Oven on wheels

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

Pictures of the Littlehampton pavers used on the dome. They look crappy, but when cut they reveal that they have no flaws inside, and the little rocks and bits of brick don't seem to be a problem, though I made sure I put the smoothest surface against the flame. I'd show a picture of the cut brick, except unbeknown to me the missus has been quietly slipping a few off-cuts in the wheelie bin each week and there are no off-cuts left to photograph.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Oven on wheels

Gudday Mick
Thanks heaps for the reply... its more than comprehensive.
I had the lightbulb moment with your comment about pavers being "just skinny commons" commons. Brick commons are not easy to find these days and any secound hand brick commons are old and a bit a bit dodgy. Part of the reason I went the firebrick path with my own oven. I found .50 cent commons new but they were pretty poor quality very much secounds.
I will probably get out to the farm this weekend so this has got the old brain juices flowing. I had a good rethink about me mate jamie and his needs and uses for the oven. I can't see him cooking masses of bread and baking for days so thermal mass and thick floor is not probably overkill. So I recon the plan will firm up with a single layer of pavers for the hearth and a 3 to 3 1/2 in dome.
3 1/2 in dome cause the "local" clay pavers are shorter than brick size. Theres no brick saw so brick bulster and angle grinder, half sizes will cut down the amount of cuts required.
As you also said pealcrete and homebrew mortar are the cheaper but still very much proven options I recon we will use them.
Again thanks for the reply

Regards Dave

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

Dave,
I made pizzas tonight straight on the brick floor. I am reminded of a comment you made about your stone in your BBQ in the other thread where we were discussing stones. You commented that the pizza from the WFO was softer in texture than the pizza made on the stone in your WBER Q.
I reckon that must be a normal thing.
The pizza made straight on the pavers in my WFO was crisp, but definitely softer texture than the ones made on the stone. Its amazing how much differnt considering we are talking whether or not we use a 20mm layer of stone.
I'm thinking my paver floor is behaving about as a WFO is expected to behave. Certainly a lot better now than when I first started using it.
The wife said she preferred the crisper texture of the stone made pizzas, the middle son said he liked the brick floor jobs and the youngest son said who cares make me another bacon pizza.
Fire management was a bitch tonight. It's windy, raining, and swamp people was on TV so I wasn't anywhere near as diligent as usual. As a result temperatures were up and down like a.......

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

Went to a birthday party last night.
A good time was had by all.
The host has a weber Q, one of those egg shaped things which is really just a (very expensive) gas fired BBQ with a lid.
He has a stone for it. Using super market flat bread (already cooked) for bases, with some rather nice toppings he kept the pizzas coming all night.
They were tasty, the burning fat from the hot plate got 'em nice and smokey, but by the time the tops were cooked, the bases were crispy crackers. Good finger food for a party, and they went well with the beer I took to the party, but I'm glad I built an oven and know how to make dough.
I do think this weberQ with stone thing would have worked pretty good with a fresh dough crust.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Oven on wheels

Gudday Mick
readn this and pissed myself laughing......tell me you managed to keep your mouth shut....cause you would never be rude to your hosts.... but did you dob yourself in for a pizza party?.
On the point of using a webber Q yes you can tease an well... exceptable pizza out of one but on flatbread bases...I think not.
The webberQ are expensive to buy but its is the best BBq I have ever used....period.... and this would appeal to you Mick its the most frugul on Gas. I have had one for 2 years now and I havent got through the 4th 8.5 kg of bottle gas. Its on our back verandah so we use it most nights hardly ever use the stove in the kitchen at all.
Regards Dave

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

Yeah, I was good. It was easy actually, because I work with this guy and while he was serving up the pizzas he mentioned that while he was happy with his pizzas, they weren't as good as the WFO stuff I'd brought to work for him to try. That was a great conversation starter and much appreciated, given I knew very few people at the party.
It's not like he was claiming they were the world's best or anything, and his toppings were very good, so it wasn't hard to acknowledge that he'd done a good job with the tools at hand. Honestly, if I can talk him into using fresh (uncooked) dough, he will be on a winner. These things are entirely capable of doing a very good pizza, going on what I saw on Saturday night.
I did note it got very hot under that hood according to the built-in thermometer, so yes, they don't waste a lot of energy. I reckon I'd be able to turn out some pretty reasonable tucker with a weberQ, and according to all reports, this guy's roasts are something to aspire to.

