A Beginner’s Guide to Wood Fire Cooking

Live fire is unpredictable, making the inexperienced prone to wasting product. Check out these tips to avoid going down in flames.

• Use properly cleaned and cured or kiln-dried wood to avoid smoking your kitchen out with moisture and dirt
• Leave space away from the walls to maintain a free flow of oxygen for a clean burn with little smoke
• To save oven floor space, build your wood up vertically in a crosshatched tower formation
• For food that requires intense high heat and short cooking time (like flatbreads), maintain a constant flame by adding wood before it reduces to ember
• For lower and slower cooking times, build a fire, seal off the oven and let the wood burn down to embers, adding more only occasionally during service to maintain the temperature

About the Author: Mike Sula is an award-winning writer who travels the world for wood fired cooking.