pork.Back to top

How long will my wood burning oven oven last ?Depending on use and abuse your oven should last a long time my oven was installed in 2000 and is as good as new, and still gives me as much enjoyment now as it did when i first put it in . keeping the oven dry will give it a longer life expectancy. Build a roof over the top and it should give a lifetime of enjoymentBack to top

Should I worry if i see cracks in the dome of the pizza oven ?The Dome of the oven has a primary wire mesh reinforcing and a secondary glass fibre strand reinforcing, due to the insulating properties of the oven if you make a huge fire in the oven to get it going you will get some cracks and crazes althose these are mostly superficial and will close when the oven cools down . any cracks that do not close or show signs of smoking should be filled with fire cement obtainable from most good diy stores.Back to top

I have more questions what should i do ?Give me a call i will be happy to answer them regards Jay Emery Proprietor and maker of the ovens 01905621636Back to top

Do you make bigger ovens yes with our uneque method of manufacture we can make ovens of almost any size please call if you are interested. Back to top

do you sell any gas conversion kits we have looked into the posibility of supplying gas conversion kits but unfortunatly uk legislation and ec certification makes it imposible for a small company like ours to develop and certify such an oven Sorry you will just have to enjoy using the real stuff wood !Back to top

Can our ovens be built into the kitchen .our ovens are designed for outdoor garden use and as such need no special licences or considerations, they can be built indoors but you will need to conform with current legislation with regard to type of chimmny.