The time has finally come, the six day curing process for my wood fired oven is over! It has been a long 6 days. I was lucky to have a good stretch of weather that lasted 6 days straight. The weather is suppose to change tonight and bring cold temperatures and rain. It was actually a lot of fun to cure this oven. Of course, it is much more fun when the weather is nice. I think it would have been miserable if the weather had been cold and wet.

In the beginning, I looked at this curing process as a major chore that had to be endured to get to the point where I could finally use my oven. Surprisingly, this process was not a chore at all and was a actually a tremendous amount of fun. I learned a lot about building, stoking and controlling the fire in the oven. It is not like a campfire where you light it and let it go. In the oven, you need to be alert that you are not exceeding each days curing temperature and you have to be constantly manipulating the fire to keep it from getting to hot or too cold.

Today, I got the oven to a constant 800 degree temperature with a few spikes in the dome reaching close to 950 degrees. I noticed something today that I had not noticed on any other day. The black soot in the oven that had covered ¾ of the dome was now gone. When the oven reached 800 + degrees the black soot all but vanished. I have read that this means the water is finally out of the oven and it is cured. I am not sure if that is correct, but I am confident my oven is finally cured and ready for its first hot cooking fire.

Just before closing the door on the oven so that it would stay at temperature for the next several hours, I toasted the completion of my six day odyssey with a Bloody Mary! Yum!

Lessons I learned from the curing process;

Be cautious and careful to not exceed each days temperature by to much. However, realize that it will happen, it is normal for the temperature to spike and the oven will not crack wide open. Relax, have a cold drink and monitor the fire. Black soot is going to stain the outside of your oven near the door and vent. Don’t freak out, it is part of the charm. If you don’t like the stain use some soap and water and wash the soot off when the oven is cool. Always use dry, kiln dried or seasoned hardwood. If you do not know for certain that your wood is dry do not use it! Bring the oven to temperature and keep it there or slightly above for at least 3 hours. Once you reach the 3 hour time limit, let the fire burn down to white hot coals and close the door. The oven will stay at temperature for at least another 3-4 hours and will slowly cool down over the next 12 hours. Don’t panic if you see a hairline crack. My first and only hairline crack appeared on the 5th day. It was very small and you can hardly notice it. It also did not go all the way through. Small hairline cracks on the exterior and inside the dome are common and are caused be the expansion and contraction caused by the heat and cool down. Use the 6 days as a learning experience. View these days as training for how to fire and control your oven.

I hope that the last 6 days of blogging about this experience will help those who are thinking about buying a wood fired oven. A wood fired oven is truly an investment in your quality of life and food preparation. I can not wait to spend this summer cooking and experimenting with this oven.

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