Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

[Ethan1989]

WOW It's Nice and good information Engineering involved here Ovens are made Rectangular but in this case dome was made circular to get more heat. If we use Mud Mortar for construction of wall of Dome then we get more heat and 22% less expenditures.

[david s]

Try doing a search on the forum for mobile or trailer ovens.

[skeleturtle]

Hello,

Thanks so much so showing the science behind the different types of ovens! Do you or anyone know of a fairly comprehensive DIY guide to building a round oven on a mobile platform?

If anyone can respond to this, that be great I too need a comprehensive DIY guide to building a mobile Pizza oven!

[Brandon Gilbreath]

Hello,

Thanks so much so showing the science behind the different types of ovens! Do you or anyone know of a fairly comprehensive DIY guide to building a round oven on a mobile platform?

[americanteek]

Re: Why Italian Ovens are Round

There are about a million pizza ovens in Italy, and they are all round.

Uh, no. Sorry. This is wrong. There are plenty of pizza ovens in Italy that are not round. Not sure why you think they're all round.

[mn8tr]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

Thank you for this post, I was set to build a barrel vault mainly because it looked easier. I read this post just in time and was able to modify my plans to a round oven. THANKS !

[Baker]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

Wow I had no idea! Very interesting

[Spunkoid]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

You may find that the steel warps over time with the high heat. Back in the day, they used cast material for stove tops to avoid that. The shape of the dome makes it more efficient than a rectangle or other shaped oven.
On the other hand, there are lots of rectangle shaped ovens out there. My grandfather had built a clay oven for my Grandmother on their homestead. It was made in part from an old 1/2 culvert that was covered with mud and straw and vented out the back at the top of the oven. It had a clay floor and a wooden door that they put in place once the oven was fired and they had scraped the coals to the back of the oven.. It may not have been the most efficient design but she knew how to fire that oven to the right temperature to cook what ever she wanted.

Rick

[fxpose]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

Domed walls will give you better convection.

[sacwoodpusher]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

I guess my point was, why go to the trouble of making the pizza oven domed....Can't I just built the round walls to a height of, say 16 inches, and then lay a flat piece of steell across, stack bricks on top of it, and then insulate?

[Spunkoid]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

So what...? A low dome makes a big difference.
Keep the dome low... a big part of the cooking process comes from heat that radiates down from the hot bricks. My dome is 1 meter in diameter, I added a 1/2 brick soldier course when I built the dome. When I cook, I have lots of room in the dome but sometimes feel that it is a little high and would have gotten better heat if the dome were lower. It is not really a problem as I keep a nice little fire burning on the side that keeps the heat up. But with hindsight, I would forgo the soldier course, kept the dome a little lower, and still would have had lots of height.

[sacwoodpusher]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

I guess I am at a bit of a loss.....I read that dry stacking bricks without mortar is good, and that ovens should be round.

However, aside from the "purist viewpoint" of using only masonary materials, what is wrong with just drystacking bricks to form the walls and door, and then using a piece of heavy steel plate with bricks just laid on top to form the top of the oven and the top of the door.

Once insulated and covered, the stacked bricks won't go anywhere, and the the steel will last a long, long time.

So the oven will be a little higher around the outside walls, but so what?

[Spunkoid]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

Excellent clarification.

Thanks,

Rick

[Wood fired oven workshops]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

Hi Spunkoid,

I agree that it is not uncommon to find old red [terra cotta] bricks starting to disintergrate but they are usually soft fired [under 1000 degrees centigrade] and are often subject to corrosive water.
Modern bricks are usually hard fired and will last much longer.
Oddly, I am presently in Red Deer, Alberta, on my first visit to Canada, running a wood fired oven workshop.

[Spunkoid]

Re: Why Italian Wood-Fired Ovens are Round

Interestingly enough, I was up in Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory recently.
Across the river from Dawson City is a "Paddle Wheeler Graveyard", a place where they parked all the old paddle wheelers and left them to rot after the road came in and river travel was no longer needed.
They burnt wood for making steam to drive the boats and would stop frequently along the river between Whitehorse and Dawson city to resupply. The wood structures are well rotting away but the old boilers are still intact. I looked inside a couple of them and they were lined with old standard red brick.
Last winter in Mexico, I found a forno that some construction workers built to cook their meals in. Red brick coated with clay and straw. Bottom line, you can use red brick but it does not last as long although it may last a lifetime if you are only cooking with it a couple times a week....