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Okay so I have lurked on this site for long enough and there are some beautiful brick wonders that deliver some of the best kind of foods one can make at home. Having watched a friend build his lovely big-domed oven using the graciously provided plans for the Pompei oven I had a serious think.
I was really inspired to build a wood fired brick oven to make the kind of food my grandmother would have made in the old country but there are were a few things working against me.
-I am at a rental property, and
-I am rather budget stretched.
Seeing as the budget of my friend's was over my limit (significantly more than $1000AUD) and the agents might not appreciate a 2 ton brick monster in the back-yard I set myself the challenge of building a brick oven for under $100AUD. This was to cover ALL costs.
The conditions above necessitated the following guidelines.
-It must be easily demountable, therefore either no mortar or a very high sand:cement ratio must be used to dismantle it.
-The materials must be readily and cheaply available to those willing to put in a bit of time looking.
I set myself this challenge to see if I can achieve the same quality of pizza and breads (among many other foods) that are produced with large in-situ ovens, and make it easy for any other people who are dismayed and daunted at the cost, materials/equipment, scale and work required to replicate such ovens.
Therefore I settled on using a 44 gallon drum (205L in real measurements) as the form for the bricks, a base made of hard fired clay pavers with a very low ratio of red clay laid over an asbestos tile base to insulate the floor, and a piece of galvanised gutter-pipe for the flue. The dome brick will rest against the 44 gal drum and as they are not being exposed directly to the fire/cooking area I don't need to worry if they will crack of flake, and the mortar doesn't have to be high heat.
So far the major expenses have been:
-$14 for the floor bricks
-$60 for an insulating blanket
-$10 for cutting blades for a grinder
No money was paid for:
-Dome bricks (local building site- surplus to requirements)
-44gal drum (given by a local mechanic- originally contained coolant)
-Gutter-pipe for the flue (Found in the shed)
-Asbestos tiles to insulate the floor
Here are some pictures of my progress to date.
Cutting off centre to gain height without drastically affecting the cooking floor area. And retaining a "lip" on the oven for strength and to push a door up against
Laying the pavers.
Lining it all up for next stage of dome bricks.
Riveting the flue down down.
More to come... Stay tuned...
I was really inspired to build a wood fired brick oven to make the kind of food my grandmother would have made in the old country but there are were a few things working against me.
-I am at a rental property, and
-I am rather budget stretched.
Seeing as the budget of my friend's was over my limit (significantly more than $1000AUD) and the agents might not appreciate a 2 ton brick monster in the back-yard I set myself the challenge of building a brick oven for under $100AUD. This was to cover ALL costs.
The conditions above necessitated the following guidelines.
-It must be easily demountable, therefore either no mortar or a very high sand:cement ratio must be used to dismantle it.
-The materials must be readily and cheaply available to those willing to put in a bit of time looking.
I set myself this challenge to see if I can achieve the same quality of pizza and breads (among many other foods) that are produced with large in-situ ovens, and make it easy for any other people who are dismayed and daunted at the cost, materials/equipment, scale and work required to replicate such ovens.
Therefore I settled on using a 44 gallon drum (205L in real measurements) as the form for the bricks, a base made of hard fired clay pavers with a very low ratio of red clay laid over an asbestos tile base to insulate the floor, and a piece of galvanised gutter-pipe for the flue. The dome brick will rest against the 44 gal drum and as they are not being exposed directly to the fire/cooking area I don't need to worry if they will crack of flake, and the mortar doesn't have to be high heat.
So far the major expenses have been:
-$14 for the floor bricks
-$60 for an insulating blanket
-$10 for cutting blades for a grinder
No money was paid for:
-Dome bricks (local building site- surplus to requirements)
-44gal drum (given by a local mechanic- originally contained coolant)
-Gutter-pipe for the flue (Found in the shed)
-Asbestos tiles to insulate the floor
Here are some pictures of my progress to date.
Cutting off centre to gain height without drastically affecting the cooking floor area. And retaining a "lip" on the oven for strength and to push a door up against
Laying the pavers.
Lining it all up for next stage of dome bricks.
Riveting the flue down down.
More to come... Stay tuned...
...enjoy every sandwich!
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