At Manna from Devon we are the UK's leading experts in wood fired cooking tuition. We've been teaching woodfired cooking classes for over 12 years and it's a joy to see our students go on to create amazing woodfired food.
Woodfired Cooking is so much more than pizzas and we hope we can show you that here on our youtube channel; thanks for dropping by.
We also have a downloadable woodfired pizza masterclass which you can find here - mannafromdevon.podia.com/manna-from-devon-woodfired-pizza-masterclass
We hope you like what we're creating; if you do, why not buy us a virtual coffee on our ko-fi page here - ko-fi.com/mannafromdevoncookingschool
Hi there, I would really appreciate your help. I’m trying to choose an oven for my small back garden as I'm designing it for my disabled mum. I’ll be cooking for her and the rest of the family, which includes about six of us, and I would love an oven that can handle a roast chicken and possibly a full roast lamb. We are Greek Cypriots living in the UK, and in Cyprus, they have big old-fashioned ovens similar to your Bushman. Typically, people either make these ovens themselves or someone makes them for them at an extremely low cost. However, the ALFA oven seems much more reasonable, and I’m wondering if it will be sufficient for our needs. Thank you! Stasios
Hi Stasios there are certainly a lot of different choices out there. Things you should consider are - what kinds of things you want to cook in it what space you have available for the oven and what the access is like how much you want to spend The alfa can certainly cook a roast chicken and much else besides. It has less thermal mass than the traditional ovens like the Bushman so if you wanted to do larger joints or even a whole lamb then you would need to keep the embers burning and creating heat over the longer cooking time whereas the Bushman style ovens can cook these purely with their retained heat. Do check out the recipes we make in the different ovens to see how we use them We can only point out the different options and abilities of the ovens; the final decision is of course down to you, what you want to cook and where you want to site it. Exciting times ! Hope that's helped a little - do let us know if you have any other queries. Happy cooking David and Holly
All your lessons are fantastic. I am inspired to use my oven for many more dishes, especially breads. Your temperatures are they Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Hi Dave, I noticed in the video you make mention of putting the dough even overnight in the fridge; did you mean to do this before the first stage of fermenting the dough? I am making this recipe for the 3rd time and so far it has gotten better every time. This time I had to mix some 00 flour with bread flour (I didn't had enough 00 flour)...hopefully it will turn out all right.
Hi Janet, thanks for your message and I'm glad to hear it's going well. You can retard the dough (put it in the fridge) at any point in the process during the first fermentation phase. I would probably give it 2 - 3 stretch and folds first then into the fridge and at least one more stretch and fold when it comes out. The retardation allows for greater water absorption, gluten development and flavour development, so well worth giving it a go. The addition of bread flour will make a marginal difference to texture although it may be more absorbant than 00 because it contains more bran. The addition bran and germ will bring a little more flavour. Best wishes David
What a great and informative video! I have a question regarding the use of steam when baking sourdough bread. I always bake mine in a dutch oven or clay pot because it will give a great oven spring. I really want to use the retained heat in my wood fired oven though, and bake the bread on the brick oven floor. How can my sourdough bread get a good oven spring without using a dutch oven?
Hi Paul, many thanks for your message and kind words. The old school way to add some humidity is to place a pan of water inside the over (an old bread tin will do) and to add steam with a spray as you add the bread. I haven't found it as reliable for spring as a dutch oven. The high dome doesn't help, a bakery oven would typically have a lower roof. However, the crust is second to none. Best wishes, David
Hi, I have a pizza trailer. Down draft seems to be the problem. The slightest breeze to gusty wind, the more wind the more problem. I can not add length to get more draw. Is there another solution? I was thinking about changing the cap. What would you recommend?
Adding an anti downdraught cowl is probably the solution. These disperse the pressure differential caused by wind blowing across the flue and prevent turbulance in the flue pipe.
Just got the Forno Oven Door. However it doesn’t stand by itself like it seems yours does. Also the handle is placed on the opposite side. It seems the bend on mine is too small and not angled correctly. Did you modify yours somehow?
Hi, thanks for your message. Yes, I did modify it. I placed the handle on the other side of the door. Then I used a rubber mallet to carefully put a little more bend into the base so the door stands on its own. The original set up was too much of a nuisance as it kept falling over.
