About Your Oven
A Priceless Investment In Family Experience
At Authentic Pizza Ovens, we specialize in bringing you the finest handcrafted wood-fired pizza ovens. Our ovens are carefully made in a small village near Rio Maior, just north of Lisbon, Portugal, by skilled artisans who uphold centuries of traditional craftsmanship.
Few experiences compare to the joy of cooking and sharing a meal with family and friends. With an authentic wood-fired pizza oven in your backyard, you can enjoy hands-on cooking—from kneading the dough and choosing fresh toppings to baking delicious, piping-hot, wood-fired pizzas together.
The distinctive flavor of wood-fired pizza, with its signature crispy crust and smoky finish, is unmatched. What’s more, you can enjoy restaurant-quality pizza at home for a fraction of the cost.
Related: Pizza Perfection on a Budget: Affordable Gourmet at Home
But an Authentic Pizza Oven is more than just a cooking tool—it’s a lasting investment in family memories, culinary tradition, and the enjoyment of homemade meals.
Our ovens are crafted from premium natural materials like refractory firebrick, designed to withstand high heat and outdoor conditions. For long-lasting durability, we recommend protecting your oven with one of our custom pizza oven covers when not in use, especially during harsh weather.
These covers help protect your oven from dust, moisture, and extreme conditions, ensuring that it stays in top condition for years to come.
Visit our Accessories Page to explore cover options and more.
Preparing Your Oven: The Traditional "Curing" Process
Just like the authentic wood-fired ovens used across Europe, our ovens require a curing process to reach their full potential. Begin by starting a small fire to dry out any moisture within the oven. Repeat this process daily for five days for optimal results.
Each Authentic Pizza Oven comes with a built-in thermometer (in Celsius) to help you monitor oven temperature, though for maximum accuracy, we recommend using an infrared thermometer.
Visually, you'll know the oven is ready when the brick surfaces transition from black to white, indicating that the charcoal has burned off.
Embracing the Character of Your Oven
As with any high-quality, handmade pizza oven, small cracks may appear during the curing process. These cracks are completely normal and add to the unique character of your wood-fired oven.
Cracks can form around the dome or seams and will expand and contract with temperature fluctuations. Many European pizza oven owners embrace these cracks as they signify a well-seasoned oven.
To maintain the oven's appearance and functionality, we include a repair kit with every traditional brick pizza oven to patch any minor cracks. However, these superficial cracks do not affect the performance of your oven.
Additionally, the concrete base of the oven may show slight signs of wear or crumbling around the edges. This is another characteristic of handcrafted pizza ovens and can be easily repaired with Ultra Fire Crack Repair or mortar. Gaps in the dome or floor are also normal and part of the handmade process.
Each oven is uniquely crafted, ensuring that no two wood-fired pizza ovens are the same, making your backyard as individual as you are.
Read: Safety, Compliance, and Combustion Guide
MAKE SURE TO READ THROUGH ALL OF THE CURING AND CARE INSTRUCTIONS HERE
Here are video examples of our products and their uses:
WATCH HOW OUR OVENS ARE MADE HERE
This video will show you how to repair cracks that will appear.
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