Oven temp

[Mr. Toast]

There seem to really be two characteristic temperatures in a wood fired oven: that of the floor, and that of the dome - or maybe the air temperature in the oven; I'm not sure how directly dome and air temp are related. Anyway, can you offer any advice on ideal "settings" for each?

The same question applies to regular bread baking in a wood fired oven: how hot should the floor be, and how hot should the dome be? It's easy to be in a state where the two differ by 200 degrees (or more) so this isn't an academic question.

[Peter Reinhart]

There seem to really be two characteristic temperatures in a wood fired oven: that of the floor, and that of the dome - or maybe the air temperature in the oven; I'm not sure how directly dome and air temp are related. Anyway, can you offer any advice on ideal "settings" for each?

The same question applies to regular bread baking in a wood fired oven: how hot should the floor be, and how hot should the dome be? It's easy to be in a state where the two differ by 200 degrees (or more) so this isn't an academic question.

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Hi Mr. Toast,

You're right about the importance of deck vs. top heat. The answer is, and I don't mean to be facetious, it depends on the oven. Typically, the hearth will absorb and radiate heat directly into the bottom of the loaf and if the deck is too hot the bottoms get burned before the loaf is fully cooked in the center, or caramelized on top. This can also happen the other way around if the deck is cooling off while the ambient air and dome are radiating intensity. Each brand or design has its own peculiarities and personality so you have to play with your oven to find the hot spots, where to build the fire, when to sweep it out, etc. As a rule of thumb, the deck temperature, if you can get a read on it, should be between 425-460 degrees. The ambient temperature at loaf level, should be about the same or slightly higher. In ovens with live fire, the top and dome area will be even hotter, say 500 degrees, and this is okay if the dome is fairly high. For pizzas, the hotter the better, up to 800 degrees or so (in the dome, not the deck, which should be more like 550-600). All of this varies though, as I said, from brand to brand. Your brand or design maker should have some more specific details. Also, Alan Scott and Dan Wing's book, "The Bread Builders," has some great info on this.