Book suggestion: Build your own earth oven, by Kiko Denzer

[cjparker]

I recently checked this book out of the library. Maybe I'm the last to know, but building an oven that gets hot enough to bake bread or pizzas is a heck of a lot easier than I had realized. I got a kick out of the pictures of ovens that had been made to look like fantastic creatures, but the basic oven is doable by just about anybody and doesn't need much in the way of building materials, mostly "mud", sand and some sort of base such as red bricks.

We will be building one this spring, just for the fun of it. We're also building a brick barbeque as detailed in Alan and Gill Bridgewater's book, Brick Projects for the Landscape. I like all of the Bridgewater books that I've seen. Their projects are not so difficult that someone with limited experience can't do some of them.

ETA, I should make it clear that these are outdoor ovens!

 

[xpc]

I recently checked this book out of the library. Maybe I'm the last to know, but building an oven that gets hot enough to bake bread or pizzas is a heck of a lot easier than I had realized.

Stone hearth pizza temperatures are around 1000 degrees Fahrenheit and will make them better than most could imagine. There is a member here who is in the works of building such an outside oven, keep us informed and share any plans you may have.

 

[Ldychef2k]

Actually, that's what I am building right now. If a 60 year old fat broad can do it, anybody can.

There seem to be as many variations as there are builders. I am going for WAY simple!

After researching materials for the floor of the oven, I have opted for fire bricks, for a couple of reasons. While red bricks made of clay are a fairly good choice, they do flake off when very hot, and those flakes will get in your food. The odd air pocket causes them to explode, and they are a pain to replace inside an oven.

Red concrete bricks get hot, but do not maintain their heat. I have learned that there are variations in alumina content of fire brick which will seriously affect the cooking process. For example, ultra high duty bricks get too hot. The alumina content needs to be less than about 38% for the correct cooking temperature and heat maintenance.

Wasn't that riveting !

 

[xpc]

Actually, that's what I am building right now. If a 60 year old fat broad can do it, anybody can.

Actually you were the one I had in mind when mentioning this but didn't know if you wanted it known by you yet.

There is a member here who is in the works of building such an outside oven, keep us informed and share any plans you may have.

I don't know if fat old broad is descriptive enough? you forgot; kind, sharing, loving, and forgiving, and many other attributes. Thanks for chiming in, I hate to see a new thread go unanswered for so long when there are so many us here.

 

[Blackbird]

You might as well throw bean eatin' in there.

The DerVaes Family has picture of their cob oven in the making on their website;

http://photos.pathtofreedom.com/Cob_(Earth)_Oven_g31.html

Quite elaborate but pretty cool I thought.

 

[xpc]

You might as well throw bean eatin' in there.

The DerVaes Family has picture of their cob oven in the making on their website;

http://photos.pathtofreedom.com/Cob_(Earth)_Oven_g31.html

Quite elaborate but pretty cool I thought.

why does this place remind me of a Dairy Queen soft serve?

 

[Blackbird]

Y'know.. I just can't quite put my finger on it.. Hmm... I have absolutely no idea.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

actually i'm really excited about this too... i wanted to build one last summer but we didnt get to it. i think this is a great idea and cant wait to get started!

ps thanks for the reminder to look for this at the library!