Hi Janet - thanks for your message and great to hear from you. Do let us know how you get on. What a beautiful part of the world you live in - we loved our time on Vancouver Island. Must come back some day! Best wishes David
Hi Gill - thanks so much for your question and great to hear from you. We don't have a video covering all that but you could join us for one of our hands-on courses here at the cooking school when we can teach you lots about sourdough! Best wishes David
@@gilldickinson4428 Hi Gill - all the details and dates are on the website on the following link - www.mannafromdevon.com/cookery-courses/bread-making/sourdough-saturday/ Hope that helps. If you have any queries or would like to book in, just email us on ~ info@mannafromdevon.com Best wishes David
I am a simple Texan……. Born cooking briskets and such. I just purchased my first wood fired pizza oven. I have watched 6 videos on making pizza dough- and all this talk about hydration levels - bigas- and things I have zero clue what they mean is very intimidating and while they show off a nice dish they do very little of passing along knowledge……. Then I watched my 7th video (yours) it’s brilliant…….. I actually thought hydration was very complicated but you explained how simple it really is………I live your style of video……and thank you sir…….. now I’m off to watch your next video and what we do with this big blob of dough:)
Quick question.. If I'm doing the traditional style that would be resting for 2 hours then shape with another rest 4-6 hours. My questions is about the yeast.. Do I increase from 5g to 10g?
Hi Jacqueline, thanks for your message and thanks for watching. I would use pyrex when there is no fire in the oven and the temperature is below 275c/525f. Pyrex state that the product is safe up to 300C/575f. Similarly we regularly use earthenware and ceramics in the ovens but only at lower temperatures below 275c/525f. 👍
@mannadavid Thanks for the reply! Your videos convinced me to get into wood fired cooking and pick up the Morso Forno a few years back. My son used to ask "Is that a Mana video?" whenever he heard that catchy intro music...any chance we might see more in the near future?
You gave your ciabatta much more folding and stretching like those from the USA as compared to the real Italians - from Italy not USA. Since ciabatta was born in Italy, I tried to try the authentic Italian method after baking my ciabatta like you do and the rest. One thing strikingly common among those from Italy gave their dough almost very little kneading, almost no stretching and folding. AND wallah ........ I think the less stress the dough gets, the better are the rewards, as far as my taste goes. Less exercise, less muscle for the bread.........hahaha !
great ideas. Wondering what the "silicon" is made from. What is it. Could it be something we have in America that uses a different name ? anyone is welcomed to answer this question, take a stab. VERY HELPFUL VIDEO, ONly problem is when I bake bread I love to eat it ! Love it too much ! .
Been making wood fired pizzas for about 8 years, always struggled with making the dough, thanks for your wonderful explanations of what is happening in the dough as it ferments, rests, develops gluten etc. This really filled a few gaps in my knowledge. Also, has anyone ever said that you look a bit like Harold Bishop from Neighbours? Cheers and much respect from Brett.
Thanks so much for your video and recipe! We have a Forno Bravo WFO and host large pizza parties often upwards of 50-80 guests. It would simplify things if I could make this GF crust ahead and proof in the refrigerator for 24 hours inside a proofing box. Would this be possible? The recipe says 4 hours minimum. Thanks for your help!
Hi Royston, thanks for your message. Putting the flu at the rear is not a good idea. The traditional design of ovens, with the flu at the front, keeps the heat in the oven for as long as possible and brings the heat over the top of your food as it cooks. It's a very efficient design. if you put the flu at the back cool air will be drawn into the front of the oven and hot air will zip straight out again before it has a chance to provide heat to the oven. A common technique is to position the flue at the front but then to bend the flue pipe back over the top of the oven and embed it beneath the insulation. Known as squirrel tailing this takes the flue back over the oven and can provide heat feedback from the flue pipe back into the oven, increasing efficiency further.
What kind of mozzarella cheese are you using sir? I always use fresh Buffalo Mozzarella cheese, but it tends to releases a lot of moisture while cooking it, which makes my pizza soggy... Could you please offer some advice?
Thanks for your comment and great question. we use fresh mozzarella too and as you say it does release a lot of moisture making your pizza soggy. We get round this by taking the mozzarella out of the liquid a couple of hours before we wnt to use it, cut them in half and then place them on thick kitchen paper on a small board. The excess moisture drains into the paper and is easy to rip into smaller pieces and use so your pizzas aren't soggy any longer. Hope that helps - happy cooking! Best wishes David
I have a Roccbox oven and I'm buying equipment so I can do the baking in your excelleng videos. In your videos I see you use several different size plastic mixing bowls for different purposes. What is the plastic, what sizes do you recommend I get, how many of each size should I get and from where? Thanks, Tony
Hi Tony, sorry for taking a while to respond. They are Whitefurze bowls. Google Whitefurze mixing bowls and you'll get plenty of options. I use 20cm, 25cm and 30cm bowls. Get a couple of each as they are inexpensive but last for ages.
Hi Tony - thanks for your message and great question. If a pan is in need of more than warm water and washing up liquid then we use baking soda. More info on how to use it here - www.armandhammer.com/articles/how-to-clean-a-burnt-pan
Dear Sir, I was wondering what kind (and brand) of the silicon sheet you are using as most only go to little over 200 C ? Where can I buy one of those? Great video! Cheers!
