Wood-fired pizza is a delicious option for any sauce-and-cheese-lover out there. But there’s more to the story than just the oven you use. You need the best wood for pizza ovens in order to serve up delectable creations in your restaurant.
Finding the best pizza oven wood in Minneapolis can seem daunting with so many options available, though. Not all firewood is equal when it comes to cooking. This is where kiln-dried cooking wood comes in.
Here’s why kiln-dried firewood is the way to go for Minneapolis restaurants.
How Wood-Fired Pizza Ovens Work: Understanding the Basics
So what makes kiln-dried wood superior for pizza ovens? Whether you’re new to operating a pizza oven or simply need a refresher, it’s important to first understand how the oven works on a fundamental level.
Convection, Conduction, and Reflection
Wood-fired pizza ovens rely on active flames from lit firewood to cook the pizza. This works by using three different mechanisms: convection, conduction, and reflective heat.
The convection occurs as the hottest air circulates through the oven, which moves heat evenly across the pizza to help it cook. The heat generated by the firewood directly underneath the cooking floor continuously transfers upward directly into the pizza.
The conductive heat flow maintains the pizza’s internal temperatures and assists in cooking. Reflective heat comes in as the dome-shaped ceiling of the oven reflects the heat from the firewood below onto the top of the pizza.
These three processes work together to produce a delicious, crispy wood-fired pizza in the end.
How Different Wood Types Influence the Cooking Process
The wood species you use to fire your pizza can impact its cook time, flavors, and textures all at once. That’s why it’s so important for restaurants to find the best firewood for pizza ovens ahead of time.
Different wood types burn at different rates and temperatures. For example, hardwood species like maple and oak tend to burn longer and hotter than softwoods. They impart distinct flavors into the pizza. Their high heat and consistent burns ensure every pizza turns out exactly as the customer wants it.
This helps your kitchen stand out in the minds of patrons. Each wood species has unique characteristics to consider before buying.
The Best Wood for Pizza Ovens: Breaking Down Flavors and Cook Times
Which is the right restaurant cooking wood species for you depends on a few different factors. For example, you’ll want to keep wood burn rates in mind and how they extend or shorten cook times.
Most ovens do well with a mix of different hardwoods. Here’s a breakdown of the unique flavors and cook times you can expect from the best wood for pizza ovens.
Oak
Oak is one of the most accessible wood species for restaurant cooking. It can burn very hot for long periods, so you can easily lengthen a pizza’s cook time if needed. Oak also has a consistent burn and doesn’t produce much smoke.
This wood is versatile and doesn’t over-flavor pizza. The flavor it imparts is very mild with a slightly smoky taste, which complements most pizza crusts without overwhelming the taste buds. For this reason, it’s usually a core part of the wood bundles used in pizza ovens.
Hickory
Hickory wood is another must-have for pizza ovens everywhere. Similar to oak, it burns hotter and more consistently than other types of hardwood.
Hickory has a reputation for bringing out the flavors in pizzas with a lot of meat toppings. It also works great for thick crusts that take a bit longer to cook.
The famous hickory flavor profile is smoky with hints of savory barbecue and tiny notes of nuttiness. It often reminds customers of bacon, which is perfect for supreme pizzas or three-meat creations.
Maple
If you’re looking for a sweet undertone in your pizza, maple wood is the way to go. Mixing maple hardwood with other species infuses a noticeable but mild sweetness into the pizza crust. Maple wood often generates slightly smoky flavor notes as well.
However, maple doesn’t burn as hot as other hardwoods, so you should mix it with hotter-burning species in the oven. Some chefs add maple to the mix to better control the burn and balance out high-BTU woods.
Fruit Woods
Fruit woods like apple and cherry add just the right amount of sweetness to wood-fired pizzas. They shouldn’t be the sole heat source for savory pizzas, as their sweetness can overtake the savory notes, but they do add a nice aromatic touch.
