Why Cure?
Your wood fired oven is made from heat resistant clay, but the water must be cooked out of the clay before your oven can be put to use. This process is called curing.

The first step is to dry the water out of the clay and the second is tempering the clay. To do this you need to light several small fires in the oven over a period of one to three days, gradually increasing the temperature.

How long will it take?
6-8 hours of curing is recommended starting at about 50 degrees c and finishing at 200 degrees c. (You can use a thermometer to monitor the temperature)

What you need:
To do this you will need: Wax firelighters, not standard firelighters and hardwood kindling with moisture content of less than 25%. Hardwood produces the most heat and less ash.

The steps:

• Remove the metal door.
• Place a firelighter in the centre of the oven and stack small pieces of kindling around it to form a tower.
• Light the fire.
• Once the kindling has caught fire, slowly add small hardwood logs.
• The curing fire should be kept alight for at least 3 hours on the first day and for longer on the second day.