Lighting a wood-fired oven is quite an art. Particularly if it’s the first time you light it, during which the temperature rise must be gradual.
Mastering the lighting of a wood-fired oven is essential to preserve its performance and avoid cracks or damage to oven parts.
A well-conducted fire also ensures the ideal temperature for successful cooking of your dishes and the authenticity of wood-fired flavors.
In this guide, discover how to light an Ephrem wood-fired oven step by step to guarantee efficient heat-up and optimal cooking.
What you need to light your wood-fired oven
Of course, you need a real refractory mass furnace, such as Ephrem’s individual wood-fired ovens. When you build your own wood-fired oven, you’re choosing a genuine, traditional wood-fired oven that, thanks to the quality of its materials, will enable you to retain the heat produced by the wood fire. The following advice also applies to professional wood-fired ovens.
Don’t forget your wood-fired oven accessories, essential for moving glowing logs and embers without burning yourself, as well as a flashlight, lighter or matches.
Logs need to be split to burn more easily, especially at start-up. For this, you need an axe and a log.
The firelighter
You already know: at Ephrem, we prefer natural products. No kerosene firelighters: opt instead for natural, wood-wool-based products.
Important: never use liquid products to light your wood-fired oven.
The wood
We recommend selecting hard woods such as oak or beech. These burn for a long time and give off a lot of heat, ideal for excellent wood-fired cooking and dishes with authentic flavours. The wood used must be well dried to avoid thick smoke and unpleasant odors in the food. Forget softwoods (fir, pine, spruce): they give a bad taste to the food you’re cooking.
Steps to light your wood-fired oven
Follow each step, step by step, to successfully light your Ephrem wood-fired oven.
Wood preparation
Lighting a fire requires wood of different sizes. You can split a few logs: these burn more easily than whole logs when starting the fire. Small pieces of wood (dry branches, crates) are also very useful for starting the fire before adding larger logs.
Setting up the fire in your wood-fired oven
Oxygen is essential for wood combustion. Air must be able to reach the fire easily: ignition is carried out with the door open until the oven is hot.
Place two split logs parallel to each other on the hearth at the front of the oven. Place kindling and split logs on top. Air must be able to flow under the kindling. Place a firelighter between the two supporting logs and ignite it with a flashlight, lighter or matches.
When the kindling is burning well and nice flames are forming, you can add larger and larger logs. Gradually, using the scraper, move the fire towards the bottom of the oven. Keep adding logs: the vault under the dome will eventually emit a white light, a sign that the oven is sufficiently hot.
Our tip: to speed up the draught at the start of combustion, you can heat the flue pipe with your blowtorch. This facilitates the evacuation of smoke.
Lighting your wood-fired oven for the first time: our advice
During initial start-up, the temperature must be raised gradually to avoid breaking the oven parts and to allow residual humidity to evacuate properly.
When the work is completely dry, you can start a fire on the bottom of the hearth, using kindling and small split logs. Check the size of the flame: it must not touch the top of the roof. This gentle start-up, known as dehumidifying the wood-fired oven, should be carried out over a period of at least two days. From the third day onwards, you can continue or restart your fire to gradually reach a temperature of 200°C.
Maintaining your wood-fired oven
When the oven has cooled down, remove all the ashes so that you can start again with a clean hearth for the next use. Remember also to clean the flue pipe from time to time to remove any soot deposits that may have built up inside.
Tip: After a shutdown lasting several months, it’s a good idea to dehumidify your wood-fired oven again, to remove any residual moisture that may have built up, especially during the cold season.
Photographs : Royalty free
