A wood fired pizza oven is largely self-cleaning, thanks to the high cooking temperature needed to produce crisp, crunchy bread and pizza crust. The same fire-based temperature that makes pizza from a wood fired oven taste so good also burns away spills and debris. The only regular cleaning you'll need to do is remove the ashes from the oven when they build up.

How to Clean a Wood Fired Pizza Oven:



1. Let the oven return to room temperature; this can take a full day or so, but attempting to clean a hot oven is begging for a burn.



2. Use a shovel or scraper to remove as many of the ashes as you can. Keep a set of dedicated pizza oven tools in a drawer near the oven and they'll always be handy.



3. Use a fine vacuum to pick up any remaining ashes. Vacuum with care, ashes can easily fly all over the kitchen if you point the vacuum head in the wrong direction. Cleaning ashes off of kitchen equipment, floors and counter tops can be very time consuming.



4. Discard the ashes in a bucket with a lid or other seal-able container. You can add the ashes to a compost bin, use them in place of salt to melt ice in the winter or simply discard them when the bucket is full.



Once the ashes are removed, you can resume normal oven use. Clean your oven on a regular schedule or as needed, when the ash builds up inside and begins to affect the cooking area.

Tips:



--Do not use abrasive cleansers or liquid cleaners to clean up spills; the best method of cleaning minor spills is to allow the oven to burn them away.



--The pizza oven cooks with fire and gets very hot. Do not attempt to clean up spills by hand while the oven is in use, or before it has cooled.



--Add "clean the wood fired pizza oven" to a list of monthly kitchen chores and you won't have to worry about encountering a dirty oven again.