Wood-Fired Pizza Oven Components

Stand and Insulating Hearth

• A traditional pizza oven is supported by a stand that elevates it off the ground or floor level. For ovens that are permanently installed outdoors, the stand is generally constructed from concrete blocks, brick or stone. Stands for portable or indoor ovens often sit on lightweight metal stands. The stand supports the insulating hearth, a two-part layer of standard concrete and concrete mixed with insulating material. The insulating hearth absorbs heat from the fire so that it can radiate back into the oven and prevents the escape of heat through the bottom of the oven.

Oven Floor and Dome

• The floor of the oven rests on the insulating hearth. It is comprised of brick or insulating tiles, and it provides the surface on which the fire is built and the pizza is baked. The oven floor is surrounded by a dome built of firebrick joined together by a special heat-resistant mortar. The dome is generally either a barrel vault or a round igloo-shaped dome. A layer of insulating concrete surrounds the dome and prevents heat loss.

Landings

• The oven landing is a flat space directly in front of the oven floor on which food is placed when it is being put in or removed from the oven. The landing provides a convenient resting spot for the pizza outside the oven chamber and away from the heat of the fire. Another landing, the vent landing, is directly outside the oven door; this is another resting spot even farther from the oven heat.

Vent and Chimney

• In contrast to a fireplace, a pizza oven vents smoke and hot vapors through its front opening rather than through a flue inside the oven chamber. The vent is a structure outside and above the oven opening that collects smoke and exhaust gases and directs them upward into a chimney. The chimney may be either a short channel that simply directs smoke safely away from the oven or a flue that connects to a full-scale chimney system. The former is common in outdoor ovens while the latter is necessary in indoor ovens.