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

P.S. so far I've chickened out on having a full size pizza party. The most I've catered for is the family plus 4 guests.
Gotta do it one day I suppose, but a few things have got to happen first.
1) I'd like to get my cooking area enclosed with lattice work so I can keep the flaming wind out
2) My dough makes good pizza, but I still find it hard to work and shape, so I still don't turn 'em out fast enough
3) I need to organise my work space yet - a decent bench a bit closer to the oven, a bigger peel so I can make party size pizzas, etc.

But, I'll get there one day.

[david s]

Re: Oven on wheels

Buy yourself some part precooked bases. That way you'll always have a pizza ready to cook and you can have half fresh bases and half precooked. You can impress your guests with how much better your own rolled out ones are. Always encourage everyone to share whatever comes out rather than cooking individual pizzas for each guest. Parties up to 30 are easy this way.

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

"What you doing?" she asked, as I fossicked through the woodpile.
"I'm looking for a stick about 8 inches long, 1 and a half inches wide, a bit of a bend in it, and not too gnarley", I mumbled
"I don't want to know any more", she said as she retreated to the house before I could finish "to use for a handle on the oven door"

[cobblerdave]

Re: Oven on wheels

Knarley Dude

Regards Dave

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

Finally got around to replacing the loose stacked bricks I was using for a wind-break with a mortared arch.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Oven on wheels

Gudday Mick
That all definitly keep the wind out nof your oven....and prevent any radient heat from effecting your glass of wine.

Regards vDave

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

Tried her out last night. One hair line crack alongside the keystone bricks. Nothing serious I think, and accessible to repair if absolutely necessary down the track.
It was quite windy last night, and this arched enclosure did a better job than the rectangular thing I started with.
I would recommend that to anyone contemplating their options - for a given width of entry, the arch design closes things in a bit better than a rectangular opening, in my opinion.
The wind was kept out better, and I swear the smoke was drafted better.

[moderator]

Re: Oven on wheels

Hi Wotavidone,
Hairline cracks occur in wood fired ovens from time to time, but these hairline cracks never become large enough to become a problem. Cracks simply happen with brick ovens on occasion because of the expansion and contraction of the dome and the individual bricks. It's essentially part of nature.

What is important is that these hairline cracks do not impact how well the oven cooks or how long the oven will last.

The homeowner can continue using the oven, not worry about the crack and let us know if it gets bigger (again, something that has never happened). Here is the text in Italian, from the Artisan who makes the oven, and in our translation.

"Come tutti i forni tradizionale anche "il Forno del Nonno (Artigiano)" subisce durante il funzionamento una normale dilatazione termica che si presenta sotto forma di una piccolo crepatura in corrispondenza della cupola.

Tuttavia questo fenomeno naturale non deve preoccupare poich? non altera e non limita le caratteristiche del forno che potrete tranquillamente usare come vostra consuetudine."

As with all traditional ovens (brick), including the Artigiano, that undergo thermal expansion during operation, there is the chance that small cracks can form in the dome.

This phenomenon is normal in every way, and you do not have to worry, because these small cracks do not alter or limit the characteristics of the oven, and you can happily continue to use the oven as you would otherwise.

[wotavidone]

Re: Oven on wheels

P.S. Given that I often seem to forget to move my wine glass before photographing things, Dave will be pleased to know that a) I didn't crack a bottle until after the baking was done, and b) it was actually quite cool down here last night, hard to believe it is summer, and when I did crack a bottle, it was a bottle of Wolf Blass Tawny Port that just happened to be lying around and c) I was uncharacteristically restrained so I still have lots of that there bottle of port left this morning.