I saw a bakery in Portland using a really old oven for their sourdough

I was visiting a friend in Portland last month and we stopped by this small bakery called The Crusty Loaf. They had this huge, black iron oven from the 1920s right in the middle of the shop! The baker told me they still fire it with wood, and he swears it gives the crust a flavor you can't get from a modern deck oven. It got me thinking about how much the equipment itself can change the final product. Has anyone else here baked with a wood-fired oven, and did you notice a big difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_miller2mo ago

Wait, isn't that technically a deck oven too though? Just an old wood-fired one.

victorcoleman12d ago

Wait, does a wood-fired oven count as a deck oven though? The whole thing is just hot brick or iron, not a separate heated surface.

luna_green2mo ago

Oh man, that sounds AMAZING. I used a friend's wood-fired oven for pizza once and the smoky flavor was unreal, totally different from my home oven. Good point @william_miller about it still being a deck oven, just a really cool old one!