Flame on the dome, coals on the floor. That is the whole job, and it is why a pizza oven is fussier about wood than a braai is. A braai wants coals. A pizza oven wants both at once: a live flame licking across the roof to keep the dome hot, and a bed of coals pushed to one side to hold the floor. The wood you choose decides how fast you get there and how long it stays.
What a pizza oven asks of its wood
Three things. It must light and build quickly, because you are bringing a lot of masonry up past 400°C and an hour is about as long as anyone wants to wait. It must burn with a clean flame, because you are cooking three feet from the smoke. And it must leave coals that hold, so you are not rebuilding the fire between the second and third pizza.
Hardwood does this. Small, dense pieces do it best. Big split logs meant for a fireplace sulk in a pizza oven; the same wood split small gets going in minutes.
The wood we’d send
Sekeldoring (sekelbos) – the pick
Kameeldoring’s fierce little brother. Smaller pieces of dense Namibian hardwood that light faster than kameeldoring, burn fiercer, and still settle into good coals. That is precisely the pizza-oven brief: quick flame for the dome, a coal bed that lasts the evening. If you only buy one bag for the oven, buy this one. Sekeldoring, ±18kg bag · all Namibian hardwood.
Rooikrans – the Cape classic
The wood Cape Town grew up on. Easy to light, hot, quick to coal, and harvested in the Western Cape from invasive alien clearing. It burns a bit faster than the Namibian hardwoods, which in a pizza oven is no bad thing: you get to temperature sooner. Sold as a bulk bag of about 20 pieces, and loose by the bakkie-load from October to March if you have covered storage.
Blackwattle – local hardwood, local price
Denser than bloekom, burns hotter and leaves better cooking coals. Harvested in the Western Cape from alien clearing, like rooikrans. A good oven wood for people who like a bit more staying power than rooikrans gives without going to Namibian hardwood. Blackwattle, ±20kg bag.
Blue Gum (bloekom) – the everyday wood
The nightly fireplace wood, and it will run a pizza oven perfectly well if it is what you have. Split it smaller than you would for the kaggel and feed it more often. Hot flame, honest price. Blue Gum / Bloekom, ±20kg bag.
Two extras worth knowing
Kameeldoring for the long night. The king of braai wood is slower to light than sekeldoring, but once it is in there it makes a coal bed that holds and holds. If you are doing pizzas for a crowd, or running an oven for a whole service, a base of kameeldoring coals with sekeldoring on top for flame is the set-up we would use ourselves.
Wingerd stompies for fragrance. Dried vine from wine country: lights in moments, coals fast, and the smoke is sweet. Two or three pieces on the coals before a flatbread or a white pizza, and the dough tastes of it. Wingerd stompies.
Keep these out of the oven
Pine and other resinous softwood. Fine as kindling to get things going; wrong as fuel. The resin smokes, coats the dome, and you taste it.
Treated, painted or pallet wood. Offcuts, old furniture, anything with a stamp or a stain. It burns off chemicals onto food. Not once, not for a quick heat-up.
Wood that hasn’t been seasoned and stored under cover. Green or rained-on wood steams instead of burning. Low heat, thick smoke, an oven that never quite gets there. All our bagged wood is seasoned and kept under cover before it goes on the truck.
Running the fire
Light small. A handful of kindling and one firelighter in the middle of the floor. Add wrist-thick pieces as it catches; don’t smother it.
Let the dome clear. The roof goes black with soot as the oven warms. Keep a good flame across it until the black burns off and the dome turns pale again. That is your sign the oven is ready, not the clock.
Push it to one side. Move the fire and coals to the left or the back, sweep the floor, and keep one small flame alive on the coal bed. From here on you feed it one piece at a time, just enough to keep flame on the dome. Too much wood now is the classic mistake: a roaring fire cooks the top before the base.
Piece size matters more than species here. About 25–30cm long, split to the thickness of your wrist. Our bagged Namibian hardwood and blackwattle come in that sort of size; bloekom you may want to split once more.
For a restaurant oven
A service is four or five hours, and the mistake we see is feeding flame all night. Build a proper coal bed before doors open, kameeldoring if you can, and run sekeldoring on top for the flame. The bed carries the floor; the flame is only there for the dome. It uses less wood, the oven is steadier, and nobody is stoking at nine o’clock.
We supply restaurants, guest houses and function venues on standing orders. If you run a wood oven, WhatsApp 060 978 8945 and we will set one up.
How much wood for a pizza night
As a rule of thumb: one ±18kg bag of sekeldoring is a full pizza evening for a family, with plenty left for the next one. For a crowd and an oven running three or four hours, plan on two bags. Bloekom, being lighter, you will get through a little faster. Not sure? Work it out.
Ordering
Order online and it is delivered across Cape Town, carried in and stacked, typically within 1–2 business days. Or collect free from the factory shop at 35 Tredoux Street, Parow. Delivery is one flat fee per drop for your area, so a few bags cost the same to deliver as one.
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Questions we get asked
Can I use braai wood in a pizza oven?
Yes. The best braai woods are the best oven woods; the only difference is the piece size. Split it smaller.
Can I use charcoal in a pizza oven?
Charcoal gives heat but no flame, and the dome needs flame. Use wood. A few lumps of lump charcoal on the coal bed will hold the floor if the fire is dying and you still have dough.
How long does the oven take to heat up?
Depends on the oven. A small steel oven can be ready in half an hour; a brick oven wants an hour or more. Watch the dome, not the clock.
Does the wood change the taste?
A little. Hardwood smoke is clean and sits in the background. Stompies are the one that you notice, in a good way.
