Hello all,
I've been lurking and researching here for awhile and am getting ready to start my oven. However, I want to run my plan past others to make sure I'm on the right path.
Since I will almost certainly have no need to bake bread for three days or cook large turkeys, etc., I want to make this thing a little thinner so it heats up relatively quickly and stays hot enough for great pizza, which is the main reason I'm building it. I absolutely want to bake loaves of bread, but probably only a half dozen or less at a time (per firing, not all at once).
Given these parameters, I was wondering if placing the bricks on the flat side with the long axis of the brick following the horizontal circumference of the dome would be okay. That would mean the dome's brick thickness would be 4.5". The dome would not be quite as spherical, but a little more polygonal, I suppose. This has very likely been addressed on this board, but I just haven't found it yet. Any issues with doing it this way?
This would result in fewer bricks laid and less cutting, but a thinner dome, if I've understood how they are usually laid. Given my lack of interest in the oven staying hot for days, I wonder if this is a good idea.
On top of my reinforced concrete base, I was going to pour 4 in. of vermiculite/portland and then the floor. I'm still not clear, however, on floor material to use. I would think that the floor is the most critical part of the oven and would have the greatest influence over the outcome of the crust. It appears that some use firebrick and others use soapstone. I guess I still don't know what material is best for nice pizza crust. Could someone advise me what the concensus is? In the meantime, I suppose I'll research more. Thanks much in advance.
I've been lurking and researching here for awhile and am getting ready to start my oven. However, I want to run my plan past others to make sure I'm on the right path.
Since I will almost certainly have no need to bake bread for three days or cook large turkeys, etc., I want to make this thing a little thinner so it heats up relatively quickly and stays hot enough for great pizza, which is the main reason I'm building it. I absolutely want to bake loaves of bread, but probably only a half dozen or less at a time (per firing, not all at once).
Given these parameters, I was wondering if placing the bricks on the flat side with the long axis of the brick following the horizontal circumference of the dome would be okay. That would mean the dome's brick thickness would be 4.5". The dome would not be quite as spherical, but a little more polygonal, I suppose. This has very likely been addressed on this board, but I just haven't found it yet. Any issues with doing it this way?
This would result in fewer bricks laid and less cutting, but a thinner dome, if I've understood how they are usually laid. Given my lack of interest in the oven staying hot for days, I wonder if this is a good idea.
On top of my reinforced concrete base, I was going to pour 4 in. of vermiculite/portland and then the floor. I'm still not clear, however, on floor material to use. I would think that the floor is the most critical part of the oven and would have the greatest influence over the outcome of the crust. It appears that some use firebrick and others use soapstone. I guess I still don't know what material is best for nice pizza crust. Could someone advise me what the concensus is? In the meantime, I suppose I'll research more. Thanks much in advance.
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