42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[modified9v]

Two more... a cuatro (4 cheese) and my buried pepperoni. Man, this is good. Dough at 70% hydration. Dome was 850f, floor was 625f.

I stacked bricks in front of the inner arch and will proof a couple sourdough loaves for tomorrow night.

[Chach]

Sounds like you hit the milestone "the first pizza" Such a great milestone and accomplishment.

Ricky

[Yokosuka dweller]

Your pizzas look great, really I have to experiment also with higher hydration. Normally I am around 57-60% and the dough is already very quick/easy to get to shape, so I'm wondering if 70% wouldn't make a dough that's very hard to work with? Anyways, and nice charring, I'm getting hungry here...your temps are getting up there, is the dome clearing?

[modified9v]

Thanks Ricky... sure felt good to finally reach the finish line.

Yes, Yokosuka Dweller... the dome cleared. The 70% hydration is hard to work with. My wife made the cuatro pizza and she struggled with the handling of it. Next time I will go back to the 60% that has always been my go too. Much more forgiving and I don’t think I’ll be able to taste a difference.

What was cool about yesterday was that we had our neighbors over to join us. I’m a very young 60 years old and my neighbor is 25 years my senior. They are snow birds and would normally be back in Oregon by now (we live here full time). Every day when he is out watering his citrus trees next to my build site he would say “Young man, have you been keepin’ track of your hours?” I told him no... that it was a labor of love. “Well”, he says... “I’d love some of that pizza!” I promised him that he’d be the first to try it. And, he was.

I attached a picture of my load of mesquite. This is what $60 USD will get you, delivered, in San Felipe. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Nice hard wood and enough for several parties.

Well... that’s it for now. I’ll probably post pics of my bread and after we get out of quarantine we are having a blow out party. I’ll find a local to do the stucco of the dome and stand... then in the fall when my Canadian buddy gets back we will build the enclosure.

Thanks everyone for the the help and for following along.
Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Couple other things. The picture with the crack. The reason this cracked was because earlier in the build I had a tarp on the oven when we went back to the States, just in case. Well, just in case happened and my tarp tore and that corner of the insulation board got wet... the weight of the outer arch compressed the board and this is the result. It has gotten worse with oven firings. I will keep a close eye on it and if it gets much worse I will have to come up with a way to support that side of the arch.

In the other picture you can see my temporary door. I’ve got a sourdough loaf proofing now. Last night the temp of the dome just before I blocked the entrance was 675f. That was 14 hours ago... I just checked and it’s still at 580f. I’m impressed. OH, and those bricks blocking the entrance are smokin’ hot. LOL

[modified9v]

Progress up to now in the photos below. I had my Mexican friend do the stucco on the base and dome. It’s better than I could have done. I did paint it. Feel really good about having it all sealed up. It will get an enclosure this fall when my snowbird buddy gets down here from British Columbia.


Random Thoughts:
I started this project with 300 fire bricks and I have 27 left. I always wondered how close Forno Bravo was was in the plans... pretty close I believe. I probably only wrecked about 5 or so and I was pretty frugal with utilizing them.

I love that my oven floor is 48” off the ground. I’m 6’ 1” and it’s perfect that I don’t have to bend over to work it.

I’ve lost 24 pounds since I started working on this project. Hopefully I can keep it off and still enjoy the pizza.

Dome height is 21”. Floor is 42”. Width of opening is 21”. Height of opening is 13”. Landing is 13” deep. This oven doesn’t draft worth a crap on initial fire up. Once it really hot it drafts pretty good as long as the wind isn’t blowing... unfortunately, it’s always blowing here. I guess it’s not a huge deal, just have to clean the soot off of the bricks after a party.

I saved the arch templates and will take them to the States next time I go up to the Sacramento area and have a door fabricated. I’d love to do it but I don’t have the tools anymore.

Would I ever build another one? Never say never... I know I won’t build another one here in Baja CA. If I were back in Nor Cal I’d do it and I could make quick work of it. Not having materials makes it difficult here. It’s also so hot and humid that it really kicks your butt.

Yesterday we had our first confirmed case of the contagion in our little town.

I will update pictures when I do the tile work. Thanks for watching...
Mikie V.

