Time to build my bread / pizza oven

[matthewcove]

I have been working on a design for a wood fired oven for cooking bread and pizza for some time. Now I have some of my other projects out of the or on hold, it is time to dive in and get building. over the last few months we have built the ground slab , footings and oven support base and in the last could of weeks we have begun the actual oven build. I will post some progress pictures here as progress is made, but first I would love to have some discussion regarding the design.

Here is a quick view from my sketchup model


and here is the base, with the under hearth, Foamglas insulation layer.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i-Oedi65hz...0/DSC_9918.jpg

The first few steps and lots more photos, I have written up in detail on my blog at FireAndFocaccia: My Plans for a wood fired, masonry barrel vault oven.


Would love to hear comments and suggestions.

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

much progress has been made in the last week or so due to unheard of warm weather over christmas.

I am currenlty casting the over door lintel from refractory. I have gone into quite some detail in my blog posts.

FireAndFocaccia - Food projects blog, wood fired ovens, baking, bread, recipes and eating out: Building a wood fired bread and pizza oven - Casting the door lintel



Matthew

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

I have documented the fabrication of the steel bracing for the oven. Full story and pictures on my blog post FireAndFocaccia - Food projects blog, wood fired ovens, baking, bread, recipes and eating out: Building a wood fired bread and Pizza Oven - Fabricating the arch supports



Matthew

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

soldier bricks now completed. almost time to start the brick dome



Full story and detailed pictures on in my blog post

FireAndFocaccia - Food projects blog, wood fired ovens, baking, bread, recipes and eating out: Building a wood fired bread and pizza oven - Soldier bricks

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Further progress made

FireAndFocaccia - Food projects blog, wood fired ovens, baking, bread, recipes and eating out: Building a wood fired oven - dome bricks started



Matthew

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Really working flat out in the evenings now to get the brickwork done before the cold weather really sets in.

Finished the main dome now

Full story and chat about techniques and materials etc on my blog




FireAndFocaccia - Food projects blog, wood fired ovens, baking, bread, recipes and eating out: Building a wood fired bread oven - Completing the main dome

thanks

Matthew

[JoeyVelderrain]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

i'm digging this

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

couple of more bits done last night after posting my previous update.
full story and pictures here



Matthew

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Just finished the first curing fire in my oven. Have been heating the brickwork with an electric heater all week above 30 C so it was time to start increasing the fire. I'm staying below the protocol provided by the refractory manufacturer so I'm hoping for not too much movement or cracking. None spotted so far, but much higher temperatures to come.

This just got very exciting.

Here is the traditional 'stuck in the oven' picture



Lots of detail and some really cool pictures of this evenings firing on my blog here.

Matthew

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Oops
finished the chimney transition and have been constantly curing the oven. accidently set a much larger fire than I had intended for curing.. oops!



full story on my blog here



Matthew

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Lots of steps had to be completed this week before the weekend as I had promised to be making pizza for my daughters 1st birthday party. There was far more work to be done than expected, but somehow we got there with a couple of days to spare. Last night I could not resist doing a practice run, so we had pizza for dinner. I have written up all the steps done in detail with lots of great pictures in a blog post here.





http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kjRY0-HTWQ...0/_DSC0620.jpg

thanks

Matthew

[Greenman]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Congratulations Mathew. I am sure that it will serve you well but I am unsure how it informs the forum unless exposure is an advantage for you. I have always looked on the forum as a place to exchange and learn.

Excuse me if I have misconstrued your motives. Feel free to 'correct' me if I have pegged you wrongly. I reserve the right to my NSHBWCO.

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Hi Steve,

My posting this project to a couple forums has resulted in much discussion, some fantastic suggestions and ideas have come from forum members that have helped me shape the design and solve many problems along the way. I have given a few members ideas that they have utilized in their own oven designs. The help I have received has been invaluable, I have even made friends, been invited to baking get-together with people with similar ovens so that we can continue to discuss oven design over a beer or two.

Putting all the details in a blog post and a summarised version on the forum enables me to take part in couple of forums without reworking every detail of the build each time. I have put a lot of effort into explaining every design decision in an attempt to 'exchange and learn'.

Matthew

[JoeyVelderrain]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

looks great Matthew! just wondering why the angle iron frame! also, I think I like the barrel vault design vs the igloo shape, any difference that you know of in temperature retention or cooking properties? or why did you choose this design?

[matthewcove]

Re: Time to build my bread / pizza oven

Hi Joey,

This shape of oven is primarily for baking bread and pastries, you can also do pizza, but it not an ideal shape, because it is long and not wide it is difficalt to do more than one pizza at a time and its a big oven for that. The low vault means that the hot radiating brickwork is much closer to the top of the bread less variation in height over the whole oven, the bread should be evenly cooked with a consistent crust over the whole of the oven without the need for moving the breads during baking. The steel strapping is there to resist the outwould thrust of the low arch, ovens used to achieve this with very thick walls, but I wanted an oven that had walls no more than a brick width this and a hearth only a little thicker. The oven is designed to have just enough thermal mass so that you can use the oven curve to cook 4 loads of different types of bread on the cooling curve of the oven, maybe focaccia first, then baguettes, then boules etc. Followed by Pastry on the same day. An oven with more mass would take so long to cool down this would not be possible, but high mass is more suitable if you want to cook just bread every day in a production environment.

Thanks

Matthew