Wood-Fired Oven Recipes: More Than Just Pizza

For good reason, most people identify wood-fired ovens with delightfully puffy, crispy Neapolitan-style pizza.

Wood-fired ovens, like any excellent culinary utensil, are very adaptable. We’ve been cooking in them since the Ancient Greeks, so there are lots of recipes to select from, ranging from bread to sweets.

So, if our pizza oven articles have motivated you to purchase or construct your own, here are some tasty pizza options to try cooking in it.

8 Wood-fired oven recipes (that aren’t pizza)

The beauty of a classic wood-fired oven is its simplicity and efficacy, which makes it appropriate for a wide variety of recipes. In the same oven, you may bake bread in the morning, seafood for lunch, a stew or roast for dinner, and dessert for dessert.

To provide you the most variety of things you can cook in your oven, we’ve compiled a list of eight easy yet delectable dishes for you to try. We’ve also divided them into simple, easy-to-follow stages.

1. A Very Simple Bread Recipe

Freshly made bread is one of the nicest aromas and tastes in the world, and contrary to what Paul Hollywood would have you think, it is not difficult to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 1 package dry yeast
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch of sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 cups warm water

Method:

2. Porterhouse Steak with Smashed Potatoes and Roasted Tomatoes

Because of the high temperatures that a wood-fired oven can attain, it’s a surprisingly excellent technique for cooking thick-cut steak, and the wood adds a nice smoky taste to the meat.

A Tuscan grill, which is a basic cast-iron grill grate that fits inside your oven, is required to properly cook a steak.

Ingredients:

• 2″ thick porterhouse steak or other thick-cut meat
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• New potatoes
• Vine tomatoes

Method (steak):

1. Remove your steak from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. This makes it simpler to cook thicker sliced steaks evenly.
2. Fire up your oven and let the wood burn down to embers.
3. Rake the coals over the oven floor and set your Tuscan grill over the embers to heat up as much as possible.
4. Season your steak liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Allow the grill to heat up for at least 20 minutes before dragging it back to the front of your oven.
6. Place the meat on the grill and return it to the oven. To prevent burning, don’t get the steak too near to the flames.
7. A hefty 2-inch steak will cook fast in a wood-fired oven. This is because heat is being reflected back from the dome of the ceiling from the coals and fire.
8. Cook the steak medium-rare for approximately 4 minutes on each side, using an instant-read thermometer to check for the right 130F.
9. When it reaches 130°F, remove the steak from the oven and allow it to finish cooking for another five minutes.
10. Allow to rest for about five minutes, wrapped in foil.

Method (Sides):

1. Cook some fresh potatoes until they are tender, then push down on them to squash and flatten them.
2. Preheat a steel pan with 4 tablespoons of frying oil in the oven until the oil begins to smoke.
3. Place the vine tomatoes at the oven’s opening and let the radiant heat to cook them.
4. Return the pan to the oven and add the potatoes, rotating after five minutes.
5. When the potatoes are golden brown, take them from the oil and place them on some kitchen paper to drain. Carve the steak and serve with the roasted tomatoes.

3. Wood-Fired Paella

Paella is a delightful one-pot Spanish meal made with veggies, flavorful rice, and fish. You’ll need a big flat paella pan or something similar to cook it correctly. Just make sure your oven’s mouth is large enough to accommodate the paella pan.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 small onion diced
• 1/4 cup red pepper, diced
• 1 red pepper, roasted and cut into thick strips
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 packets saffron, dissolved in broth
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 8-12 ounces fresh or frozen Spanish chorizo, pieces or slices
• 2 oz tomatoes chopped
• Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 8 oz Manila clams
• 8 oz mussels, scrubbed
• cod, rockfish, halibut, 8 ounces white fish sliced into 4-6 pieces
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 4 cups chicken or fish broth
• Lemon wedges
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Fuel and heat your oven to around 400-500F.
2. Preheat your paella pan.
3. To your paella pan, add one tablespoon of olive oil.
4. Cook your clams until they open, then take them from the oil and put aside.
5. Do the same with your musses.
6. Do the same for your whitefish chunks.
7. Place your red peppers on a pizza peel and blacken them in the oven. Then, immerse them in cold water to easily peel off most, but not all, of the blackened skin.
8. Make the paella foundation by gently sauteing the onion, chopped red peppers, and garlic in olive oil for 1015 minutes.
9. Sauté the chorizo and smoked paprika until the sausage begins to brown.
10. Cook for 2 minutes after adding the tomatoes, parsley, and saffron.
11. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until the rice begins to change color, before adding the brother.
12. Cook the whole mixture for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
13. Return the clams, mussels, and whitefish to the pan when the rice is done, and serve immediately.

4. Wood-Fired Chocolate Brownies

Desserts aren’t often thought of when cooked in a wood-fired oven, but these melty, fudgy chocolate brownies are likely to alter that. They’re also very simple to produce.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz dark chocolate
• 50 oz unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 0.5 oz cocoa powder
• 4 oz plain flour
• 10 oz light brown soft sugar
• tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat your oven over a low heat. You don’t want it to be too hot.
2. In a dish put over a pot of boiling water, gently melt the butter and chocolate.
3. Once melted, set this mixture aside to cool.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder in a mixing basin.In a separate dish, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla essence. This mixture should be light and creamy, with delicate peaks.
5. To the egg mixture, whisk in the melted chocolate and butter.
6. Fold in the dry ingredients gently, rather than stirring, taking care not to deflate the egg mixture.
7. Line a baking tin with buttered parchment paper.
8. Pour the mixture into the lined tin.
9. Place the pan on a pizza stone and cook for 45 minutes over indirect heat. Your cooking temperature should ideally be about 320F.
10. Check your brownies after 45 minutes. The mixture should still be somewhat wobbly. Remove from the fire and allow it to finish cooking while chilling to achieve a moist core.

