Manic in Michigan ISO her own pizza/bread oven

[copperrein]

Hello!

I've finally signed up for the forums after a few months of lurking. I'm getting ready to build my first brick oven and have a probably stupid question.

I'm using reclaimed brick for the walls and new fire brick for the cooking surfaces with a slick coat of refractory wash (to save the surface of my firebricks). I'm using a heavy old welding table for the base since 1.) it's 1/4" steel and too high for my 5'2" self to weld on and 2.) I can use a fork truck to move it in the future if I really need to.

My biggest goal for this oven is to be able to proof and bake big loaves of bread and to run 'make your own pizza' dinners during studio events (I'm an artist). I got a real silly idea yesterday after I ordered all the incidentals to build the oven AND long after I designed a round dome plan. Can I have an an oven with more floor space lengthwise as opposed to deep? I've seen a few online so I know people have done it, but is it wise? I kinda want a long door so I can jam more pizzas in across the front.

I've built big chimney furnaces for smelting iron and two-chamber heating stoves for the shop and the sauna so my brain screams 'if it's not circular, it wont draft right!'

Thank you and pre-apologies for what I assume is a silly 'you should have found this info on the internet yourself' question.

[UtahBeehiver]

I suggest your review the E-plans by our host Forno Bravo, the plans are available for cheap, 2-3 bucks and will give you a good baseline on design and function of WFOs.

https://www.fornobravo.com/store/pom...book-v2-0-pdf/

[copperrein]

I suggest your review the E-plans by our host Forno Bravo, the plans are available for cheap, 2-3 bucks and will give you a good baseline on design and function of WFOs.

https://www.fornobravo.com/store/pom...book-v2-0-pdf/

Yep! I saw those. Thanks.

[SableSprings]

Welcome Copperrein! As you surmised, drafting and efficient/proper heating in both the dome and vault designs are optimum as laid out. We have had a few folks building variations on the floor shapes, but don't get a lot of feedback on successes. For most of us you will be able to cook all the pizza you want with a "normal" dome of 36"-39" internal diameter. The biggest mistake we see here is inadequate insulation underneath and over the oven. Since the pizzas cook pretty quickly, putting more than 2-3 on the cooking floor at one time usually creates more problems than you'd expect. You'll find that making the pizza skin, loading and baking it will be just about the time it takes to cook one...so, no advantage to having a larger floor to clean, reheat, and use (IMHO). Don't forget that you need to have an active fire in the oven and be able to access/feed/move it during the pizza feed.

My oven is 39" internal diameter and cooking loaves of bread is no problem. I usually load 6-8 baguettes at a time or 4-5 boules. Bake times for baguettes at 575F is about 15 minutes and for the larger loaves at slightly lower temps for 20-25 minutes is generally perfect. I've baked over thirty loaves (mixed baguettes and boules) on a single oven firing in my oven and quantity of loaves is also a question to be answered. So, what do you mean by "big loaves of bread"? I think of 1-2 lbs loaves as normal and 4-5 lbs Poilane's miche loaves as large.

I'm a little concerned of your intention to use "a slick coat of refractory" on your cooking floor bricks to "save the surface". This is unnecessary and would undoubtedly flake off (and into your food) as you used the oven. One variation of laying the cooking floor, puts the bricks inside the dome perimeter. With this design, if a cooking floor brick cracks or chips too badly, you can simply pull it out and replace it. Also the use of reclaimed bricks for the dome is a bit concerning. If they are indeed, old bricks that were fired to a higher temp than "modern" bricks, they will probably work...however, if they are newer bricks you may find that constant heating and cooling will cause them to spaul (and potentially put more chips into your pizza toppings ).

Hope that helps answer your questions at least a little. With your stated experience, I don't mean to sound pompous or all knowing by any means...just throwing out my thoughts. Looking forward to your hearing more of your project goals and upcoming build.