Woodcutters Kitchen pulling more than just pizzas from the flames

Forget high-tech kitchen appliances — this Bentleigh East eatery doesn’t even have a stove. But the cop-turned-cook who transformed the former milk bar uses his two ovens to make everything from gnocchi to brownies.

James Leplaw working the ovens at Woodcutters Kitchen.

Finding the right job was a slow burn for James Leplaw.

He worked as a cop and a corporate executive before finding his true calling as a restaurateur.

““I was in my early 40s, and hadn’t found fulfilment in my work,” Mr Leplaw said.

“I had always had an interest in fermentation of beer and of bread, and longed for a simpler and more physically connected type of work.”

He found that in the flames of a wood-fired oven in his backyard.

“We asked Ben and Sam from Melbourne Fire Brick Co to build one of their ovens in our family backyard,” Mr Leplaw said.

“I practised and practised and learnt through success and failure, how to cook with fire in an oven.

“No one I could find was pushing these ovens the way I wanted to, so after trying lots of different methods, I eventually found a formula that one person can run, with some help on busy nights.”

He took that knowledge and created Woodcutters Kitchen, a cosy restaurant in a standard suburban shopping strip in Bentleigh East.

The former milk bar has no high-tech cooking gadgets popular among modern chefs.

There isn’t even a stove.

Instead, Mr Leplaw relies on a pair of wood-fired ovens.

He doubled down on the ovens because he needed them to operate at different temperatures.

One — which is used for pizza — burns at 350C, while the second is a cooler 300C and reserved for skillets containing meatballs, seafood, risotto, pasta and even brownies.

Mr Leplaw tends the ovens around the clock.

After dark when they have cooled to 120C he uses them to slow-cook beef, pork and lamb overnight.

The current winter menu features mushroom risotto, zucchini kofta, seafood skillet, pork belly, and meatball gnocchi.

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Preparing the gnocchi using only a wood-fired oven is a slow process.

The potatoes are roasted in the oven with the flesh then scooped out and mixed with a little flour to create the gnocchi.

A pot of water is placed in the oven to bring to the boil before the pasta is cooked for the first time.

It then goes back into the oven in a skillet to be sizzled to order.

Woodcutters Kitchen is at 69 Mackie Rd, Bentleigh East.

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