10 Things to Cook in a Wood Fired Oven (That Aren't Pizza)

The pizza oven is the most under-used appliance in British gardens

Most people buy a wood fired pizza oven, use it for pizza, and stop there. Which is a bit like buying a Ferrari and only ever driving it to Tesco. A properly insulated handmade oven gives you 6–8 hours of usable cooking time from a single fire — starting at 450°C and falling, in beautifully predictable stages, all the way down to 100°C overnight.

That falling-heat journey is the secret sauce. A pizza oven isn't just a pizza oven — it's a tandoor, a tagine pot, a roasting oven, a bread oven, a smokehouse, and a slow cooker, all in the same chamber. Knowing how to use each temperature stage transforms the oven from a once-a-fortnight pizza event into a regular weekend cooking centre.

Here are 10 things you should be cooking in your pizza oven, in roughly the order you'd cook them across a single fire — from peak heat all the way to morning bread.

The falling-heat timeline

For context: in a well-insulated oven like the XclusiveDecor Royal, a single fire follows this rough trajectory:

• 450°C+ (pizza phase, first hour after fire dies)
• 350–400°C (high roast, next 1–2 hours)
• 250–300°C (medium roast and bread, hours 2–4)
• 180–220°C (slow roast and gratins, hours 4–6)
• 120–160°C (overnight cooking and bread proving, hours 6–10)
• 80–120°C (morning bake from residual heat, hours 10–16)

That trajectory is the menu plan. Now the food.

1. Whole roast chicken (350°C, 25 minutes)

A whole chicken roasted in a wood fired oven at 350°C is one of the great pleasures of garden cooking. The high direct heat caramelises the skin to mahogany crispness in 25 minutes, while the interior stays juicy from the speed of the cook.

Method: Spatchcock a 1.5–1.8kg chicken, season generously with salt, pepper and rosemary, place skin-side up in a cast iron pan. Slide into the oven once the dome is at 350°C with a small live flame still burning. Cook 20–25 minutes, turning the pan once for even browning. Rest 10 minutes before carving.

The smoke flavour is subtle but distinct — a deep background note that you can't achieve in a kitchen oven.

2. Flatbreads (450°C, 60 seconds)

If you've cooked pizza, you can cook flatbreads. Same dough, same launch, same 60-second cook — but no toppings, just a light brush of olive oil and a scatter of sea salt or za'atar. They puff up dramatically in the oven heat.

Excellent for serving alongside dips, mezze platters, or just as a snack for guests while the pizza queue cooks.

Method: Stretch a pizza dough ball thin. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle salt and herbs. Launch into the oven at peak pizza temperature. Cook 45–60 seconds, turning once. Stack and cover with a tea towel to keep soft.

3. Whole roasted vegetables (300°C, 20–30 minutes)

Aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, fennel, onions — whatever's in season. Wood fired roasting transforms them. The high dry heat blisters skin, concentrates sugars, and adds that whisper of woodsmoke that ties everything together.

Method: Toss vegetables in olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread in a cast iron pan or directly on the oven floor (if very clean). Cook at 300°C for 20–30 minutes, turning once.

Pair with grilled meats, scatter over salads, fold into pasta, or pile onto flatbreads with hummus.

4. Sourdough bread (250°C falling to 220°C, 35–40 minutes)

This is the killer app for falling-heat cooking. A wood fired oven at 250°C, with falling heat over 40 minutes, produces sourdough bread that no domestic oven can match. The initial blast gives explosive oven-spring; the falling heat then sets the crust slowly without burning, producing a deep, glossy, mahogany shell.

Method: Cold-proof your sourdough overnight in the fridge. Score the loaf, place into a Dutch oven or directly onto the cooking floor on a sheet of parchment. Cook 20 minutes at 250°C with the lid on (or with a steam tray for direct-bake), then 15–20 minutes with lid off as the heat falls to 220°C.

Tap the bottom for the hollow sound. Cool on a wire rack — don't slice for at least an hour.

5. Slow-cooked lamb shoulder (200°C falling to 160°C, 4–5 hours)

A whole lamb shoulder, slow-cooked over falling heat, comes out fall-apart tender with a deep smoky crust. The slow cook lets the connective tissue break down completely while the wood smoke permeates the meat.

Method: Score the fat, season with salt, garlic, rosemary and lemon zest. Place in a deep oven dish with 200ml of water or wine to create steam. Cover with foil. Cook at 200°C for 1 hour, then reduce as the oven cools naturally to 160°C for another 3–4 hours. Remove foil for the last 30 minutes to crisp the top.