Apple and cherry both burn at slightly lower temperatures than oak. They pair well with “core” hardwood species in pizza ovens to balance out the flavor and cook times.
The Benefits of Using Kiln-Dried Wood for Pizza Ovens
There are two main categories of wood: seasoned and kiln-dried. These labels indicate the wood’s drying method. Kiln-dried wood is the best wood for pizza ovens by far.
Seasoned wood is left to dry out naturally over many months or years after it’s cut. The process takes a long time and exposes the wood to the elements, which isn’t ideal for cooking purposes. Seasoned wood often retains a lot of moisture as well, causing an inconsistent and unreliable burn when it’s time to use it.
Kiln-dried wood is fired in a kiln to dry it out exponentially faster, usually within hours or a few days. This comes with many benefits you should consider when selecting firewood for pizza ovens.
Lower, More Precise Moisture Levels
Because the drying process is highly controlled, kiln-dried wood has lower moisture levels. The general guideline is that firewood’s moisture levels should stay below 20%, which is a lot easier to achieve through kiln drying.
Long, Hot, and Consistent Burns
Thanks to its lower moisture content, kiln-dried wood burns at more consistent temperatures. These temperatures are usually longer and hotter than those of seasoned wood. They also produce a consistent cook time, which is essential for serving up good pizza.
No Pesticides or Insects
When you buy seasoned firewood, insects and pesticides are often part of the deal. Kiln-dried firewood isn’t left out to dry in the elements, though, and the kiln kills off any small number of pests that might be present. This is another benefit that makes kiln-dried wood the best wood for pizza ovens.
This type of firewood doesn’t need chemical or pesticide treatments to make it safe for use, either. The high heat of the kiln sanitizes and treats the wood on its own. Because of this, kiln-dried cooking wood produces a very clean burn that’s safer for your customers.
Low Smoke Output
Kiln-dried wood produces less smoke due to the lower moisture levels. Smoke can leave the pizza with an unpleasant flavor and interfere with the food’s quality and cook time. Kiln-dried wood helps you avoid overly-smoky flavors and allows for consistent cook times in your restaurant.
High-Quality Cooking Firewood vs. Cheap Options: What’s the Difference, and Does It Matter?
The quality of your pizza oven fire wood matters a lot. Cheaper, lower-quality options may save you money upfront, but you end up paying for it in the long run.
Less Likelihood of Dealing With Common Wood Issues
High-quality restaurant firewood prevents many of the common problems people experience with cheaper options. For example, cheap seasoned wood usually costs less, but the inconsistent burns and high smoke output negate the price benefits.
Better Flavors
You want to ensure that your pizza oven wood produces delicious flavors that complement all flavor notes. That’s a lot easier when you choose high-quality firewood bundles dried to precise levels and sourced well.
Smaller, Better-Burning Logs
Restaurant-quality firewood orders come with smaller logs, which is beneficial for pizza ovens. Smaller wood pieces burn faster and can give off more flavor within shorter periods, which is ideal for wood-firing individual pizzas.
More Reliable Delivery and Trustworthy Sourcing
If you’re looking for cooking wood delivery, you need to know you can rely on the company to be on time, consistent, and reliable. The wood should be high-quality every time, and if it’s not, you should be able to trust that the company will resolve it.
Choosing higher-quality wood vendors establishes an ideal relationship in which you can trust the product and delivery timelines. After all, your kitchen is relying on the wood to get there
Premium Cooking Wood Delivery From ProCut Firewood
If you’re searching for the best “cooking wood near me,” you’ve found it. At ProCut Firewood, we deliver premium cooking wood to restaurants throughout the Minneapolis area.
We are committed to exceeding our customers’ expectations and consistently delivering quality, reliable wood. Our cooking wood delivery service is fast and easy, and you can expect stellar communication from our team at every step.
Let us help make your restaurant’s pizza stand out and impress your customers. Contact us to learn more about top-quality restaurant wood delivery from our team today.
