Harvest Rogers slices a wood-fired pizza she made Friday, Aug. 21, at Local Harvest Eatery and Pub, La Grande. She and her father Bruce Rogers own the establishment.

LA GRANDE — The large oven is a delightful paradox — it is slow to heat up yet microwave-quick once it gets rolling.

It is used to bake wood-fired pizza at La Grande’s Local Harvest Eatery and Pub, 2104 Island Ave. There Harvest Rogers, co-owner with her father, Bruce Rogers, cooks, with help from her staff, about 150 wood-fired pizzas a week. The entree is gaining popularity.

“We have been continuing to grow since we started, and we definitely have local followers,” said Harvest Rogers, who began cooking wood-fired pizza in April in her restaurant’s parking lot. She said she thinks Local Harvest offers the only wood-fired pizza in Union County. The restaurant serves wood-fired pizza outside between noon and 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Rogers said customers like the sweet, smoky taste the cherry and apple wood she burns in the stove provides to her pizzas.

They also like the quick service. The intense heat of the oven, which is 500 degrees on its floor and 1,000 degrees in its dome, allows a large pizza to bake in just 3 minutes. Standard pizza ovens cook at a much lower temperature and need 10-12 minutes to cook a pizza.

Turning on a standard pizza oven usually requires flipping a switch or turning a dial. This is not the case with Rogers’ oven. She has to supply her oven with wood and then ignite it.

“It takes 90 minutes for it to heat up (to cooking temperature) if it is cold,” Rogers said.

Once fully heated, the stove, which consists of insulated bricks, will maintain its cooking temperature for many hours. The oven retains its heat so well, it often is warm two days after the wood was lit.

“It will still be hot to the touch,” Rogers said.

When the oven is warm, it takes about 30 minutes to reach cooking temperature, which makes it easier to operate, Rogers said.

The cherry and apple wood the eatery uses for the oven come free of charge by a family member who lives in Cove. Cherry and apple wood are ideal for cooking wood-fired pizza, not only because of the flavor they add, but also because they are hardwoods. Rogers explained hardwoods are denser woods that burn hotter and longer than softwoods.

The oven is on wheels, making it easily transported to places such as the La Grande Country Club, where Rogers periodically cooks wood-fired pizzas for its couples night. She bakes about 60 pizzas for most couples nights.

All of the wood-fired pizzas Rogers cooks have a thin crust. She explained if thicker dough was used, the outer shell could harden first. This would prevent the interior of the crust from being cooked through.

All toppings available for regular pizzas at Local Harvest are also available for its wood-fired pizzas. Rogers enjoys adding special toppings for her wood-fired pizzas, including peaches.

“We try to have fun with it,” she said, noting other new varieties offered include a bison pizza.

Cooking wood-fired pizza is a joy, Rogers said.

“I love it,” she said. “You get to cook these beautiful pizzas and do it so quickly.”