Publisher's Synopsis
Aside from cooking your food over an open fire, it doesn't get more primal than a traditional wood-fired oven, also known as a wood burning oven. Wood-fired ovens have been used since ancient times by a plethora of cultures, and not only can they make your food taste great, they offer health and environmental benefits, as well.
Perhaps the most famous wood-fired ovens are the ones designed by the ancient Romans, which still appear in many homesteads across Italy. They resemble a large round chamber, usually crafted from stone or terra cotta brick, with an open area in front to vent. Wood is burned inside the chamber, and the raised flat "floor" functions as a cooking surface.
There are 2 methods for baking with a wood-fired oven: door open and door closed. When the door is open, a constant flow of air can feed the burning fire within. This is used for baking (or grilling) foods such as pizza. Pizza need a burning flame and a hot hearth in order to be grilled quickly (about 3 minutes) and have the unmistakable flavour of a wood-fired oven pizza. Bread and most other bakes do not have a burning fire within the chamber while baking. Instead, the oven will have been pre heated and the chamber completely cleared of anything burning. The foods are then placed into the oven and the insulating door (the "stop gap"). The body of the oven releases heat into the chamber and the food bakes
They are designed to absorb the heat from the fire deeply within the body of the oven and for the heat to even out and then to be released back into the chamber during a bake, and then to recharge the oven between batches until the heat is depleted at which point a top up fire might be required. Direct heat ovens tend to be much lighter in construction, typically made from steel and have a separate firebox where a fire is maintained during the bake.
This is good for making the oven more portable but can make maintaining a constant temperature during a bake tricky. Get this book by Sally Smith