If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Gudday Mick
High dome V low dome don't worry if the top of you pizza cooking a little slower than the base.....onto the peel with that pizza lift up towards the roof the heat up there is real hot and will crisp and brown that pizza in secounds....regardless of high or low dome.

Regards Dave

[wotavidone]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I enjoy the oven size discussion. Davids' 21 inch oven sounds small at 530mm, but then FB sell 600mm/24inch, and 700mm 28 inch ovens. That's pretty much how I decided on the size of my oven. I didn't want a collossus cluttering up my outdoor area, but it had to be big enough to be practical. So Ifigured if Davids could get by with a 21 inch oven, FB sold a 24 inch, and a "big" 28 inch, then 750mm/30 inches would be cool. Bunnings sell one that is only 600mm, and a bigger one that is 660. And firewood played a part. Up here the redgums fall over with monotonous regularity. The last few years we've been getting sudden gales, which when combined with drought weakened trees, means a lot fall over. The sort of thin branches that would be of a good size for a small oven are easy to cut, and are generally passed over in favour of thicker logs by the other firewood scavengers.

[wotavidone]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

30 in (750mm) well with a high dome you'll still have a entrance height of 9.5in(236mm) I recon thats a usable height for a larger baking dish and roast.

That's what I thought too. So I have a semicircular arch that is 240mm/9.45 inches tall and 400mm/15.7 inches wide.
Obviously, the centrepoint for the semicircle is 40mm off the floor, otherwise the 200mm radius would not give me the height, eh?
I was always going to "optimise for pizza", but trying to get a low dome seemed difficult, so in the end I went for the classic hemisphere. My dome appears to be on target for 375mm/14.75 height.
In the scheme of things, technically this makes it a "high" dome at 50% of the diameter, I guess. However, the 14.75 inches is well within the range of heights in the Forno Bravo plans for a low dome oven (14.5 for a 36 inch oven, 15.5 for a 42), so I'm reasonably confident it'll cook a pizza!

[mrchipster]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Two things I think I should have added prior to enclosing the roof.
audio speaker cables and connector boxes for them, and an electrical outlet inside my storage area below the prep table.

I am finding that people want to mill around the oven and a little music is nice for them and the chef.

I think I may add this feature at some time in the future but just using a portable for now.

The electrical under the prep table would be used to keep rechargeable tools powered up and or hidden/protected items like a radio/iPod powered up.

Chip

[david s]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Dave,
I think oven design is like boat design. It is all compromise and you have to set your priorities. The big winner with a small oven is the fuel economy. Given that fuel consumption is relative to volume. A small increase in diameter eg 20% gives you 99% increase in volume = fuel consumption. Ok if you have lots of wood, but you still have to cut and probably split it and that is more time and effort.
I can just fit in a 5kg turkey in my oven, but anything bigger won't fit because of the door height.

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Gudday
Sorry guys...evil Dave sometimes comes out.
Why? 30 in (750mm) well with a high dome you'll still have a entrance height of 9.5in(236mm) I recon thats a usable height for a larger baking dish and roast.
David s, I know you ovens a 21 in right? whats you opinion on that sized oven?

Regards Dave

[david s]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

It's not the size, but how you use it that matters. This applies to both ovens and your innuendo.
But I think a 6" oven is a bit small, it would probably be too small to cook one cup cake in.

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Gudday Mick
Trust me..... anything over 6 ins is a bonus

Regards Dave

[wotavidone]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

If were to build again would even consider going down to 30"

And here I am wondering whether my 30 inch will be big enough
Well strictly speaking, 750mm calculates as 29.5 inches.

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I'm still in the planning stages and trying to determine the right size for my needs. I've had a look at some 1mtr (approx 40in) kit ovens to gauge their size and they look HUGE inside. I'm considering maybe downsizing to about 90cm (36in). My main reasons is to save on the amount of wood i would need to fuel it, and i think this size will still be large enough to cater for entertaining and family get together/parties etc. Anybody out there who regrets building too large an oven or vice versa ??

I have a 42' oven and its great but since building it my boys have move on and If were to build again would even consider going down to 30" why? a number of reasons
A 30 inch should still cook 2 pizza at a time trust me a 42' can handle 3 to 4 x 12" in pizza at a time but I can't ...its too quik you sure to burn one. The time is in the pizza making not the cooking.
Unless I cooking a small pig/lamb the 42' ovens overkill sometime 30" should give you a high enough wide enough entrance to handle a really big baking dish anyway.
Anyway I'd never pull my oven down to build smaller however. the fornos the best design remember what ever you do..... insulate well as you can

Regards Dave

[wotavidone]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Unfortunately, when I started the Andiamo wasn't available. This oven building thing is going very slow. There are the weekends you just need to take some time out to do other stuff, or you find you need some bit you have to wait until you travel to the city (130 miles) to get it.I also find my mediocre masonry skills mean that some bricks get laid more than once.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I am enjoying the process of building the oven, but it is taking up all my free time. I had no idea how slow I am as a mason!

I resemble this remark! There is a big difference in how one looks at one's oven when it was built from the ground up with one's own hands and sweat. Kinda like the difference between a hand-made artisan loaf of bread vs a loaf you buy from the supermarket.

Since designing, building and problem-solving your oven is not a race, why not take the care and time to do it your way?

[fornax hominus]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

My oven took all my free time and a lot that wasn't . counting all the time digging sand for mortar pulling stones out of the stone piles etc. It worked out to 1 inch of oven per day . I started july1 and finished Oct 9..with no roof !

[deejayoh]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I have not yet finished my oven. However, if I was able to do it all again, I'd buy a FB Andiamo 70 and be very happy.

I think I might be +1 on this comment. I am enjoying the process of building the oven, but it is taking up all my free time. I had no idea how slow I am as a mason!

[fornax hominus]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

After a winter of short days I wish I had put a electrical outlet on the oven to attach a light for oven viewing in the dark.