Baking (and pizza) on a kamado: using your kamado as an oven

Thanks to convection heat, ceramic and controlled airflow you can bake extremely steadily and evenly.

In this article we explain how baking on a kamado works technically, how it differs from grilling and why a kamado lends itself so well to controlled oven use.

What does baking on a kamado mean?

Baking means cooking with even, surrounding heat and no direct heat from below. Think bread, pizza, oven dishes and desserts. The heat has to be stable and circulate all round the food.

A kamado manages this thanks to convection heat. The heat rises, circulates along the dome and drops back down towards the food in a controlled way.

For the background, read what convection heat in a kamado is.

Why a kamado bakes better than an oven

Because of the ceramic, a kamado holds heat better than a standard oven. Temperature swings are damped out and the air inside the kamado stays drier, which gives you a better crust.

A kamado also reacts more slowly than an oven. That sounds like a drawback, but it is exactly what gives you calm and stability while baking.

Indirect cooking is the basis for baking

Baking on a kamado is always indirect. The heat deflector blocks direct heat from the coals and makes sure the food is only exposed to circulating heat.

Without a deflector you get uneven heat and burning on the underside.

There's more on this in indirect cooking on a kamado.

Temperature and airflow when baking

For baking you want a stable temperature and a calm airflow. Too much air makes the heat aggressive; too little smothers the fire and creates smoke.

Use the bottom vent to keep the fire active and the top vent for fine tuning. Small adjustments have a big effect, but they ask for patience.

Read more about how these work together in airflow in a kamado explained.

Height and distance from the heat

When baking, distance is crucial. The further the food sits from the heat source, the more evenly it cooks. That's why baking often works better on a raised grate or a multilevel system.

This stops the underside from burning and gives the food time to bake all the way through.

Common mistakes when baking on a kamado

• Starting too hot
• Not using a heat deflector
• Giving too much air
• Opening the lid too often
• Combining baking with smoke

These mistakes lead to uneven results and frustration. There's more on this in common kamado mistakes.

Baking asks for calm, not speed

Baking on a kamado is all about stability. Once the temperature is right, the best thing you can do is change nothing. Every intervention upsets the balance.

Learn to wait and to trust the kamado, and you'll get oven results that are hard to match.

Baking as the technique that ties it together

Baking brings together every core principle of kamado cooking: convection heat, indirect cooking, airflow and temperature zones. Master baking and you understand the kamado as a system.

That makes baking a logical companion to techniques such as low & slow and creating temperature zones in a kamado.