Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hi David S,
They are already split down to the size, I normaly set 3 up in a 'U' shape and build a smaller fire in the middle and then place a couple more across the top once it gets going. If I am having a long cooking session I might start with a bigger back log as in pic 2 but that would be only if we had a lot of guests over.

David it is interesting just how long these ovens take to equalise at higher temps say 400c I can get to temps of 550/600c 10mm inside the floor and wall bricks but it takes a long time for these bricks to transfer heat to 10mm from the outside of those bricks.
So if I want to cook for several days using the residual heat It takes a good 3 to 4 hours of intense fire to saturate the oven.
Once I finish cooking and let the fire die down and put the door on it is not until the next morning that the oven really equalises (when all 5 thermo couples read the same say 320c)
If I am only cooking a few pizzas I can get the oven to temp say 420c at 10mm inside the floor and wall bricks in about 1.5 hours cook the pizzas and the temp at 10mm outside of those bricks will only be about 150 to 200c. So when I put the door on in this situation the readings next morning will equalised at 220c ready for baking bread first thing in the morning.

[david s]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

yeah, I guess a smaller oven requires smaller logs. It is really easy to overload my chamber with fuel and then you don't get the right atmosphere.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

I burn logs 300mm dia no problem, they need a bit of encouragement to get going at first.

[david s]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hey all,
Just thought I might mention how I get my logs to dry out a bit more (the wood is about 18 months old).
I can fit a whole brickies barrow of logs in the oven at once, I put them in at about 180c when I have finished cooking put the door on (slightly ajar to let the moisture out) and leave them there for a few days it really makes a difference.

As a general rule I don't put in any logs thicker than my wrist. Do you split those monsters or burn them that size?
Dave

[brickie in oz]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Noice.....

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hi All,
I was planning some bread baking last weekend and I thought I need a way of proofing hearth bread so that it stays more round and not so flat.
So I build myself a proofing board made out of 10mm marine ply and cedar scotia moulding it will hold 6 large loaves.
I place the dough on baking paper and cover it with cling wrap and a towel to keep it warm, when it has proofed enough I just lift them on to the new bread peel, baking paper and all.
It works a treat and I will be able to reuse the baking paper several times.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

The only wood that burns like hell is the wood that was born in hell, OZ hardwood.

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hi All,
For a preperation area I built a temporary workbench made of pine and aquired a nice piece of granite about 900x700mm that is perfect for working dough.

The advantages of burning (cured) dry wood really shows, as I mentioned earlier I cure my wood in the oven after I have finshed cooking and store it away for the next firing.
A couple of pics of the fire below showing the intense heat.

[david s]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

When cooking pizza and maintaining a fire on the side, I like to place a piece of wood in the entry at the side (helpful if you have a wide entry) and it pre- heats, so when you're reedy to put it in, it bursts into flame very quickly.

[david s]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

I think drying out a load of wood in the oven is a great idea, but what happens to the moisture? Presumably it goes into the porous bricks, which then will have to be removed again by the next fire, so really little is gained. Maybe if the door were left open slightly then the bulk of the moisture would escape into the flue.
Sorry, didn't read your post properly. Just read that you did leave door ajar.sorry

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hey All,
I thought I would share with you the problem I had in drying wood in my oven as above. I did not realise the amount of moisture that the wood would produce at this temp, consequently my nice steel door had surface rust all over the inside, even though I had painted it with high temp paint, so I had to grind it all off and repaint it.
So now what could I use for a door during wood drying, then I saw the disc of stainless steel that I was using as a deflector in my outside open fire (I had found the disc under some rubbish when I was cleaning up the yard) it is about 6mm thick and all I had to do was cut the bottom off, I could not beleive it was the same radius as the steel door, well not exactly but pretty close. All I need now is to sort out some handles.

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hey all,
Just thought I might mention how I get my logs to dry out a bit more (the wood is about 18 months old).
I can fit a whole brickies barrow of logs in the oven at once, I put them in at about 180c when I have finished cooking put the door on (slightly ajar to let the moisture out) and leave them there for a few days it really makes a difference.

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hi Bob,
Thanks for your kind words.
At a later date I am building an eclosure over the whole area big enough to include a parrilla, bar and seating for 20/30 people so I will just brick up to that new structure, so it will not have it's own roof so to speak. What you see now is a car port that half covers the oven, thats why I have made the temporary cover, the car port is going to be pulled down to make way for the new enclosure.

[bobo1]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Just a really impressive job. I'm shopping for a brick saw now and hope to start something in the 36 inch range next month. One question, how do you plan to finish the roof? Im considering welding up a suitable low profile metal roof to match and finish off the rustic nature of these ovens.

Again, u r the man

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Karangi Dude's 48inch Oven

Hi All,
I would like to thank everyone who has visited this thread I sincerely hope you have enjoyed the transfer of and idea to build a WFO to the reality of completing this wonderful project.
I would especially like to thank James and his team for putting this site together for our benefit so thank you James and I would like to thank Pizza Bob as it was Bobs youtube video that led me to this fantastic forum.

Now that my build has ended for the moment, (I still have the rest of my kitchen to build but that is in the future) I have started a new thread on cooking in my WFO it is called;
What's Karangi Dude Cooking so check it out if you like it is in the Australia section