We have since discontinued baking in this outdoor oven due to town zoning restrictions. All of our breads and other baked goods are now baked in an indoor kitchen convection oven.
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| Sifting clay using a soil screen |
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| More sifting... |
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| Digging the foundation footings |
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| More digging... |
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| More digging... |
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| Tamping down the bottom of the hole |
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| more tamping... |
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| Beginning to fill in the foundation with rock |
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| Adding gravel and coarse sand |
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| tamping down the gravel, nearing ground level |
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| Almost finished footing... |
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| Laying first course of 200+ patio bricks, dry stacked to form foundation |
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| Keeping everything as level as possible |
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| My 1 year old son Volker is the foreman |
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| Adding more bricks to the foundation |
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| Additional courses... |
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| Nearly there... |
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| Top of foundation takes shape |
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| Adding gravel that the hearth slap will rest on |
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| Tamping it down |
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| More tamping... |
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| Course of bricks that will contain hearth slab and sub-floor insulation |
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| Detail of cob mixture (clay/straw) that will adhere the bricks to the foundation |
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| Fifty wine bottles will provide sub-floor insulation |
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| That's a lot of bottles... |
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| Admiring our handiwork |
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| Inspecting... |
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| Mixing bark mulch clay slip that will provide additional insulation between the wine bottles |
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| Adding bark mulch |
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| Filling... |
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| Detail of bark mulch clay slip |
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| Mixing clay/sand building material for oven dome |
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| Clay hearth slab upon which hearth fire bricks will rest |
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| Detail of finished hearth slab |
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| Arial view |
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| Hearth slab is done! |
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| Laying fire bricks for hearth in the dark by lantern light |
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| The beer bottles helped us keep things level |
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| Finished hearth bricks that will serve as the baking area of the oven |
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| The next day, we began by setting the arch bricks around a wood form |
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| Finalizing the arch bricks and readying the chimney |
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| Building the sand form which the dome will be built around |
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| Sand form complete |
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| Wet newspaper is a barrier between sand form and dome |
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| Beginning to build the dome |
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| Somebody went and drank all the beer |
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| Making progress! |
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| A ladder was needed to finish the top of the dome |
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| Steady as she goes... |
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| We ran out of building material and had to mix more! |
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| It's starting to get dark! |
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| Oh so close to finishing the dome! |
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| Done! |
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| Admiring our work the next morning, waiting for the dome to dry before removing the sand form |
3 comments:
Outstanding. Too bad you are unable to enjoy cooking in this beauty. If you dont mind me asking: what was the zoning code the oven did not meet or the code it violated? Was it too close to a building?
Hi Felix,
Thanks for your comment. The zoning code for a residential home occupation stipulates that no part of that occupation can take place outside the main structure, (i.e. outdoors or in any accessory structure or detached garage) Luckily, I'm still able to bake in the oven for personal use. Do you have an oven or are you planning to build one?
Yes, Simon, a 38in diameter one at home; planning on building a 48in for commercial use. I have learnt much about firing times and baking temps from your post on Kiko's "Share What you've built" site. Many thanks!
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