Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

[karl]

I have just started to use two circular ceramic tiles (the types sold for use in stoves for baking pizza) inside my WFO. After moving the wood/coal to the side I place the tiles on the oven floor and let them heat up for some 15 minutes and then place the pizza. No need to brush and clean the floor and the tiles can easily be taken out and cleaned after baking.

karl

[christo]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

cool idea Karl!

I wonder if a similar concept could be used for those without good insulation under their floor. Place a 2x2 ft square of insulation board with a 2x2 pizza stone (or thicker tile) on top - heat that up and cook on it....

Christo

[nissanneill]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Karl and Christo,
what seems to be the trouble with brushing the hearth for cooking?
Only today, after 1 1/2 hours of a good (but not fierce) fire, my hearth and dome were over my infra red thermometer max (500˚C). I simply pushed the coals back and to the sides and used a banister brush for around 15 to 20 secs to clean the floor. Admittedly it was well worn down (well at least burnt down: and it is not nylon but the old fibre bristle brush) I set it on fire. I removed it, put out the flames and commenced cooking immediately. No 1 pizza in around 1 minute.
Using tiles and/or a pizza stone only limits your use of the whole available hearth area and how many you can handle at once.
Just a thought.


Neill

[karl]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Neill,

I never seem to be able to handle more than two pizzas at one time anyway. And for the rest of the cooking everuthing sits in their own pots or jars so no need to clean the surface. For the baking at the end the tiles are equally handy.
When cleaning the floor with the copper brush I have realised that this is probably the action which makes most wear on the floor bricks (over time). It causes pitting in the bricks surface.

karl

[karl]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Christo,

Possibly. But you will need to get the tiles through the oven opening (mine is 46 cm).

Karl

[nissanneill]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Karl,
only goes to support my theory of using 3" fired clay pavers for the hearth, much harder and durable for such use rather than softer porous fire bricks!
Mine seem OK (but being second hand and could be 50+ years old) but might be better when made than those of today. Tim has used these in preference to firebricks and has used inexpensive (or even free) common red solid house bricks for his dome.

Neill

[christo]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

I'm ok with brushing - I lucked into a long bristled brass brush that seems to work well.

I saw Karls idea as having alternate uses.... even for those with gluten contamination worries, too

Christo

[karl]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Sounds like a sensible theory Neill. But it is hardly any option form me (or others having used fire bricks in the floor) now.

The point is that the tiles work fine. And can be a good idea also for others. I may return to the "floor brushing method" again perhaps. The errosion on the floor is not my main reason for using the tiles. I just find it practical at the moment.
And this is the home for good (and less good) ideas isn't it?

regards from Karl

[Wiley]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Karl, Most of the pizza stones I've seen have small feet made into the bottom surface of the stone. These feet would keep the stone from having direct contact with the floor/hearth over the whole bottom surface of the pizza stone. It would be interesting if you could relate any problem with how many pizzas you can sequentially bake on your stones. One would think the gap would slow the recharge of the heat but perhaps that is a wrong assumption.

At present when my wife and I have company over we do 6 pizzas about 11-12 inch diameter and if just the two of us, only three. Using our hearth as the baking surface we have little problem with three one right after the other and for six we usually pause between pizzas and I pull coals over the surface after the first three as the pause time may be 20 minutes or so. My fire up time from match to pizza ready is about 40 minutes so my saturation isn't complete but adequate if we are just doing a pizza and a dryout of wood at evenings end.

About the only problem I've noticed is that I am badly scratching the bottom of my SS roaster dragging it over the hearth.

Thanks,
Wiley

[karl]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Wiley,

True. Mine have as well so there is not full surface contact. I have never tried to bake in immidiate sequence. Normally some 10 -15 min in between. I think you are right that the tile likely needs to "recharge" for a few minutes to be sure it is up to the high temperature again. It does not seem to be much of a problem. Usually the floor is on the warm side anyway and the issue is, when baking directly on the floor, to try to avoid the bottom to be burned (i.e. the "wet dough issue").

regards from Karl

[kgmfq3]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

I'm new to the site, havn't built a WFO yet. I am in the planning stages right now and the brick floor issue seems intruiging. I read elsewhere that a commercial builder in NH uses soap stone for a cooking surface/floor. If you used the tiles instead of brick, how would you do it? Jay

[david s]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

I find a length of 12mm copper pipe is easier to clean the floor rather than a brush. Had a pizza stone in my oven once, but cracked it in half when I built a fire on top of it. Probably should have placed it in after getting the oven up to temp.

[nissanneill]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Jay,
Welcome to the group first of all.
Get in and read your heart out with conflicting ideas and concepts when building wood fired ovens.
There are people who will disagree with my belief but there are more and more people going away from the belief that you need to use low or medium firebricks because of therm thermal absortion and durability.
I am probably the one member who, although am not against the argument for them, but economically, fired clay bricks, whether old common reds (as they are referred to here in Adelaide South Australia), or solid clay pavers, are excellent fir the build, both hearth (floor) and dome.
The picture is from a commercially used WFO Pizza restaurant (Russell Jeavons in Willunga SA) who uses free used clay bricks without any problems at all.
The hearth in the picture is 2 layers of 2" clay pavers for exxtra thermal capacity.
Russell also wrote a book on building Wood Fired Ovens and how to use them. It is titled: "Your Brick Oven Building it and baking in it",
ISBN: 1 904943 25 X
You might like to source one or get you library to inter library loan one for you to read.

Neill

[toyota08]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

G"day guys i would have to agree with Neill i built my oven to pompeii specs using pressed reds and clay pavers and after 12 + Firings the bricks and pavers
are fine.now that ive told people i made a wfo i was suprised that others fathers and grandfathers had built thier ovens using plain clay bricks,
i say like me no money go clay bricks/got money go fire brick.
the only problem we have like pompeii is no one can tell us the oven is still cooking 2500 years later.
cheers and good luck
Peter

[BCiliberto]

Re: Tired of brushing and cleaning the oven floor?

Morning All,

Gee, wood burns to coals, push coals to side, take copper bristle brush on metal handle, sweep, mop floor once with damp/wet mop on metal handle (not really neceassary, but gets the film of ash off) , and I'm good to go-- maybe- 3 minutes.

oven needs some even-the-heat time anyway.

copper bristle brush was a good investment-- an occasional sweep after several pies keeps the burnt flour/ or cornmeal from building up too.

putting anything on top the floor would lower the cook rate drastically--- when oven floor is too hot i use a screen to keep stromboli's or pans slightly off.

In my 42" pompeii i use a cheap iron grate on the side to keep logs off th coals while cooking-- like the flame and no smolder aspect.