www.sausagemaking.org

I've been harbering a desire to build a pizza/bread oven for a while and would welcome any input.
Thoughts so far:

For the base I've rescued some old thick concrete flags so the concrete should be really hard.

Do you cast a concrete shell with added LIME or build in brick.

Anyone tried to do this?

Give me a few minutes and I'll find you the details you require

More seriously, I have a link somewhere I can find and a couple of books that I looked into getting that you can get cheaply off amazon/ebay. I'll post them when we get the kids to bed.

Dave

Mark, I have the same desire.

Here are some more links I have found:

http://www.wildwoodovens.com/?gclid=CNO ... SgodykOuFQ

http://www.superiorclay.com/oven/index.php

http://heatkit.com/html/bakeoven.htm

http://www.quarterbyte.com/brian/brickoven.html

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/brickoven/

http://www.geocities.com/mosesrocket/index.html

http://heatkit.com/html/bakeov06.htm

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Mitch

Cheers Mitch.
I'll take a gander.

Aris, that was the link I was going to post, I'd forgotten I picked it up from you in the first place

I'll get the books I mentioned up and I'll follow Reapers links too.

Dave

Had a look at Aris's site it looks easy.Can you put clay in a cement mixer?.Only kidding.
Look at it I think changing the clay for a limestone dust/ cement /lime mix like you used to use in chimneys may work.

How about firebricks to start with, plus a fireclay cement. Nothing new about that system.
Jeez, how do think that fireplaces in the home were constructed, plus the bakers oven.
I give up.

You need to use lime in the mortar mix for any parts that get hot. Lime stops the mortar from cracking under heat. The heavy duty concrete blocks are good for the base, and fire bricks for the inner chamber. Again, lime in the mix. Ordinary bricks are OK to dress the outside, no lime needed, as you will have a double wall with a small gap between..

Regards, Paul Kribs

I have been considering a similar project and this book has some useful info

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Wood-f ... F8&s=books

Simon

I don't have Tom Jaine's oven book, but I do have "The Bread Builders" which I'd whole-heartedly recommend to anyone considering such a project,
I bought it for the sourdough half, but the oven half looks pretty serious.
Not cheap, so maybe one to ask the library about first of all...

I gather that making a "mud", "clay" or "adobe" oven can be very successful and much cheaper... (some more things for you to Google and amazon-research!)

The book I have is the same as Simon S has posted. I have another on clay ovens but it has little to add over the link aris posted.

Dave

Hi I rang the one of the builders merchants I've an account with and fireclay brick are �2.82 inc at a guess there was around 140 in the one Brian built.Jeez I better start saving.
On the other hand Mossesrocket's looks pretty cool.

Mark

Try major pottery suppliers for firebricks. For the lining you don't want insulating bricks. They don't radiate heat. For the floor you might try kiln shelves. (?Acme Marls?)

The best pizzas are (IMHO) baked in an oven brought up to high heat with a hardwood fire. Important this - and I think against EU regs - the coals and some smoking wood are then swept around the edges of the oven floor. A pizza should cook in five minutes or under. Nice hint of hardwood smoke.

Unfortunately not for a smokefree zone - nor for one pizza at a go

If you're really keen on a wood oven, check out these forums:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/

Here is a blog of a chap in the UK who made one on the cheap. Very informative:

http://fornoeconomico.blogspot.com/

He did a spectacular job - his DIY skills are far higher than mine!