Zesti Z1100 User manual

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Lighting your Wood Fired Oven
Below is the correct curing and lighting procedures for a Zesti Woodfired Oven. The
refractory dome which is the internal element of the oven which absorbs the radiant
heat from a wood fire comes to you in a green uncured state.
Close attention and care must be taken when following these instructions or the
warranty will be none and void on the product and at no time must it be lit differently.
Before lighting your Zesti Oven for the first time make sure that the floor of the oven has
been swept and vacuumed to remove any residue left from the installation process.
1) Light a small kindling fire in the mouth of the oven, just off the front Stainless
Steel protective plate. (Not on the Stainless Steel plate)
2) Place a piece of dry , natural, hard wood (not from a building site) with a length
of 250mm and a thickness of 80mm, length ways into the mouth of the oven
front to back.
3) Place 3 firelighters hard up against the piece of wood in a row on one side only.
4) Place finer kindling with a length of 200mm with a thickness of no more than
40mm, as a roof over the firelighters from the main piece of wood to the brick
hearth of the oven.
5) Light the firelighters and allow the kindling to take light and burn well with a
cracking sound.
6) With your pizza peel, slowly push the kindling fire to the fourth and fifth row of
bricks, starting the count from the first row of exposed bricks after the Stainless
Steel protective plate. Great care must be taken not to leave the kindling fire in
the starting position for a great length of time, as this will only cause
discolouration to your feature stainless steel arch and flue and can cause pre-
mature cracking on the front of the refractory dome, due to uneven heating
during the light-up process.

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7) The refractory dome when installed is green and uncured so once the kindling
fire is moved to the 4th and 5th row of bricks no more than 1 piece of wood with
the dimensions of 250mm x 100mm to be placed on the kindling fire at one time,
otherwise overheating and cracking of the uncured refractory dome may occur.
As each piece of wood burns and breakdowns to charcoal, only then must
another piece be added. This process must continue for a period of 4 to 5 hours
at this time the refractory domes internal surface will turn black from the soot of
the burning wood and steam will be released from behind the front stainless
steel arch and some water trails may be evident on the upstand, on which the
oven is seated on. This is normal and it may take up to 2 to 3 lightings on
separate occasions for the steam to eventually stop.
8) Once the oven stops steaming, you can then add another 2 pieces of wood to
your fire (no more) giving you a total of 3 pieces of wood burning at one time.
This will give you a fire big enough to be licking the roof of the refractory dome,
but not coming forward of the stainless steel door jam on the stainless steel
front arch. This fire will take a period of 40 min to take the oven up to its top
temperature of 700°. When the oven reaches its top temperature patches of
white will appear on the roof of the refractory dome and will slowly join up and
spread to the entire internal surface of the refractory dome. Once this occurs,
the oven has heat-soaked to its optimum firing temperature and will give you 8
to 9 hours of roasting temperature without a flame.
9) When the whitening of the dome as been achieved, you then must chose what
you will then be cooking and below are the 2 set-up procedures for either
cooking pizza, fast entrees or for the slow roasting of meats.
(a) For Pizza:
Follow the above lighting procedure of 40min to max temperature with no
more than 3 pieces of wood burning at one time to achieve whitening of the
dome. At this stage you will be left with a small pile of coals burning in the
centre of the oven floor. When cooking pizza, these coals are moved over to
the left or the right of the oven hearth and the floor of the oven is then
cleaned with a semi-wet, clean mop, to remove dust and ash from the
lightening procedure. A smaller piece of wood with the dimensions of
200mm x 100mm is then placed on top of the coals, which will then self-
combust and will act as a pilot light to maintain top-end temperature of 700°
for proper pizza baking. Only 1 piece of wood at a time is needed to
maintain this temperature for as long as you wish to cook pizza when using
fresh dough, transfer the pizza to a well floured (or semolina) pizza peel and
then vibrate off the peel directly onto the floor of the oven to cook. Pizza
generally will take 3 to 4 minutes to cook and may require at least a couple a
turns.

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*Please note the roasting door provided is only to be used for roasting, NOT
when there is a fire burning inside the oven as in the pizza cooking
procedure. The fire and pilot light must have a steady flow of oxygen from
the mouth of the oven to maintain its flame and to ensure top-end
temperature. Placing the door on at this stage will only stop the air-flow
(oxygen) to the fire which will then extinguish the flame and produce a
smoking, smoldering oven.
(b) Roasting Meats Follow the above procedure to take the oven to white inside,
but instead of taking the coals to one side, remove the coals altogether and
extinguish them in a galvanized bin. The temperature of the oven without a fire
will then drop to a safe roasting temperature within 20 minutes being around
280°. At this stage for example a leg of lamb (or any meat) is then placed on a
roasting rack with a tray underneath to catch the dripping fats and the whole
lamb is then slid into the mouth of the oven and watched carefully for the meat
to brown and seal. Once this has been achieved the tray is then removed and
the meat is then foiled over and sealed to the tray. It is then placed back in the
oven for a further 2 to 3 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bone. By the 3rd
hour, the roasting door may then be needed and is introduced slowly at first, as
a fully closed oven hearth may spike up to 500° instantly and burn the roast.
Happy Cooking!
From the Team at Zesti Woodfired Ovens

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Please Note:
After winter or wet conditions of heavy rain
you must refer back to initial lighting
procedure to re-dry your Z1100 woodfired
oven.
A small fire must be lit in the centre of the
oven with no more than 2 pieces of wood
300mm by 100mm in dimension and must
be warmed through for a period of 3 hours.
This procedure will de-steam the oven and
set the unit for normal use.
Failure to act on this procedure may cause
the refractory dome of the oven to crack and
in severe cases implode under the pressure
of the built up steam.