WFO with a view

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

Got the 1st coat and half my 2nd coat of stucco done (ran out after my 3rd 80lb bag of stucco base). Picking up one last bag on Saturday, then will put a coat of SBC over the top in a week or two.

Shooting for our first big pizza party on Sunday - the Blue Angels are in town for Seafair and we always have a gang in the back yard watching them fly overhead.

The blue tape is just temporary until I have the stucco and SBC done.

[Millstone Man]

Re: WFO with a view

Wow I'm impressed with your brick skills! Looking good.

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

Thanks Scott!

Your project is mighty impressive and certainly going to inspire me to build some type of overhead structure for my oven. Love the wood & beams.

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

Wanted to have a test run before our friends arrive on Sunday, so we had our first pizza in the oven last night. Gotta say it was pretty yummy. It all cooked great, but I think I need to get the floor a bit hotter - not sure if it has not fully dried out yet or I need to keep a bigger fire going on the side (I think the later).

No cracks in any of the brickwork yet that I have noticed, but I did get a nice crack in the stucco I just put on this week. It was right in front from the arch up to the chimney.

[Brauma]

Re: WFO with a view

You do fabulous work! Congrats

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: WFO with a view

Yay! 1st pizza looks great. Well, the whole oven so far looks great.

On your last pic, the only white or "cleared" part of the dome was directly above the log on the side. The rest was black. An extremely reliable way of knowing you are at 'pizza temps' is when the fire gets to the 750-800 deg range for, oh about 15 min. and the entire dome goes 'white' or 'clears' and you can see your beautiful interior brick work again. It takes me about 1.5 to 2 hours and my dome is 'white' or cleared and that means my oven floor is around 700-750 deg.

I only have enough Pyro in me () to go to 850-900 ish as a quick peak (others go 900-1000,) but not me. I think your dome still has a bit of moisture in it and your next firing will be hotter and better.

Do you have a laser thermometer that goes to 1000 deg? They are really helpful. Once I've 'cleared' the dome, push the fire to the side I always take a mini-damp mop head dipped and squeezed of water to both clear the floor of ash and cool the floor to a 700 deg. temp which I find gives me a cooked pizza in just under 2 minutes. I really don't mind the ash, really its mostly to keep my floor from burning my pizza bottoms. -Again, Congratulations!

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

Dino - Thanks for the tips! I started the oven a bit earlier this time and it certainly got much hotter. I had it going from about 10:30 AM to 6 PM with lots of pizza getting produced. I had made 15 lbs of pizza dough, and probably cooked about 30 pizzas. I even delivered a few to our neighbors party next door as thanks for putting up with the noise and smoke from the oven building process. The oven hovered around 900-1000 degrees on the top of the dome and 750-800 on the floor the whole time. The bottom of the pies got a much nicer browning this time. It is amazing how little wood is necessary to keep the temps up - maybe a log or two every hour.

After a month of sunshine, we had a rainy weekend but the drizzle cleared just in time for our party. Wasn't too sunny but at least we where not wet like it was on Saturday. Lots of fun and lots of great feedback from everyone on the oven - I think there might be a few inspired oven builders out there.

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

After everyone left I wrapped an artichoke in aluminum foil, drizzled it with olive oil and a couple of sliced up garlic cloves and threw into the oven for 60 minutes. Wow - what a great desert that is.

And a few more pics.

[Jon in Albany]

Re: WFO with a view

Looks like a great time. Beautiful oven and I'm sure you will love using it. I enjoyed following the build.

Jon

[Tscarborough]

Re: WFO with a view

Very nice, and congratulations.

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

Thanks Tom and Jon - been a really fun project and great to get to the point that I can use it!

Now on to finishing up the rest of the project. Still have to waterproof the outside of the dome, build some front shelf/landing, finish the stand, etc. Hoping to get most of this done before the rainy season starts, but guessing it will be on on-going project.

Certainly would never have done it if I had not happened across this site when I started reading about WFO's. Appreciate everyone's feedback and help!

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

Got started on door #1 last weekend. Figured I'd start with something simple and wanted to see how an un-insulated wooden door might last. I got a sheet of 22 gauge sheet metal at Lowes and used my jigsaw to cut it to size (was surprisingly easy to cut). I had some leftover scraps of Ipe from a deck project and used those to build an interior and exterior section hoping they would be less inclined to burning.

Still planning on putting a board across the top to finish the outer arch.

My only mistake was making it a bit too snug - it fit in easily but the oven was still hot from the prior night's pizza and when I came back an hour later it had expanded and I had to yank on it with all my might to get it out.

[tfasz]

Re: WFO with a view

Did some tapas in the grill tonight. Started with some fire roasted egg plant - really easy and quite good (just needs more salt next time). Something along these lines: fire roasted eggplant

Then did some chorizo and garlic shrimp on a griddle (along the lines of this Tapas recipe), naan/flatbread, and fire roasted zuchinni. The cast iron griddle worked great - cooked everything on both sides and kept the grease off the bricks.

Kids loved the naan as you can imagine and adults dug the chorizo and shrimp. The wine, cheese, olives, etc made it a stellar night. Nice break to make sure we don't get pizza burnout. ;-)