If you've invested in a wood-fired pizza oven — whether it's an Ooni, Gozney, Alfa, or a custom-built brick oven — you already know that the wood you use matters as much as the dough. The wrong wood can ruin your pizza with smoke, inconsistent heat, or unwanted flavors. Here's what you need to know.

Why Hardwood (Not Softwood) for Pizza Ovens

Hardwoods like oak, hickory, maple, and ash are dense. They burn slowly, produce high heat, and generate excellent cooking coals. This is exactly what a pizza oven needs — sustained high temperatures (700-900°F) for proper pizza baking.

Softwoods like pine, spruce, and fir are the wrong choice. They burn fast, produce excessive smoke and soot, deposit resin on your food and oven interior, and can't sustain the temperatures needed for good pizza. They also create creosote buildup that's difficult to clean from your oven.

Why Kiln-Dried (Not Seasoned) for Pizza Ovens

Even with the right species, moisture content matters enormously for cooking:

• Seasoned hardwood (20-30% moisture): Produces moderate smoke during the initial burn. That smoke coats your oven interior and can impart bitter flavors to food. It also takes longer to reach cooking temperature because energy is wasted evaporating moisture.
• Kiln-dried hardwood (under 18% moisture): Ignites quickly, reaches cooking temperature faster, produces minimal smoke, and delivers clean heat. Your pizza tastes like pizza — not like smoke.

The Perfect Pizza Oven Fire

• Step 1: Build the fire. Place 3-4 small pieces of kiln-dried hardwood in the center of your oven. Add kindling or a natural fire starter underneath.
• Step 2: Preheat. Let the fire burn for 30-45 minutes. You want the flames to reach the dome of the oven and the floor to absorb heat. The oven walls should be hot to the touch (carefully).
• Step 3: Push coals to the side. Once you have a solid bed of coals, push them to one side of the oven. This gives you a cooking area next to the heat source.
• Step 4: Maintain the fire. Add 1-2 small pieces every 15-20 minutes to keep the temperature up. Don't let the fire go completely out between pizzas.
• Step 5: Cook. Slide your pizza onto the hot floor near (but not in) the coals. Rotate it every 30-60 seconds for even cooking. A proper Neapolitan pizza cooks in 60-90 seconds at 800°F+.

What Size Wood for Pizza Ovens?

Most pizza ovens have relatively small openings and fireboxes. You need pieces that are:

• 12-16 inches long — fits inside most oven openings
• 2-4 inches in diameter — small enough to catch quickly, large enough to sustain heat
• Split, not round — split pieces have more surface area and ignite faster

Our Box product ($39.60) contains compact, uniform pieces that are ideal for pizza ovens. The MEGA BAG ($49.50) also works great and provides more volume for extended cooking sessions or larger ovens.

Wood to NEVER Put in Your Pizza Oven

• Pine, spruce, fir, cedar — too much smoke, soot, and resin
• Treated or painted wood — releases toxic chemicals onto your food
• Wet or green wood — can't reach proper temperature, excessive smoke
• Plywood or particle board — contains glue and formaldehyde
• Charcoal or briquettes — designed for grills, not pizza ovens. They don't produce the flames needed for proper oven cooking.

Get the Right Wood for Your Pizza Oven

Firewood Flex kiln-dried hardwood is cooking-grade quality — under 18% moisture, USDA certified, no chemicals, no treatments. Just clean, hot-burning hardwood that makes your pizza oven perform at its best.

• Box (1.33 cu ft): $39.60 — perfect size for pizza ovens
• MEGA BAG (1.75 cu ft): $49.50 — more volume for regular cooking
• 10-Bag Bundle: $475 — save 4%, stock up for the season

Free delivery to CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VT.

Shop Pizza Oven Wood — Boxes from $39.60 →

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