Oven Progress

By the time that I'm writing this I've come along way since my first post and why not...it's been almost two years. Everyone that I promised pizzas are probably thinking that I should have just ordered out and be done with it.   Let me go through the process with you.

In the end I decided to take all the information on oven design and make my own. My design was a quick and dirty design. Meant to be a temporary proof of concept that I would use to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of oven building. To keep costs down I used a limited number of firebricks and commercial grade high-strength cement.

First I drew out my plans, dimensions and dome firebrick placement. The rest of the oven would be 2-3 inch thick concrete.

Oven Plans

The base of the oven was built from metal stud material.   I then built a platform to where I poured an insulating layer of vermiculite and cement. Then with rebar to reinforce the oven baking surface I was ready to pour.

Oven base with insulating layer poured

Now the baking surface has been poured and it's redy to start on the dome construction.

Oven base with baking surface poured

This is the inner-dome frame.  The idea was to put firebrick on the flat and angled top section, where the fire would be most intense, leaving the sides to be just cement. I really didn't want cement chipping off onto my pizza.

Oven inner-form

The next layer of the dome was the outside. I made the outside walls and a chimney opening. After the cement was poured I could remove the outside frame and the inner frame would just burn away.

Oven inner-form and outer-form 

At this point I'm ready to pour the cement. The firebricks are in place and I've added some wire fencing to add some extra strength. It doesn't look like a lot of area to fill in but I ended up using about 10 bags of cement in all. Which meant this little oven weighed way more than I thought it would. I needed to add some extra supports to my base. I didn't want the oven toppling over and killing anyone.

Oven forms, firebricks ready to pour cement

Probably the most exciting day to date was when I built the first fire. I let the cement cure for about a month and then each day built larger and larger fires in the oven. I had been building fires in the ovens for about a month and then we had some rainy days. I didn't want a bunch of water soaking into the cement and undoing my curing process. I know it's not pretty but this works well until the permanent solution is built.

First fire!

Oven with phase-one protective walls and roof

Two summers ago I dug out the area who I wanted the oven to go. That means two autumns and two springs have passed where I've thought about pouring the pad and cleaned away leaves just to let it fill back in again. In the beginning, I planned for a larger oven and so designed a large pad. This pad is much larger than I need and therefore took a lot of cement to fill. I mixed 33.5 60 lbs bags of concrete by hand. This is not something that I would ever like to repeat. But, it's done and I'm very glad to finally have the hole filled in.

Oven pad

Yesterday I moved the oven into place and would have put it down directly onto the pad but it started to rain. It still is, so it looks like I'll be doing it over the weekend when it clears.

Oven ready to lower into place

So here I am.  I have scheduled a pizza party for the end of April as much as a pre-Farmers' Market party as motivation to finish this project.  My next post on this subject, oven-willing, will have pictures of awesome pizzas and much fun had by all.

Wood Fired Brick Oven

This post is about a personal project of mine.  I have started what has turned out to be quite an ambitious project to build my own wood fired brick oven.  Before I started my bakery I purchased the book "The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens" by Allen Scott and Daniel Wing, with the thought that maybe I'd build my own oven.  When I was living on my parent's farm, in Hampton, NE, I built a very rough oven based on the plans from this book.  I didn't bake any loaves in this oven but I did learn that a very hot oven can make some fantastic pizzas.  This was the inspiration for my current project.  Now in my house in Lincoln, NE I have the space for a real brick oven that can bake both bread and pizzas.  The oven that I've chosen to build is based on an Italian brick oven that I'm told is popular throughout Italy.  You can get the plans free, like me, at http://www.fornobravo.com/. These plans are similar to what Allen Scott has described in the previous mentioned book.  As for mentioned, I thought that I might use this type of oven in my bakery but after seeing this type of oven used commercially decided that I would use a gas fired commercial oven for its regularity and convenience.  There are enough factors to control with the dough itself that I felt that I didn't need to add another layer of complexity.  The oven that I use now is from Italy and is similar to what I used in Montreal and France that I didn't feel like I was cheating the process.  Almost four years later I am very happy with my decision.  This project is for my own personal satisfaction.  I love making my own pizzas and why not make them in my own backyard pizza oven?

The first photo is where I've decided to build the oven.  My schedule hasn't allowed me a lot of time to work on the oven.  I'm embarrassed to say how long ago I started on the foundation.  The second photo is where I am up to date.  It shows the four posts that I've poured to support the foundation and the dimensions of the oven.  It seems quite large but the oven dome that will rest on the foundation will end up being 42 inches in diameter with some room for the opening.  I hope to have an update soon that shows a lot of progress.  I want to have this oven done before the end of the year.  I've been talking about this to my employees for a while and they are expecting a pizza party.  I can't disappoint!

Before digging.

Dimension of the oven and four posts poured.