Hi Robert - thanks for your message and great to hear from you. We got them on ebay or amazon but it's been a while so can't be exact. some of them do go to higher temperatures so do keep searching. Happy cooking, best wishes, David and Holly
HI there - thanks for getting in touch and great question The doors have a variety of uses. In general terms we don't use the doors on the refractory and metal ovens when there is a fire in the oven as oxygen needs to get to the fire to keep it going and the doors will stifle this. We will use the doors in these ovens when we are cooking with just retained heat or a bed of embers that isn't giving off any fumes. and then we can use the door at lower temperatures to keep the temperature up or even raise it but if there are embers giving off fumes, we'll leave them ajar so the fumes can escape up the flues. with the cast iron oven, you need a fire going all the time as it has little to no retained heat. In this case we will use the door but offset it so the air can still get to the fire to deliver oxygen. It also helps create an oven within the oven by stabilising the air movement especially on a windy day, so you're protecting the fire and keeping the temperature up. we will of course use the oven without the door if there is a good fire burning and we are cooking something quick like a pizza. Lots more on our video all about doors if you follow this link - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Vbw9-biWJV0.html
@@mannadavid thank you for the detailed clarification! so if I'm interested in building an oven and insulate heat WHILE the fire is burning, what are the most important factors for insulation, material? material thickness? shape of cavity? size of oven? size of oven opening?
@@zzzzzz69 some of the most important things that people forget is to insulate underneath your oven and also not to go too big. We use our smallest refractory oven - internal 80cm - more than any other and can happily feed a family or a crowd from it as well as firing it up for day to day use. In terms of building one there are lots of plans etc and oven building groups on the internet which would be better to research. We have cooked on many many ovens but we're not building specialists so do check them out for inspiration.
@@mannadavid actually your answer made me wonder whether the 75cm size of the Morso would be way more efficient if only it's better insulated on all sides
Hi Craig. There's a click through in the description to our accompanying blog which has links to the peels and where we bought them. Hope that helps. Best wishes, David
I've just built an outdoor pizza oven and designed it with the flue coming out of the top of the dome 🤡😖 - the (at least partial) saving grace is that the flue has a damper/shutoff. Obviously if I had my time again, I'd have designed the oven differently, i.e. with the flue at the front and lower than the top of the arch - but it is what it is, and I'm wondering how best to manage it and get it up to temperature? Presumably get a vigorous fire going with the damper half-closed, and then close the damper completely to retain the cooking heat? Thanks!
Getting the oven up to temperature shouldn;t be too much of a problem. Light the fire with the flue wide open nd let it get burning nicely so the flue is drawing well before closing it partially. Play with how much you close it so the flue contines to draw exhaust fumes and doesn't smoke from the door. Sread your fire more widely around the oven to get heat into the walls without losing too much up the flue. If you intend to cook without fire then there is no problem because you can completely close the flue to cook. However, if you intend to cook with a fire burning, as for pizza and other quick dishes, you will need to keep the flue open at least partially. In this case you will need more fire burning to adjust the heat lost up the flue. You'll use more fuel but apart from that it should work ok.
@@mannadavid thanks so much, very much appreciated. Am still kicking myself I didn't build it the optimum way, albeit it was in quite a restricted space so a longer oven would have been tricky. In doing the initial curing light-ups, as you say, it's got up to temperature no problem, but keeping it that way has been the challenge Will follow your advice and let you know how it goes 🙏
Found you today after hand surgery, ( nothing else to do, blessing)love your explanation of everything, I watched your Kubota bread recipe just curious, are you bringing the oven to the degree in Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Hi David, Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I subscribed directly because this is the content I'm looking for. Such ovens are suitable for so much more than pizza. What internal cooking size would you recommend for cooking 4-6 persons? Greetings from Germany, Tim
Hi Tim, thanks for your comments. This not the easiest question to answer because it depends on the sort of cooking you intend to do. I think that for most people a 60cm internal diameter masonry oven will be sufficient. The smaller size is quicker to heat, more economical and can turn out a surprising amount food. Occasionally, when you want to cook several dishes at one time or when you have a large party it won;t be enough, but only occasionally. Regarding steel ovens I would reccomend a 60 x 80 like the Alfa 4 Pizze. It's more spacious but still very economical so you may as well enjoy the larger floor space.
@@mannadavid Hi David, thanks for your reply. I want an outdoor kitchen to do mostly all cooking tasks outdoors. I have a nice kitchen indoors but cooking outside is fun. For example making bacon and eggs for breakfast on my grills side burner at 0°C is a great start for a winters weekend. I like to cook in bigger portions and freeze leftovers to have quick but good meals on busy days. I love low and slow cooked meat and stews. My conventional electric oven reaches it's limits according cookware size. My 40 cm carbon steel pan doesn't fit in there and I have other big skillets/roasting pans/dutch ovens on my wishlist. I though about an 60-80cm masonry oven which suits your recommendations. I will "work" me trough your videos to get even more ideas for buying/building one of those ovens. The only downside watching your videos is that I'm getting hungry no matter what time it is 😋 Again thanks for your time and effort making those videos, please continue doing it!
