Cleaning and Caring for Your Pizza Oven

Just like a regular oven, your pizza oven likes to be cleaned and cared for. This guarantees that you won’t have any unwanted smells or flavours when cooking your famous world-class pizza. But you can’t just grab the old Ajax Spray ‘n’ Wipe bottle and go ham on your brick pizza oven; there are a few specific tips and techniques to keep in mind when it’s time to clean it. So, let’s take a look at some of the big tips when cleaning and caring for your pizza oven.

Wait for it to cool down

Attempting to clean the pizza oven if it’s still hot? BIG mistake. It’s best to leave the pizza oven to cool down overnight before cleaning it. Cleaning hot pizza ovens can not only be dangerous for you, the cleaner, but also detrimental to the pizza oven itself as it can sustain cracking in the brick.

Cleaning the inside of it

The inside of your pizza oven is the most crucial area to clean. You’ll find dirt, ashes, grease and food residue inside your pizza oven which can affect the taste of your food.

• Remove the ashes each time you go to use your pizza oven. This can be done by using a shovel or copper brush to dig or scrape them out.
• Clean grease stains using a sponge and a mixture of water and vinegar. This will cut through the grease nicely. Don’t use detergents or cleaning products on your pizza oven, as the stone can absorb these products, tarnishing the taste of your food. Don’t use too much water either as this can cause cracking in the stone.
• Remove creosote so that you’re not risking a fire. This is a serious fire hazard if creosote builds up in your pizza oven without cleaning it.

Cleaning the exterior

The exterior of your pizza oven may also become dirty due to soot and falling food. The way you clean your exterior will depend on whether your pizza oven is brick or stainless steel. Simply contact an expert at The Wood Fired Co to find out cleaning tips for the exterior of your oven.

Cleaning the chimney

Like all chimneys, pizza oven chimneys present a fire hazard if soot isn’t cleaned out regularly. Simply use a brush to clean out the soot in your pizza oven. Inspect your soot levels regularly and clean when they reach 1/8 of an inch. Cleaning and caring for your pizza oven is just like maintaining a regular oven – do it regularly and you won’t have any issues. If it’s time to invest in your very own pizza oven, get in touch with the team at The Wood Fired Co. They engineer world-class pizza ovens right here in Australia, using Aussie materials to create a durable wood-fired oven. Check out their stunning range at affordable prices online, or contact The Wood Fired Co today to start your pizza oven journey.