40" WFO in the New Orleans

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Congratulations Tu on a great 1st wfo cooking experience. I'm impressed with ANYONE who bakes whole fish in the wfo for their 1st time.

The picture of the green artichokes between the glowing red embers is quite nice. Oh...I bet it tasted good too.

Regarding the enclosure: I had my summer swim/pizza party (35 people) when my oven still just had steel studs on the sides and some roof plywood cut around the vent opening (all the white dome insulation and crossing wires exposed) and I wanted everyone to appreciate all the work I did before I covered it up . Then a handful of people who came the next year thought that WAS my finished oven ! But, you can only go so far with blue tarp before weather turns again.

Thanks for sharing the nice food pics.

[Gary Mots]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Very nice build, great post on your WFO

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Tu,
Nicely done, Tu! Love your oven and envious of your cooking expertise. There's always time to complete your enclosure.... after your cooking schedule slows down a bit. Bon apetit!
John

[SCChris]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Well done on the oven, door and food!



Chris

[Lburou]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

WoW! Looking good Tu....You seem to have a flare for cooking, those dishes after pizza look real creative and beg to be tasted

[Amac]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

That is great Tu
You have discovered the lifecycle of the WFO - first it produces wonderful kids - almost full grown - later some green aliens - and later wonderful pizza, and later still all other foods - now I can't wait. Is there life with the WFO after the building?
Now I am envious
Aidan

[banhxeo76]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

After the fourth pizza, I moved the ember around with a 2x4 and make a path in a middle to slide in a pan sheet. First pan was artichoke. Second pan was stuffed mushroom with crab. Third pan was salted baked red snappers. Everything were great. The fish was cooked prefectly and everybody was supprised the fish was not salty at all. This is the first time I ever use salt to baked fish like this.

I honestly don't know when I will ever started working on the enclosured if cooking with WFO would be this fun.

I just want to thank all of the people for sharing their of ideas and tips on this forum on how to build WFO. I thank you.

[banhxeo76]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

I have some good friends over my house last night to be my taste testers. Did some serious cooking out of the WFO.

It was my first big fire and the soot was clear after 95 minutes. The first pizza was done in less than 80 seconds and clearly, the floor was too hot. The bottom of the pizza was a little too charred but taste testers still wolfed it down anyway. The seconds pizza was cooked under 90 seconds and it was just prefect. I told myself quietly "I can't I believe that I built this WFO that cooked a pizza this awesome." I used three type of cheese for my version of cheese pizza and they were fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and pecorino romano cheese. Life is good!

I used a sour dough starter which I started two weeks ago and it has developed into a wonderful starter. I incorporated the starter into my pizza dough and let it fermented over two days in the refrigerator. I did not use any instant yeast in my dough at all. The aroma from crust was out of this world. Life is Great!

[Gulf]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Great job on the door Tu,
Giving me some ideas to stay away from the thick metal (more weight).
I'm jealous of your progress, but keep it up. We both have to host Superbowl parties regardless of the negatives out there. I think this bountygate was all about trying to keep the Saint's from having Home Field Advantage.

[banhxeo76]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

The chaffing fuels is a great idea. I'm constantly amazed at all the great ideas I see on this site.

Your door is awesome! Very well insulated. I have yet to make my "real" door and am glad you took all those pics. Did you use tin-snips to cut the 16 gauge? Is that the sheets of sheet metal HomeDepot & Lows carry's?

Great job Tu Dat

Dino,

Thanks for the compliment. I used a jigsaw with metal blade instead of wood blade to cut. It was very easy to cut 16 gauge with a jigsaw. However, I can't say the same about 24 gauge sheet metal because it is simply just too thin for a jigsaw because it tend to bend and wrap different directions. I think you better off with tin-snips for 24 gauge. I got my 16 gauge metal sheet from local Lowes in New Orleans and Home Depot doesn't have 16 gauge sheet metal in New Orleans.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

The chaffing fuels is a great idea. I'm constantly amazed at all the great ideas I see on this site.

Your door is awesome! Very well insulated. I have yet to make my "real" door and am glad you took all those pics. Did you use tin-snips to cut the 16 gauge? Is that the sheets of sheet metal HomeDepot & Lows carry's?

Great job Tu Dat

[banhxeo76]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Did some more curing last night and I increased to 16 chafing fuel cans in the WFO. After two hours, the temperature peaked at 400 F at the dome and the floor was about 300 F. I decided to go ahead to put on the ceramic insulation fabric and it took me about 90 minutes to put on 3 inches (3 layers) around the exterior of the dome. I checked the temperature again and the dome was at 500 F and there was not a single crack inside the dome. After the fire from the chafing fuel had gone empty (about 6 hours), I place my WFO door (minus the wood layer) inside the oven and close the oven with firebricks to let the paint on the door cure. I also did this when the temperature was at 300 F a few nights ago to cure the oven door as well. This morning, I removed the firebricks and my door and again, there was no crack to be seen inside of the WFO. The temperature was about 300 F on the top and 250 F on the floor. Obviously with the insulation, the heat is being retained a lot better than the previous morning. I placed a handful of sticks of wood inside the oven to dry it out so that I can use it for fire later today. Yes, today is the first day that I actually have some fire from wood. I marinated some pork this morning to take advantage of the fire for tonight dinner.

Well, the interior of my WFO will never look as clean as now but it is time to get it dirty!

[mrchipster]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Very nice looking door!!!

Chip

[banhxeo76]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

Okay, I mentioned early that my door is pretty much the same as jcg31's design with some modification.

Here is my door design starting from inside (facing the interior of the WFO).

1) 16 gauge sheet metal
2) 2" of insulation board (cut the size shape as the first layer)
3) 16 gauge sheet metal (this cut is 1" bigger on the sides and top than the first two layers)

I am using 10 of 2" Aluminum Phillips Flat-Head Post Screw to hold the first three piece together. Shop The Hillman Group 2" Aluminum Phillips Flat-Head Post Screw at Lowes.com

4) 1" of insulation board (cut to the exact size layer 3)
5) 24 gauge sheet metal (cut to the exact size to layer 3 or 4 on the two sides and on the top but I shorten the bottom side by 3/16" to make sure that the bottom does not have any contact with the brick.

Then I am using 9 of 1" Aluminum Phillips Flat-Head Post Screw to hold layers 3 to 5 together.

6) 11/16" cedar wood which was glue together with biscuits for the exterior of the door. I have 4 of 3" long, 5/16" stainless steal bolt which hold layer 3 to layer 6 and in additional to the two handles.

It weighs about 20lbs. Jim is sending me some fabricglass tape to wrap the door up on all 4 sides. I will post more photo with fabricglass tape and gasket rope on the door when it is done.

[banhxeo76]

Re: 40" WFO in the New Orleans

While the WFO is curing, I have been working on the door.