Serve with flatbreads (cooked at peak heat earlier in the session), salads, and a yoghurt sauce. Standout dinner-party food.

6. Baked gnocchi or pasta al forno (220°C, 25 minutes)

A baked pasta dish in a wood fired oven is faster and better than in a kitchen oven. The fierce dry heat browns the top crust quickly while the inside stays bubbling.

Method: Assemble in a cast iron or terracotta dish — gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella, or rigatoni with ragu and béchamel. Top with grated parmesan and breadcrumbs. Bake at 220°C for 20–25 minutes until bubbling and dark gold on top.

7. Roasted whole fish (250°C, 15 minutes)

Sea bass, bream, mackerel, trout — a whole oily fish, scored and stuffed with lemon and herbs, roasted at 250°C in a wood fired oven, comes out crisp-skinned and moist-fleshed with a subtle smokiness that complements rather than overwhelms the fish.

Method: Score the fish three or four times each side. Stuff cavity with lemon slices, garlic, fennel fronds and a sprig of thyme. Brush with olive oil. Roast on a baking tray at 250°C for 12–15 minutes until skin is crisp and flesh flakes at the thickest point.

8. Gratin dauphinois (200°C, 1 hour)

Sliced potatoes, cream, garlic, gruyère. A classic that's even better with woodsmoke. The wood-oven dryness concentrates the cream while the high ambient heat browns the top.

Method: Layer thinly sliced potatoes in a cast iron pan with cream, garlic, salt and pepper. Top with grated gruyère. Cook at 200°C for 50–60 minutes until potatoes are tender and the top is deep gold.

Excellent alongside the slow-cooked lamb shoulder if you're doing a multi-course feast from one fire.

9. Overnight beans or pulled pork (120–80°C, 8–12 hours)

This is where a pizza oven becomes magical. Once the fire has died and the dome temperature has fallen to 120°C, the residual heat in the brick is enormous. A covered casserole left in the oven overnight will continue cooking gently for 8–12 hours — perfect for slow-cooked beans, pulled pork, brisket, or any tough cut that benefits from many hours of low heat.

Method: Late in the evening, when the dome is at 120°C and falling, place a cast iron casserole of seasoned beans (or pork shoulder rubbed and ready) into the oven. Cover with the lid. Close the oven mouth with a wooden block or fitted door. Go to bed.

By morning, the oven will be at 60–80°C and your beans will be perfectly cooked. Pulled pork will be falling-apart tender.

10. Morning bread (60–80°C, slow proof + final bake)

Use the residual warmth of the oven as a proving box. Place a tray of shaped dough rolls into the cold oven overnight; by morning they'll have proved gently in the warmth, and the oven might still have enough heat in the stone to give them a brief finishing bake at 100°C.

If not, transfer them to your kitchen oven for the final cook — but the slow overnight prove in the residual oven warmth produces a noticeably better-textured roll.

Planning a multi-course wood fired meal

The real fun starts when you plan an entire evening around a single fire. Our standard 'big Sunday' itinerary:

3pm: Light the fire. Use the rising heat to roast aubergines and peppers for a starter dip (300°C, 25 minutes).

5pm: Oven hits 450°C. Cook pizzas and flatbreads for starters and main.

6.30pm: Dome falls to 350°C. Roast a whole chicken or fish in a cast iron pan.

8pm: Dome at 220°C. Bake a sourdough loaf or a pasta al forno for the table.

10pm: Dome at 150°C. Slide in a casserole of beans for tomorrow's lunch. Close the oven.

Next morning: Beans ready, oven still warm. Maybe a tray of buns can prove in there before being finished in the kitchen oven.

One fire. A day and a half of cooking. That's the value proposition of a pizza oven that most people never unlock.

The tools you'll need

For everything above, you'll want:

• A good infrared thermometer to track dome and floor temperature
• A long-handled launching peel and a turning peel for pizza work
• Heat-resistant gloves rated to 350°C+
• 2–3 cast iron pans of different sizes for roasting and baking
• A heavy enamelled cast iron casserole (Le Creuset-style) for braises and slow cooks

The complete 6-piece pizza oven tool set covers the peels, brush, shovel and poker for £179. Add cast iron from any quality kitchen supplier.

The point

If you're only using your pizza oven for pizza, you're using maybe 15% of what it can do. Plan a multi-course session, use the falling-heat curve, and discover that the oven you bought to make Friday-night pizzas is also the best cooker in your garden for almost everything else.

Don't have an oven yet? The XclusiveDecor Royal at £999 is the entry point. The Royal Max at £1,599 — with its larger cooking floor — is the better choice if you're planning ambitious multi-course meals.