Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

[asudavew]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

I agree with Ken! Good to hear from you Jeff.
I was just starting to decipher your lingo.. and you leave!
hahaha

Anyway. Glad life is treating you well.
Catch any of those prawns lately?
Man, those pics made me jealous!


Dave

[jeff]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Thanks for saying g'day Ken: it means a lot.

Yes mate, both offspring of my Lady's loins (strewth, I hope I got that right.....Maybe from/of . Ahh, never mind.

Anyway, a 30 year marathon is run. Both kids are hitced up with good partners. So now the War of Attrition begins. Can they wear down our hard-won finances more rapidly than my Lady's soft heart?

Strewth, who cares? I love the Kids, Dog'n Missus. Life's good.

Proof required?

Mate, where else in the civilized world could one hope to post a WFO posing (I can't spell masquarading, eh), as a mutant mushroom? Most Ovens are respectful to their heritage, and while I respect their respectfulness, I reckon fukumeh, so we got the Swirls. (And she continues to bestow gifts of extraordinary texture/aroma /pure delight upon us eh)
So thanks to James: and I may offer a Turkish recipe down the track eh.

Thanks again Ken.
Stay safe eh.
Jeff the Absent.

Ken,
love FornoBravo, you Mongrels, and my Oven to bits. I don't know why I've gone quiet, but it's across the board, not just FB.

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Jeff! Where have you been?! You married off your daughter and then disappeared on us. Stop by and say hello more often!

Glad to see you in Cyberspace again!

[jeff]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Sam 1900,
Munnar, Kerala? Where is that? When in west China, we saw cold places [strewth. Cold. Hell yes.Buildings went:- Animals ground floor, humans next,and hay stored up in the roof space. flamin' creosote-covered beams and ceilings]with few trees: is a wood fired oven a socially viable concept in your neck of the woods?

Mate I don't wish to come across as either smart-arse or elitist, especially in light of the current fuel prices, but how do you justify a WFO in Northern India?

In our place here,(Bundaberg, Australia) I take out the axe and wheel barrow, and bring back two small trees - both long dead, and damn good fuel. If I don't burn them, then the next bushfire will.
And so, having salvaged some stored solar energy, we have three days cooking available from a single firing.. Not so bad, I guess.

Sam, I just adore FornoBravo, and I wish well to all who touch the site.
I no longer visit the internet frequently, but please feel free to chuck me a curly whenever a problem arises. My only word of advice would be: INSULATE; and don't be afraid to use Al foil. Insulation below the slab is just as important as above.
Onya Sam. Bloody good.
Luddite Jeff.

[sam1900]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Nice to meet you guys. I am from India and we never use this because we live in the city and we dont have much surroundings to build one. Recently I bought a house in Munnar, Kerala where its very cold and I am planning to build one. I saw the pics of Mr.asudavew and its really amazing. Will upload my pics after building it. Thank You.

=====
sam

[jeff]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Asudavew used cardboard as a spacer: so did I, thinking that it would burn out. It didn't. Next time I'll be gross, and use corrugated cardboard; may help.
(btw, I've just stuck 3' of 5" flue on a 31" oven. 6" would have worked a treat, bugger! Just didn't have any lying around in the shed eh.)
Oven has morphed from a Sprightly Unit to a Big Fat Mumma--- no, enough; stuff yers. That is too good to waste on Serious Folk: refer to Newbies. Giggles eh'
Jeff.

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Actually, I missed those posts about Dusty... Just went back and read them. Wow... Hang in there Dusty!

[Acoma]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Ken, I take it you know about Dusty's dome? When we had our monster storm recently, his tent came of, 2-3 inches to the dome....I wonder if the tent went swimming? I purchased premium insurance just before the storm- used extra heavy retaining wall bricks and tied the outside corners down, in addition to the inside corners, 8 total. Also, tied rope around perimeter to keep tent from flapping. Enough about us, sounds like you have a plan.

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

now when you get the chance, it is frame and enjoy, right?

I'm still a bit worried about settling and cracking in the arch area. The insulation board is really wet and mushy around the edges. While we were out of town for the hoidays, a storm blew my tarps off and things got soaked again.

I'm going to try to keep a fire going on sunny days and keep it covered on rainy days until the board completely dried out. While that's happening, I will cover the dome with 4" or so of vermiculite concrete.

After the board is dry, firm and stable, I'll repair the existing cracks, then get the concrete board and roof on and make sure it's weather proof.

[Acoma]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Now this is what I have been patiently waiting to here. When following your progress all these months, it feels like closure has happily occured. Ken, now when you get the chance, it is frame and enjoy, right?

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Our first Saturday "Pizza Night" was a huge success!

I was getting a bit bummed about my soggy, sinking foundation (post holiday blues) so I figured I had better fire the oven a bit to try to get things dried out. Fortunately, no additional cracks appearing.

I used Dave's hight protein flour dough recipe (Martha White Bread Flour) and made two batches (one for Pita's, one for Pizza).

After 3 hours of aggressively firing the oven, we gave the pita's a try. Amazingly good results. All six of us were huddled around the oven watching the pita's puff up and brown. Coolest thing to watch! We ate them as they came out of the oven (we forgot the grab some hummus when we were shopping earlier that would have been perfect)

Then came the pizza... we bought some thinly sliced Boar's Head pepperoni at the deli, and used Ragu PizzaQuick sauce and Kraft Mozzerella (in the handy zip-lock bag ). The pizza's turned out absolutely fabulous. Even with the substandard ingredients, the results were far better than delivered pizza and on par with some of the pizzeria pie's I've had.

Things are definitely looking up!

[gjbingham]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Great pics Ken. Glad the little problems have worked themselves out, or at least are not affecting the performance of the oven.

Happy holidays!

George

[asudavew]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Great Job!

I bet the children were very excited!

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Had a nice fire yesterday. Dome went 100% white. As Dave said... Don't forget to cook something. So we did.

Cooking Experiment #1

The cupboards were pretty bare so I threw together a yeast dough with 2 cups of Gold Medal flour and bread machine yeast (that had been in the fridge for a couple of years), and let it rise for a couple of hours.

My 16 year old son and I stretched out the dough, drizzled on olive oil, some really old dried basil, dried oregano, a dash of salt and threw it in the oven. Basically, we took what is likely the worst ingredients available for pizza and shoved them in the oven.

...And WOW. We were blown away by what came out.

The second one (pictured) was similar with the addition of a slice of provolone and a few sprinkles of Kraft Mexican Blend cheese that was leftover from heaven knows when (we went all out!).

Again, it was outstanding. The oven works! Can't wait to try some serious cooking with good ingredients.

Pictured are 3 of our 4 kids. The oldest is taking the pictures.

[gjbingham]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Hey Santa,
Post some Xmas pics of the family. Merry Christmas and a happy new oven!