36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

[jamie]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

not sure if this is ur first build or you are a pro, but holy crap! that is one pro looking foundation. i would like to see some finished pics, but so far, that thing is jam up!

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Burned in the oven again today. I went up to about 400deg, and maintained it for about 3.5 hours. As of yet I have not seen any cracks, so I am pleased. I have read the oven curing thread, and there seems to be a variety of approaches. I am trying to go slow and low, but I want to keep the fires burning for several hours, as i feel this will be more effective at driving out water than simply hitting a target temperature and then shutting it down. Can anyone explain why this is a bad (or good) approach to oven curing?

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Couple pics of my progress on oven curing from today:



this picture is at about 750-800 degrees or so, and the carbon is burning off for the first time.



this is closer to 900 degrees, and you can see that virtually all of the carbon is gone. I started burning at about 11:15 this morning, and actively managed the burn for a good six hours, reaching temperatures just above 900 degrees at the dome peak. I still have not seen any cracks develop, which is unexpected. Maybe I'm just not noticing small ones, I don't know.

Oh! I almost forgot to add that we cooked our first pizzas last week during oven curing. I think we hit about 600-650 at the dome that day. We just picked up a doughball from a local grocery, divided it into three balls and made simple margheritas. They weren't the best ever, but man did we enjoy eating them!!

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.





Anyway, I will try to start the stucco tomorrow.

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Almost done with the stucco. I have one or two more spots that need some touching up, but I'm pretty pleased with what I have here.



Also, we've been using it. I've probably cooked about 30 pizzas and 7-8 strombolis. We are making our own dough and everything has been really good so far. Looking forward to experimenting more. Now if I can only find a good supplier of firewood around here...


Margherita with arabiatta base and smoked mozzerella was my fav.

[fabby]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

those are some good looking pies. what was the dough recipe that you settled on? I have been trying a few different recipes and trying to find the perfect crust. An enjoyable endeavor.

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

My girlfriend has been in charge of the dough making. All I know is that she is using one of Bobby Flay's recipes, which are readily available online. Whether or not he has more than one pizza dough recipes I do not know, but the one she is using has been consistently good.

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Wanted to update my build, since I have added to the oven a bit since I last posted.
I had a really nice Sunbrella cover made for the oven. This thing really helps to keep moisture out.


My girlfriend made a beautiful mosaic around the hearth and landing.

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Couple more here.



Once my creeping vine comes in and covers these CMU's, I think I will have a pretty nice looking oven


We have been using it a couple of times a month lately and having a blast with it. The pizzas are great (using FB dough recipe now), and we've made biscuits, focaccia, boston butts, chickens, etc. in there that have turned out really well. Thanks for looking!

[cnegrelli]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Do you plan to do any additional finish over it for rain protection in the future?

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

cnegrelli, I do not plan on taking any additional steps (other than treating the sunbrella once a year or so) for waterproofing. I have waterproofed the exterior of the dome as well as the top and sides of the hearth slab with a Valspar product designed for waterproofing masonry. The stucco and hearth shed water like a heavily waxed car. My concern with the oven was not that it would get wet through the exterior or the hearth, but that I would get water through the oven mouth that would seep down between the floor bricks and soak my ceramic fiber board insulation. The sunbrella cover does a great job at keeping the water out.

[Blunt Tool]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Looks great! Is there anything you would do differently in retrospect?

Also did you put the FB blanket straight onto the outside of the firebricks, or is there another layer of something between?

Thanks.

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Blunt Tool, thanks for the compliment! Yes, I put the FB-blanket (200sqft) directly on top of the firebricks. I then chicken-wired it and stuccoed over it with about 3 layers of stucco. Even with a 1000degree fire inside, the outside of my dome is at ambient temperature. It is very well insulated.
I guess if I could do anything differently, I would have built a house around it with a pitched roof, so that I wouldn't need to keep the canvas cover on it when not in use. I guess I could still do that at some point, but after tinkering with this thing for a year and a half, I have no real desire to put any more work into it (other than cooking with it).

[kbartman]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Blunt Tool, thanks for the compliment! Yes, I put the FB-blanket (200sqft) directly on top of the firebricks. I then chicken-wired it and stuccoed over it with about 3 layers of stucco. Even with a 1000degree fire inside, the outside of my dome is at ambient temperature. It is very well insulated.
I guess if I could do anything differently, I would have built a house around it with a pitched roof, so that I wouldn't need to keep the canvas cover on it when not in use. I guess I could still do that at some point, but after tinkering with this thing for a year and a half, I have no real desire to put any more work into it (other than cooking with it).

Amen brother, I'm ready to put my efforts to cooking I'll soon be at 1.5 years great looking project!

[Slowly but Maybe]

Re: 36" oven build near Charleston, SC.

Couple of pics from last night