5. Crispy Porchetta (Rolled Pork Belly)

Porchetta is a boneless Italian pig roast composed of a fatty roll of pork belly filled with spices. Because the pizza oven was inspired by the Italian culinary heritage, it should come as no surprise that this dish performs very well in a wood-fired oven.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 kg Pork belly
• 1 head of garlic
• 15 small onions
• 3 paprika peppers
• Honey for drizzling

For the filling:

• cup fresh parsley
• cup fresh sage
• Olive oil, for drizzling
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons dried garlic flakes
• tablespoon dried ginger
• 2 teaspoons chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Method:

1. Fuel and preheat your oven.
2. Finely chop the herbs for your filling.
3. Unroll your pork belly and cut a diamond pattern into it with a sharp knife.
4. Drizzle olive oil over the sliced pork and top with the filling mixture, pressing it into the slices to ensure the flavor distributes throughout the meat.
5. Roll your pork belly into a tight roll, beginning at the short edge.
6. Make a diamond pattern out of the fat on the exterior of the roll.
7. Tie up the roll with strands of cooking thread to prevent it from unfolding while cooking.
8. Season the outside of the roll liberally on both sides.
9. Add your head of garlic (roughly smashed), onions, and pepper to a cast iron skillet, along with another large pour of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.
10. Place the roll on top of the veggies in the wood-fired oven.
11. Cook the porchetta, monitoring it every 20 minutes or so, until the skin is crisp and golden and the inside temperature is approximately 145F.
12. Serve in thick slices with honey drizzled on top.

6. Honey Roasted Carrots

Honey roasted carrots are a fantastic side dish to accompany with the steak or porchetta, and they cook in about 2 minutes in a wood-fire oven.

Ingredients:

• 8 carrots, peeled
• 3 tablespoons of neutral oil
• cup honey
• Salt and pepper
• pack of butter

Method:

1. Fuel and preheat your oven to 900F.
2. Preheat a hefty cast-iron skillet once the fire is going.
3. Slice your carrots in half.
4. Oil the pan with your neutral oil of choice.
5. Season the carrots well with salt and pepper.
6. Place in the oven for 1 minute.
7. After a minute, take the pan from the heat and stir in the honey and butter to coat all of the carrots.
8. Return to the oven for a further minute.
9. Place the carrots on a platter and drizzle with the honey butter mixture from the pan.

7. Spatchcock Chicken

Spatchcocked or butterflied chicken works well in a wood-fired oven because eliminating the spine and flattening the carcass allows the bird to cook quicker and more evenly.

If you’ve never spatchcocked a chicken before, don’t stress. It’s not a very difficult procedure.

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken, spatchcocked
• Chopped thyme
• Salt, pepper
• 4 or 5 sprigs of thyme
• 6 tomatoes
• 2 shallots, quartered lengthwise
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/2 cup white vermouth (or white wine)
• Olive oil
• 2 cups chicken stock

Method (Chicken):

1. Fuel and preheat your oven.
2. Season your chicken with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Drizzle olive oil over your thyme sprigs in a high-profile roasting pan.
4. Place the chicken on top of the thyme and sprinkle with extra olive oil before dusting with the chopped time.
5. Add the tomatoes, carrots, and shallots.
6. Add the vermouth to the pan.
7. Place the pan in the oven and cover it with a second layer of foil.
8. Remove the foil after 25 minutes and return the tray to the oven until the skin browns and the internal temperature reaches 165F at the thickest portion.
9. Remove the chicken from the oven and set it aside on a heated dish to rest.

Method (Gravy):

1. After removing the chicken, deglaze the pan with the vermouth, scraping up the fond from the pan’s bottom.
2. Return the pan to the oven for a few seconds to burn off any remaining alcohol.
3. Return the pan to the oven to reduce the chicken stock by half.
4. Strain into a small saucepan or gravy jug.

8. Sausage Casserole

A simple sausage casserole is the ultimate comfort meal, and it’s fast and easy to make in a wood-fired oven.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of sausages (dealers choice)
• 1 red onion, sliced
• pack of butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 200 ml of passata
• 1 tin of butter beans
• 1 sweet potato, sliced thinly
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• Chicken stockpot

Method:

1. Fuel and preheat your oven to around 350F.
2. Pre-heat a heavy cast-iron skillet.
3. One tablespoon of neutral oil and your sausages are now ready.
4. Cook until the sausages are just browned, then add the onion.
5. When the onion starts to soften, add the butter and flour and simmer for a minute or two to allow the flour to cook.
6. Bring to a slow boil with the stock pit, tomato puree, passata, and butter beans.
7. Cook until the sweet potato has softened and browned a bit on top, then top with the thinly sliced sweet potato.
8. Serve with warm crusty bread.

Wrapping it all up

As these amazing dishes demonstrate, a wood-fired oven isn’t only for pizza. It’s a versatile beast that can cook a wide variety of foods.

We’d love to know if you’ve tried any of the recipes above and what you thought of them. In the comments area below, please share your favorite wood-fired oven recipes!