51" Oven in France

[Les]

Re: 51" Oven in France

Kosta, You are getting outside of my box, but here are my thoughts. I built a 42 inch and my dome is pretty much 21 inch high. I was after the perfect semicircle. If you build it correctly, and you have the support on the sides, it should work. The forces that you are exerting in the horizontal axis has not been done here (to my knowledge). It's not my time or money - so I say go for it. 6 pizza's at a time, you are my new hero! (these were being cooked in 120 seconds or less, right?)

Les...

[exipnos]

Re: 51" Oven in France

Thanks for the replies. Regarding the size I'm sure a 42" oven might be sufficient and I know that a size like that can produce a lot of Pizza in a short time. But having seen the circle on my large hearth I now think a bigger size might be in order. I might down size it to say around 47"-50". We love to entertain and sometimes it for quite a lot of people. Yes I'm used to the restaurant size and that experience also makes me want the bigger size because oven management could be tricky sometimes with many pizzas. I'm happy to work with 6 pizza at a time and then the extra space makes it easier.

The heath is built with a lot of rebar in place and I think it can withstand a direct hit with one of the bunker busting bombs

I'm struggling a bit regarding the dome shape. Having seen the FB ristrorante 120 and 130 specs it calls for a dome height of 22 and 23.5 in. Then when I read about the tuscan vs napolitan styles I see that this height is quite far from the napolitan height. Oven function will be primarily towards pizza so I'm not sure what to go for. I was thinking of maybe going for a slightly smaller 48" oven but keeping the dome height to under 20". Will that be doable?

[Les]

Re: 51" Oven in France

Kosta,

If your hearth and foundation are built to withstand the weight, and you keep a descent dome arch - I do not envision a problem. That is a BIG oven. Myself, I never envisioned cooking a whole cow. Go for it!

Les...

[krosskraft]

Re: 51" Oven in France

Are you going to open a restaurant in your back yard? The downside of a huge oven is that it takes more wood to heat up. Maybe you are used to a bigger oven having worked in a restaurant. I just want you to really think about it.

[exipnos]

Hi all,

Let me first start by thanking Forno Bravo and the members here for a fantastic informational site. I've spent the last few days looking through the forum and I'm now about to embark on the construction.

Let me first start by introducing myself. While I was studying I use to work for almost 4 years as a "pizziolo".
While in the US for university studies I also worked for a short time for California Pizza Kitchen where I first got introduced to a wood fired pizza oven. I loved it. I now live and work in the south of France and was thinking of building a wood fired oven in my own garden.

This past weekend my father and I poured the foundation, built the walls and the reinforced concrete pad. My pad is 190*190 cm and I was thinking of maximizing my oven size to above the standard 42". I therefore leaning towards a 51" oven. The oven will be built out of standard brick split in half. The look will be similar to the on I found here on FB an also on Untitled Document.

Since the plans don't have this size I was wondering if there is any special considerations I have to look into before starting on the detailed plans?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Regards,
Kosta