Eric's WFO build

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Thanks Dino,
I cooked a couple of pizzas tonight with my last curing session with the gas burner. Got the oven up to 750, no signs of anything more than hairline cracks on the outside of the dome, nothing on the inside. I think I am golden as far as crackage. On to wood now. The pizzas turned out fantastic: a pesto, shrimp, pear tomato and mozarella, then a focaccia with garlic,olive oil, and pecorino romano. They both disappeared before I could take a picture. I had to try out the new Neopolitan peel my mother in law bought me. Worked great, nothing stuck to the peel, no accidental calzones. The only down side was my wife Cathy was asleep by the time the oven was ready to cook- she didn't go to bed hungry, I made her tilapia and roasted vegetables earlier.

Hopefully I can wrap up the insulation and a scratch coat of stucco this weekend, maybe even the adobe veneer for the block stand. I am going to need a door. That one kind of snuck up on me. It has been off in the future for a long time, now I need it.

I will post pic's of my first wood fired pizzas

Eric

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Great looking loaves Eric! And the chickens got great skin too. For a 1st attempt at cooking in the wfo you only get an "A+". ()

Those are interesting temps with only 1 layer of FB blanket. Your right, it's going to be even better with added layers. You're going to be ready with your oven just in time for the summer.

-Dino

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

First attempt at cooking in the WFO. I did alright, not great. Without a door I had to put some bricks in the opening to keep the heat in. I ran the oven at 500f for 10 hours. The exterior of the dome was 503f, the outside of the insulation ( 1 layer of 1" FB blanket) was 140f. With 3" of insulation it should be awesome.

I put 3 loaves of sourdough in for 15 min. The oven lost heat really quickly when I removed the bricks from the opening, but it is still early in the dehydrating process. The bread came out excellent. I got to use the new Neopolitan pizza peel that my mother in law bought for me. I put a roaster chicken with some vegetable for 45 min. It is going to take a while to figure out heat management and timing.

Rain due tonight, so I covered everything up and will continue the curing process this week.

Moving forward now.

E

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

On the soapstone transition from the entry onto the brick cooking area, I used some of the waste SStone as the support for the slab, this runs the full width of the inner opening. I didn't want the sub-slab void space to be a supply for cold air when I place the inner door and bake. Two layers of 3cm material have a 2.5 inch height so I needed to remove about a quarter of an inch to get to floor height. I beveled the SStone edge over at about 22 or so degrees to closely match the brick floor height and kept the higher edge at the jamb rather than have a dip to gather debris. I used the grinder to rough shape this slope and then sanded.

Eric, If you're interested I know that the distributer of SStone also has a yard in Escondido and the local sales person could likely put you in contact with a local fabricator that'll have a few cut-offs. If I did it again I'd get a HF 7.25 diamond blade for my circular saw and 80 grit for the orbital sander. I have the feeling that the lighter colors may be softer than are the darker colors of SStone.

Chris

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Thanks Chris,
I have some bread dough rising. I am headed out for a morning surf once I get it up to temp. I think I may set it at a little lower than 500, since I am going to be gone for a few hours based on your experience of temperature creep as the dome dehydrates.

Your counter/landing looks great. How did you handle the transition from the soapstone to the hearth, since it was flat before?
Eric

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Eric,
I think at this point you're mostly golden. Since you have these steam temps throughout and you're not seeing additional cracking I think you're good for your planned temp increases. When I got to the 500 degree point my last fear was related to thermal shock when I knew that I would be going wood. I never had any problems relating to T Shock. It's interesting how the dome heats as time goes on, it get's easier to go to temps. I'm sure as dry as things get it still takes 15 or so burns to settle things in..

Back to the curing, I'd go for a 500 burn and then a 600 and then go for 700+. You should be cooking a chicken or whatever at this point, if you want.

Congrats!!

Chris

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

I ran the burner for 9 hours today with my FB thermometer reading 400f. Exterior temps: 195 at the soldier course, 225 mid dome, and 245 at top of dome. I've got some small hairline cracks but nothing that is opening up. I ran a halogen lamp in the oven for a week, started at 300 for the first curing session. I plan on increasing 100 degrees per day. Am I going too fast?
Eric

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

I'd run it untill you have to stop. Since you're seeing less than the 212 on the exterior and you're curing, I'd bet you still have a bunch of water in the bricks.

Chris

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Chris,
The exterior temps are: soldier course 95f, mid dome 110f, and keystone 125f. I pretty much just lit the burner and brought it up to temp this morning- didn't think about ramping up slowly. I will probably wrap it in a layer of ceramic blanket tomorrow before firing just to keep the temperature gradient between inside and outside reasonable.

I need to use my grill this evening and the oven burner is using that gas line, so I can let it go until 430, that would be 10 hours.

Raffy, thanks for the encouragement. I hope to cook pizza by next weekend.
Eric

[Raffy]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Hey, Eric! It's great to see pics of the latest development. I'm so excited for you. Don't worry about those cracks. I'm sure they are just surface cracks. It adds character to your oven I'm still in denial about the cracks in my oven mainly because soot is still covering them hahaha.

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

I think I'd keep your oven at current temp as long as possible today, push that water out.. What are the exterior temps of the oven on the soldier, mid dome and top dome areas? What was your heat slope like. Quick to temp or lightly heating for 30 minutes or more before putting the spurs to it?

Chris

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

I did 6 hours at 300f yesterday, let it cool overnight and heated it to 400f this morning. I plan on letting it go 6 hours today, then go to 500 tomorrow. My bubble has already burst- the first small cracks appeared this morning- I know everyone gets them, but we all think that ours is going to be the one that doesn't. As long as they are small and the oven doesn't collapse I can live with it. This probably means y'all won't get a pic of me standing on top of the dome yelling "I am the king of the world".
Eric

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Eric, How is the curing going?

Chris

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Thanks John,
The answer is yes and no. The first time I had difficulty with the arch sticking to the form. I decided to redo the front span, cutting 2" off the depth of the 7 bricks spanning the front of the flue and adding them to the back of the flue. So when I placed the form back in I covered it with aluminum foil so it wouldn't stick to the bricks, worked like a charm.
Eric

[John K]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Very nice Eric!!

That arch is perfect. Did you have a hard time pulling the forms out?