Curing your Pizza Oven

Curing a gas oven is simple. To start:

Day #1 remove the oven door (remove the oven door throughout this entire process, NEVER use the oven door when you have a flame in the oven); light the oven pilot.

Day #2 Turn the knob on the front of the oven and adjust the flame to about six inches. Allow the oven to heat in this way for about 4 hours, check hourly to make the sure the flame is maintained.

On Day #3, turn on the flame and increase it to a ten inch flame and maintain this for 4 hours. On Day #4, turn on the flame and increase it to a 15 inch flame and maintain this for 4 hours. Finito — your oven is cured!

Before you start the curing process, make sure you have an ample supply of wood on hand. You will be feeding the fire for the suggested amount of time (several hours). Keep in mind that you are adding a minimal amount of wood to keep the fire going, and that the time and the flame are all approximates to be used as a guide.We suggest starting fires in your oven with a paper towel soaked in some olive oil ( a natural oil) and then stack your wood on top of the paper towel and light your paper towel for your wood to ignite.When you cure your oven there will be a minimal amount of water (about a gallon) that will be excreted from the oven — this is from the exterior stucco and installation materials so don’t be alarmed when you see this, its normal.We recommend three days of curing your oven and will walk you through that process. Each day you will build a slightly larger fire, increasing the flame (and the temperature will increase as well but don’t worry about how hot, the flame dictates the heat). Please leave the door off your pizza oven when curingIt is important to start and maintain the fire in the center of the oven floor, not on the sides or the back of the oven.

First Day: Build a small flame, about 8 inches high using a small piece of wood — do not use resin, pressure treated, chemical coated, or painted wood. We suggest you feed the fire for approximately 3 hours.

Second Day: Build a small flame, about a 10 – 12 inches high using two small pieces of wood. We suggest you feed the fire for approximately 4 hours.

Third Day: Build a small flame, about a 10 – 12 inches high with a wider flame base using two small pieces of wood. We suggest you feed the fire for approximately 4 hours.

When curing your wood fired oven do not use charcoal, pressure treated lumber, chipped wood products, sappy wood such as pine, laminated wood, or any material other than dry, medium- or hard-firewood. Never use liquid fuel (lighter fluid, gasoline, lantern oil, kerosene, or similar liquids) to start or maintain a fire.Do not use water to lower the temperature inside the oven or to extinguish the fire. This will shock the oven and can cause cracks, increase the wear and tear on your oven, and can lead to damaging your oven. Never use a space heater to cure your pizza oven.If you notice black smoke coming from the oven, don’t panic. This occurs at low oven temperatures and you are using low temperatures to cure your oven. Once you reach a high oven temperature, this will disappear. It an output of combustion and the smoke will be a little heavy for the first two days and will dissipate through the rest of the curing process.