A rag wrapped end of another stick is soaked in water and used to "mop" out all (most) of the charcoal. If you live in a rainy area, you will want to cover the oven when not in use. We packed this clay 4” deep around the sand dome. We built a wood-fired oven, or WFO, if you prefer. In the spirit of off the gridness and in an effort to be more self-sufficient, my wife and I recently tackled a new project at home. The smacking helps consolidate the clay into one cohesive shell. A backyard oven not only bakes good bread, it creates ambiance and provides a focal point for your outdoor entertaining area. What kind of clay did you use? Large cracks (1/2") have popped up here and there. The flange around the mouth keeps cracking apart and falling off. You wanted pics, I post pics :) Mine is more rustic, I've not added the final finishing clay level. Our primary concerns were the difficulty of the project, the cost of the project, and the look of the project. "white" "red" "orange" works pretty well when temping metal, but not so much for the inside of a dark oven.Remember that for our heat we burn the wood to coals and then soak the oven with the door on for a couple of hours. Once the dome is the desired shape and size, a layer of wet newspaper is placed over the top of the wet sand to form a barrier between the inner and outer oven construction. on Introduction. The WFO requires a location that places its back to the wind. We would like to be able to tell just how hot the oven gets. Since then we have baked bread, pizzas, backed beans, veggies, and bagels in it. The resulting 12” void was filled in with an insulation mixture made of sawdust, perlite, and clay slip. We have never used “firewood” in this oven. Can you take a pic of the door. Of course, it also makes great tasting food. Seemed to do the trick anyway - only started getting really hot after we'd been using it about 4hrs. Upon this foundation I laid a square of the 8”x8”x16” concrete building blocks, three blocks to a side. Runny or thick, it is up to you. We wanted it a bit on the small side so that it would use less firewood and so that it would blend in. Cooked last weekend with it. While it was very hot, we cooked up a few small pizzas. Reply Finally, after starting over a few times, we achieved a nice-ish, 16” high, rounded dome. The exterior doodads have all popped off. Over the inner clay dome, we laid up a 4” layer of the same insulation material used for the floor. An opening must be left as a door, wide enough to accommodate the bread and a wooden paddle. Lovely work.I have lots of questions.Can you please add a photo of your door? Where can you get this material? It was about 66%, or 10.5”, high by 12” wide. We are curious how this would work with charcoal briquettes right out of the bag. Once the bricks are in the desired position, a dome of wet sand needs to be molded over the bricks. Perlite – about $30 from the hardware store. The sun worked to dry it from without. The decorative items have all separated. A pair of handles left over from a previous project completed the door. We are going to add on an arched entry made of clay which has been fired in the kiln. Size: We wanted something big enough to bake a small pizza, a small roast, or turkey, or a couple of loaves of bread at the same time. we bent a piece of metal, attached it to a stick, and use it to scrape out the coals into a steel bucket. The oven is a big hit. The Oven: I used a string with a pencil to draw a 23” diameter circle on the firebricks. This would require rebuilding that end of the porch to allow for a screen door, building a shed roof for protection from our very frequent rain, and leveling the ground in that area. This will give us a place and the support for a front located chimney. First pic as the pizza was in, 2nd pic as I removed the first ever cooked pizza. on Introduction. Once the foundation is stacked to the desired height, it needs to be completely level to hold the next layer. I used: The 3rd and final layer of the oven was a 2” layer of clay. It actually worked! We had intended to rebuild it this summer, but the misses has been diagnosed with wheat, egg, and diary allergies. Build the base. on Introduction. This exterior shell was layer up in the same fashion as the other two layers with great care not to push the clay into the insulation layer. A smooth piece of rounded wood used for shaping bowls on the potter’s wheel was used to smooth out the rough spots on the inner dome. 9 years ago This created a continuous clay shell with a 2” reveal around the doorway. It was not as easy as it should have been. Do you have a metal peel yet? But, with about ten minutes off clay patching, it still makes great pizza and bread, baked beans, etc. Materials: 1. Just do not smack it too hard or you will end up with a bulge on the opposite side or around the base. Her past writing experience includes school news reporting, church drama, in-house business articles and a self-published mystery, "Duty Free Murder. Obviously, the first and most important step is planning. Getting it to work: A small fire was lit inside the oven to slowly dry it out from within. Create A Base. Gently place a risen bread loaf on your peel (the shovellike tool for moving bread). Building a WFO (wood Fired Oven): In the spirit of off the gridness and in an effort to be more self-sufficient, my wife and I recently tackled a new project at home. An extra chunk of tile-backer was cut to shape and screwed onto the inside surface of the door for a heat shield. Once the sand is removed, the oven is ready to be fired up and used. Patience is a virtue here. An outdoor wood-fired oven gives us another option for many kinds of cooking. Cement board, these boards need to go all the way to the outside of the walls. Is there a chimney, or does all the smoke come out the front?Where does the fresh air come from to feed the fire?What method do you use to remove fire and ash before cooking?Thanks. Consulting a professional can save you money and time as well as give you a better product in the end. on Introduction. However, the sand needs to remain over the bricks; the edges of the dome should not lap over the hearth. The mouth has lost most of its structure. 5 years ago. It was a tad bit wide so I had to shave it up a bit. Using the Plan Follow your plan exactly. Find a level section of the yard to build the oven. Rocks can be stacked to create a circular foundation, with the center portion filled in with sand and smaller stones, or even recycled glass bottles. We dumped wet sand in a pile on the bricks and painstakingly molded a dome. It does take more wood then. After each layer of block, I filled the square with “urbanite” and large rock, filled all of the spaces and covered the rubble with 5/8” minus, and compacted it all with a length of 4”x4”. We settled on an inside diameter of 22 inches wide by 16 inches high. Ya sure. Build your own wood-fired earth oven with this easy-to-make oven and bake crusty breads, tasty pizzas and roasted meats. "Urbanite" and large rocks - free. on Step 7. Ideally, it should be out of the elements. This excerpt is from From the Wood-Fired Oven by Richard Miscovich. I am working on starting a bakery, and have been wondering about doing something like this for some more special breads, in addition to stuff baked in a regular oven. so................not sure at this point. Cement patios are a good starting choice if available; a cement slab can also be poured to use as the base for the oven. It’s easy make mistakes when building a brick oven. Was it a low fire clay? (It could have been free with more elbow grease). we've torn off the exterior layer, mixed in about 40% more sand, have placed the new exterior layer back on, are letting it cure to the right consistency for wacking (preshaping) then final shaping. Richard Miscovich, bread expert and wood-fired oven builder, offers a few useful tips and general masonry guidelines to help you get started building the backyard, wood-fired oven of your dreams. It also needs to be accessible enough to be useable. A $15,000 brick and marble WFO would look silly sitting next to our farmhouse, would be way beyond our budget, and might be beyond our construction ability. Building a Clay Oven I recommend an oven 36 inches in diameter built on a sturdy wooden table, with a thick layer of insulating material between the oven floor and the wooden tabletop. 5 years ago Locate the oven site away from buildings, in an area that is protected from the wind and rain if possible. Coarse Sawdust – free from a local lumber mill. 3/4 inch plywood to support the cement board. We got it for brewing beer but have found it entertaining for other stuff ( like testing my cladding compound for heat retention and insulation). We decided on an adobe, cob, or clay oven.