【Men's Kitchen】Challenging "Pizza Making" with a wood stove + iron plate to achieve the perfection of professional oven baking

I have previously had experience with campfire pizza using a pizza oven, but since I have this wood stove, I want to challenge myself to achieve the finish of oven baking. I placed a homemade pizza made from scratch on a small iron plate and tried baking it to enjoy the best moment possible.

Aiming for authentic pizza like those baked in a wood-fired oven

Since purchasing the wood stove, I have been engrossed in researching wood-fired cooking. And today, I am challenging myself to make "pizza." Although I have previously tried making pizzas over an open fire, I thought it might be possible to create authentic pizza like that from a wood-fired oven, so I decided to make wood-fired pizza.

Struggles in choosing a 20cm deep pizza pan that fits in the wood stove

I have accumulated knowledge from my previous experiences in making pizza dough, and I had a mental image ready; however, the surprisingly difficult part was choosing the "pizza pan." There are various materials like stone plates and iron plates, as well as different sizes and shapes. The most challenging aspect was finding a size that would fit into the small oven, and I finally managed to get an iron pizza pan.

Iron has high heat retention, and I'm worried that the underside might burn, but will it be okay?

The key toppings are capers, garlic, and mayonnaise.

I will proceed to prepare the ingredients for baking the pizza. For the toppings, I will prepare shrimp, which I love, as well as bell peppers, mushrooms, and bacon. Upon reflection, since it is planned to be a small pizza, I don't need this many types.

The selection of garlic, capers, and mayonnaise has a good feeling about it.

Two rounds of fermentation by intuition! The dough-making process has been completed in no time.

The ingredients for this dough are as follows.

【Dough Ingredients】
Bread flour 200g
Dry yeast 6g
Salt 2g
Warm water 128cc

Dissolve the yeast in warm water and combine it with the bread flour. The reason for dissolving it in warm water is to shorten the fermentation time, and I have also tried increasing the amount of yeast compared to before. Normally, too much yeast can spoil the flavor and make it tough, but there have been times when changing the quantities on a whim led to good results, so I will proceed without fear of failure and follow my instincts.

While kneading, the dough began to come together and was no longer sticking to my hands. Once the surface became smooth, I shaped it into a round and let it rise for the first fermentation. I applied olive oil and covered it with a damp cloth, leaving it to sit for about an hour.

After that, I divided it into four parts to fit the pizza pan, and the state for the second fermentation is shown in the image above. Since they are all in the same bowl, the division into four parts is almost meaningless, but the fermentation has successfully completed. I didn't measure the time here either; it's all based on intuition. It’s surprisingly easy to do. The wood stove has been sufficiently heated, so it's finally time to bake it.

The tension of the wood stove, will the pizza bake properly?

I rolled out the dough to match the pizza pan and added the toppings. What I was careful about here was not to put on too much pizza sauce or too many toppings. This is to avoid having too much moisture left, which would make the dough appear undercooked, depending on how well it bakes.

Now, it’s time to put it in the oven! The size of the pizza pan feels just right. What I worried about was the uneven heat distribution. I only had an image of success, but as soon as I put it in, I started to feel anxious. I remembered the pizza artisan moving the pizza around in the oven, and I felt like I understood why, but in this situation, I didn't have any tools to move it. Reluctantly, I decided to let it bake as it was.

From what I can see on the surface, it seems to be baking nicely, but I expected it to heat up more rapidly. It might have been a bit low in temperature. It seems that it won’t burn without moving it.

Indeed, pizza-making is deep and profound, but it looks like it’s going well.

The appearance is somewhat good. I had imagined a texture that was sizzling on the surface, so I was a bit disappointed, but it seems like the dough and the ingredients are thoroughly cooked.

The dough is crispy and has a chewy texture, and the ingredients were cooked properly as well. The garlic, capers, and mayonnaise are good accents, making this tasty.

If there’s room for improvement, I feel that baking the pizza at "high temperature for a short time" is best, so I honestly hope to get the settings right.

Cleaning the wood stove with soot

I cooked, so not only soot but also a lot of oil stains got onto it. Regarding camping gear, I believe it’s meant to be used, so I don’t mind the dirt, but for the glass, I want it to be clean to enjoy the fire in the oven.

For soot, it can be removed by rubbing with ash, but what about oil stains? I’ve prepared some detergent just in case, but since it will involve rinsing with water, I prefer not to use it too much. By the way, soot (ash) acts as a polishing agent, so it seems effective to clean using soot.

It seems that the wood stove might be useful for everyday cooking as well

After wiping it with soot, I found that it could clean oil stains beautifully. With this, it seems like I can cook vigorously without worry, so I feel I can try things with more creative ideas. I felt that it could be a useful cooking tool even outside of camping, so I'm really glad I bought the wood stove. It seems like there are still many uses that can increase.

Interview and text by Kazuma Tanaka

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