Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Thank you for all the nice comments about the weather vane - I just love those things, yours too carioca!

Hooray, for the time being it looks as if spring is here!!! A bit early maybe, but I'm not grumbling.

So I finally go back out there and slapped the last bit of the first coat of the stucco/mortar layer on the oven. More wire and rebar next, then more mortar. And with oven work resumed I thought I needed to start singing again... you all know the song by Gloria Gaynar

So now I'm back
from in the warm,
I am glad to see the winter
did not do my oven harm

I should have cut that stupid brick
I should have let that joint there be
but you know just at the moment
there's nothing can bother me

Hmm, needs some work maybe, but I've got a bit rusty over the winter...

The pics aren't very exciting, but so what?!! I'm back in business!!! (for now anyway........) The last pic is for Sarah. And I hope that Spring will come to Canada soon, too

[carioca]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

This is a picture of what I'm going to stick on the top of my oven!

<SNIP>

Attached is a snap of what I WAS going to put on top of my oven - but have since decided against it on technical grounds (fibreglassing the support plate onto the dome apex mightn't withstand the occasional gale force winds here) and esthetical grounds (it just wouldn't look right next to the stainless steel chimney)...

So for the moment it is sitting attached to a tree stump next to the Forno del Gallo oven - I'll probably incorporate it into the landscaping/seating arrangements somehow :-)

Have a good one!

LMH

[jamison_tilne]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Your bread looks wonderful, I am especially fond of the dinner rolls in the background of the photo.

[dusty]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Frances,
The flying dragon is perfect. And we all know he breaths fire, so the top of the oven is a no-brainer.

dusty

[sarah h]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Frances, that dragon is great! Hope the skiing is/was, too!

Sarah

[RCLake]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Frances,
I love the wind vane - dragons!!! But alas I have no need of one since the waves tell me the answer. Enjoy your skiing trip, Our last one we tried snowboarding and for us it was a big mistake. Even with instructions, the snow was to sticky, surprised no broken wrists.

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

This is a picture of what I'm going to stick on the top of my oven!

I would like to put it on the chimney, but I think it'd get too hot there, and also I don't want to add yet more weight to the vent...
Of course on the top of the oven it won't be high up enough to show the wind direction - but I don't really care. It is just so cool and we've decided that it'll have to go on the oven somewhere!

btw, we're going on holiday for a week tomorrow. Skiing in Jaun (which is near the Jaun pass - and I don't know where that is either, so its probably a good thing we've got a map in the car, eh?)
So people, keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing some major progress in a weeks time. OK?

[gjbingham]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Great looking bread Frances! Glad your oven is such a success!

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Gosh, this bad weather's a drag! From being frustrated that I can't continue building I've gone to being glad if the weather clears up enough to let me light the bleeding thing...

Last weekend my inlaws came round for Pizza for the first time. Lighting the oven took about 5 mins instead of about an hour as usual (maybe I need a flamethrower after all) and my inlaws were late... so the oven heated up for a total of about three hours
After Pizzas, which turned out great as usual, and waiting for two hours I wanted to bake some bread... but the oven was till at around 360 C!!!

So I left the door off to cool down a bit and put the dough in the fridge. And promptly forgot all about the oven until the evening. Oh well, I thought, I'll just have to bake in the kitchen oven instead. But it turns out the WFO it was still at 240C!! With freezing temps outside!!!

That oven is just so cool. Its amazing.
I've taken to bake virtually all our bread in the oven by now (weather permitting). Here's a pic of about a week's worth of bread. And my thermometer (not such a thrilling picture, but it works)

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

My four-year-old son keeps telling to write down that he's a big strong handsome knight... I always refused so far, but since we're on the subject...

We had a really good cook-up yesterday: As suggested, I let the big fire burn for at least an hour before making the pizzas, then I remembered to rake the coals accross the floor and left them for a further hour... and it all worked beautifully. Bread nicely browned on the bottom, delicious roast in the evening. Thank you for the good advice everyone!!

No idea what the temps are this morning, still quite good I'd guess, but I'm waiting for my thermometer before trying any next-day cooking.

However, the wooden doors are definately not such a good idea...

[gjbingham]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Frances,
I agree with Marc, Teflon coatings are not really safe past about medium on a stove. I've got the roaster that Dave's got, or one similar. I wouldn't put it in an oven over about 45o degress.


gghvv. mmmjoohu i (is what my 7 moth old daughter has to say. She's sitting mylap helping me type)

G.

[Acoma]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Cast Iron i ok at 400 range temps, or use any type of roast pans that don't use coating, but are of same material such as cast ron or tamped metals like ones in restaurants.

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Yep, if you put in a turkey or a roast at pizza temperatures, it's not only the pan that would suffer...

Dave, that is a very nice pan you found there, good size and really low cost! I think I would very much like to take you up on your offer .

... just checked the USPS shipping calculator and it came up with shipping charges of 36 USD, for 6-10 day shipping. Well, I had to guess the weight and all. Seems weird, paying more in shipping than for the pan itself, but hey, its still a lot lower than anything around here. Plus I could tell everyone that I've got a real Texan roesting pan!! How cool is that?

So Dave, if you could look into shiping one out here, that would be reall really great. Thank you ever so much for the offer.

Frances

[dmun]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

The only problem with cast iron is that pizza temperatures will burn off your hard-earned black seasoning on your iron pans. You may not want to bake at pizza temps anyway.

[Acoma]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Cast Iron is OK?