[UtahBeehiver]

I always build a small starter fire (alternating box shape with tinder) directly under the chimney vent to get a good draft going then push the fire back into the dome once it is drafting well.

[modified9v]

Some of my posts are gone... most were in regard to smoke coming out the front. Oh well... as suggested I’m now building the small fire under the vent and then pushing it into the oven once it’s drafting well. It’s better, but not great. Still getting some smoke out the front but not as bad... the wind come from directly behind the oven and I’d swear it is creating a Venturi effect and pulling the smoke out. No matter... this thing is still a beast

I had a party of 10 yesterday and made 10 pizzas. The plan was to eat at 6pm so I lit the initial fire at 3pm. By 5pm I pushed the fire to the back of the oven and mopped the floor. Dome was 1100f and the floor was 680f. I had to mop the floor again to cool it off a bit. I made 2 pizzas at a time and I will say these were the best I’ve ever made or eaten. Everyone agreed. 90 second cook times. 14 hours later with no door at all and the dome is 400f and the floor is 300f

Yesterday, when I was feeding the fire, I was not wearing gloves when I put the wood in... took all the hair off my hand and forearm. Mucho respect of this thing.

10 pizzas for 100 people is 2 too many... we gave the other 2 to the guys in the guard shacks.

STOKED!!! Mikie V.

[modified9v]

That was suppose to be 10 pizzas for 10 people is 2 too many. The edit feature wasn’t working. Quirky forum sometimes. Sorry for the confusion.

[Chach]

Pizzas look very tasty. Yes , you will not need to ok wax those arms when using the oven and no gloves. LOL. I have welder gloves that go up your forearm. I don't use them often but have it helps a lot but you can't leave your hand in there super long as the leather gets hot as well but shields you from hell created inside.

Ricky

[modified9v]

I hear ya Ricky... I have got to pick up some gloves. As far as the pizza... the one in the picture is not something i would ever do. I asked one of the guests to make what he wanted. I’m a bit of a pizza snob and stick to traditional ingredients. This one had ranch dressing as a sauce with pepperoni, pineapple and mozzarella... kinda disgusting. Ahahaha. Everyone had a blast. And I love my lost and found after a party.

[UtahBeehiver]

I forgot to tell ya, the small draft fire I do is a top down fire. Here is a super mega version of a top down fire I saw at Jack Daniels in Lynchburg Tn, 30 years ago but it is for making charcoal. When I went there it was a dry county (has since changed) but at the end of the tour they gave us a choice of tasting yellow label or black label which much to my dismay turned out to be lemonade or coffee.....LOL

[Chach]

"Disgusting" hahhah love it. I am a traditionalist as well. Glad it was successful.

Ricky

[modified9v]

Been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve attached 3 pictures from our party last night. We hosted a cornhole/pizza party and had 30 people over. What a blast. One picture is of the new door fresh from a friend of mine that is a shop foreman at a fabrication shop in California. I sent him via snail mail a template and he brought this down to Mexico for me.

The oven was actually a little too hot last night and pizzas were coming out in about 60 seconds... too fast to work multiple pies at one time. The done was 1200f and the floor was 825f... I tried to let it cool a bit and found myself mopping the deck between pies but it was a struggle. They tasted amazing. This was the first time I used only mesquite wood from start up to finish... man, that stuff burns hot, hot, hot.

The one picture of the finished pizza is what we call the Quattro. It’s a simple 4 cheese pizza. Mozzarella, Provolone, Asiago and Gorgonzola... EVO base, garlic and freshly ground pepper corns. I made 5 of them.

This morning the oven temp is 600f... floor is 575f and the dome is 680f. Thinking I’ll make a few dough balls and make a few clam pies for me and the Mrs. for lunch.

I still have plans to cover the oven with a structure of some sort... haven’t worked out the details yet. Too busy using the oven.

Today I will start proofing dough for bread that I will bake tomorrow and then the next day we will slow cook a roast... I will use the oven to dry some of the herbs from the garden this coming weekend.

Life is good.

[JRPizza]

That's some great heat retention! You are going to love roasting in the oven - everything comes out so moist. I love it when I pull the door off and the steam and smells come pouring out!