Hello from Michigan

[bread-fruit]

I am thoroughly impressed with the information and excellent attitudes of everyone I've read on this forum. Glad to be a part of it. I'm making plans to build my own baking oven, mainly leaning toward an indoor access oven that will fire up quickly and allow me to bake bread as well as other foods, including the occasional pizza. Being in Michigan, I want to be able to use the oven often without standing in or trudging through two feet of snow. I may make it part of a workshop addition to my woodshed, maybe putting it on one end. That would keep it close to the dry wood for firing. I've downloaded the Pompeii oven plans from here and read The Bread Builders. I just don't want to use more wood and spend more time than necessary to heat up an oven to bake bread. Just some thoughts.

[Lburou]

Welcome

You will do a lot of building in your mind as you undertake this project. As you do, keep in mind that the pompeii oven plans are a result of many successes and a few failures, stick to the plan for a sure success. An oven entry from inside is unusual here, but, certainly possible.

I don't know the name of the fornobravo thread, but there is a (pizza) restaurant in the Southeast US with a very large dome oven with the entry inside. There was a full account of its construction posted (somewhere) here. You could learn from his project if we can locate it.

[Lburou]

Re: Hello from Michigan

Here is that thread.

[bread-fruit]

Re: Hello from Michigan

Thanks Lburou,

I enjoyed the photos and description of the 81" oven build. I suppose any oven can be safely made to open into a room with the right materials and planning. He shared a lot of great information. My biggest concern is the balance between quick-firing and long baking times. I'd like to host the occasional pizza party or have supper ready for my wife when she gets home from teaching, which requires a faster and hotter firing than a really heavy bread oven. I'll keep reading everything I can.

I agree with you about building it in my mind. I'm imagining a lot of different ways to build the base, to finish the outer portions, and what I really intend to do with the oven. I enjoy baking breads of all sorts, and have read interesting, and inspiring, accounts of what WFO bakers do in their communities with theirs. It could be part of a greater scheme, once it's built. It'll take some time, but I hope to be baking sometime next year. It'll probably take that long to gather the materials.

Thanks for the link to all the oven builds. I hope I can eventually add mine to them.

[stonylake]

Re: Hello from Michigan

where in Michigan? i'm in Grand Rapids, and would be happy to help you with sources..

[Lburou]

A question...

Are you ready for the heat that radiates from the oven entry. It was over 100F outside last summer, yet I could feel the heat radiating from my oven entry at 6 feet. A lot of radiated heat.

[bread-fruit]

Re: Hello from Michigan

Sorry I've been so long in posting. 2012 was a busier work and garden year than normal, between the heat and the drought conditions and then everything exploding at harvest time. Canning & freezing took up a lot of my time between July and October. No, I'm not a "prepper"; been doing this for years as I learned it from my folks and grandparents. Can't beat the quality of home-grown when canned, frozen or dried. I was able to share the bounty with lots of other folks grateful to be able to preserve it. Lots of work but oh so good now.

I've had to change my project focus from oven to wood workshop for now (garage space is becoming an issue) and a bathroom makeover, though I'm still picking up oven materials as they become available. I'll be picking stones from our farm fields this spring, mostly for the base. And I'm considering attaching the oven to the end of the shop, with a roof overhang to protect it and the baker. Not quite sure how that's going to work yet, but it'll be closer to the wood supply and our traditional outdoor entertainment area near the firepit. AND I just became a grandpa for the first time which naturally changes some priorities as well.

The heat-from-the-oven-entry issue is the main reason I'm uneasy about attaching the oven to my house. Not ready to pay that kind of A/C bill nor subject the rest of the house to that kind of heat stress. At the workshop it would be more free-standing, but still close enough to look like part of the structure and be protected by it. With the entry on the downwind side it would be under the roof, running parallel to the shop's length, so I'd have to extend the chimney through the roof, but that's easily done if designed into the new construction. Still lots of ideas but nothing set in stone, or brick, yet. In the meantime, I plan to build an earth oven (Kiko Denzer style) this summer, to get the feel for wood fire baking for next-to-nothing expense.

stonylake, I'm not far from G.R., near Greenville, so any material source info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Hello from Michigan

I have bought brick from Riverview Refractory 927 Industrial Pkwy Plainwell, MI 49080
(269) 685-8923

Great people to work with. If you go or call, tell them I said hello .

Faith

[bread-fruit]

Re: Hello from Michigan

Faith,

I'll look into Riverview, Plainwell's not that far away. My mason friend has not yet started his refractory brick teardown job, which should provide all the brick I need, but if it doesn't work out it's good to have other sources. Thanks.

Jeff

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Hello from Michigan

No problem. You will find out quickly you will need more then just bricks. It's always nice to have a go to place for such things.

Have fun with your build.

Faith