Finally! The Insulation Layer

Finally... I got the time and some decent weather--- not too hot but still a chance of rain---to put the insulation layer on the oven.   And three friends came over to help too! Dave, Sherry and Sandy! I call them my pizza angels, but they are simply angels!  Without their help, I would be building this oven till next year and then some.  

 Sherry, me and Dave!

 Truly though...there is joy in working in mud...with friends!

Always handy is  Kiko's book-- the bible of oven making! I cannot tell you how many times I read and reread this book!

I am enthralled by clay ovens! 

Please send me your comments and links if you made one!

This is the clay mixed with sawdust.  I used cedar sawdust designed for hamster and other animal bedding.  It expands when water is added--- we thought at first it was best to soak it but later we learned that was not a good idea. And proceeded with  adding dry  saw dust to the clay mixture (1 part clay to 2 parts sand). 

  This looks like a monk's head!












The insulation layer was quick work since not a  lot of time is spent packing it down down as the first layer--- and with friends it only took 2 and half hours.  I plan to do a  final "plaster" layer but first I need to get comfortable firing this up.  I am so afraid of cracking it but I need to trust the universe...so to start... I will be doing 2-3 slow curing fires--- then a bread trial and then... the holy grail...PIZZA!  

Materials Review

I thought I would review some of the materials used to create the "mud" for my earth oven.  I did not go out to find clay in the field but you certainly can, however I highly recommend if you do to read Kiko Denzer's book Build Your Own Earth Oven, he wrote a bit on how to test your materials before using. We are lucky in Pittsburgh to have a big wholesaler of ceramic supplies--- Standard Ceramic in Carnegie Pa--- there I got five bags of pure red clay (50 pound bag), mixed this one (clay)  to two  (sand),  added water and mixed away--- see earlier posts.




The sand (50 lbs bag) I got at Home Depot, and I used builders or all-purpose sand as it is sharper and will hold better when making the void/form and mixing. I started with 15 bags of sand and five bags of clay.  Now I have two bags of clay left and about 3 bags of sand. And I have the insulation layer and final layer to yet to do.  I think I will be ok since the insulation layer has saw dust mixed into it.  Oh, I got the saw dust from Trader Horn, cedar shavings actually, the kind used for hamster cages.  I big bag set me back 10 bucks!  I have more than I will probably use.




 Remember you are going to be making a sand form--- which took a lot of  sand but after you make the clay dome and cut out your door--- you will excavate the the sand and use this for the other layers.

The chimney is finished, I decided to go with one I  built rather than the two halves of  the  terra cotta roof tiles I fashioned into a chimney.  See an earlier posting.

Swish-Swish: Stomping the Clay!

Each day I try to work a little bit on the oven. The thing is that it has been hot, super hot and not good weather for this type of work, which is heavy and hard.  Yesterday, I tried to finish the chimney area of the oven so I can get that insulation layer started.  I was drench in sweat.  In fact I think at one point I got a little too warm so I took a cold shower.  Anyway as I stomped the clay mixture, my sweat was mixing in with the clay and sand. All it needed was my blood and tears.  I just couldn't bring myself to cry or bleed.

 I am hoping to complete this project soon because the list of people who want to have pizza straight out of a wood fire is growing.  I think the fall is going to be full of party weekends, I might need to get a port-a-jane (john) or two. 

   
Enjoy the pics:

Let's do the twist.  I think I hear Chubby Checker!

The clay I am using is powdered and very fine so to be safe I wear a mask.

Twist, twist, twist!

Each Day a Little More...

Today I had a late shoot at work (I'm a producer at WQED) so I thought work a bit on the oven.  I went to Home Depot and got those rings that tighten because the plan is to make the chimney out of two halves of terracotta roof tiles.  I got the tiles at Construction Junction, if you are from Pittsburgh you know this place has so much cool construction discards and occasionally new stuff.  In fact, a good bit of what I used to build the plinth is from Construction Junction. 


Ok--- more stuff I did or didn't do today...I didn't place the chimney yet because I have to build up the sides to the arch.  I am hoping to get this done in the next few days so I can start the insulation layer.  Then... it will be close to firing the oven up.  

Ok, what is this?  Some critter sitting on my dome?  

Yeah I did fire the oven up earlier this summer (see previous post) and it caused some cracks that had me worried---I have since patched those cracks ---next time I plan to go slow-- doing  at least three low heat curings.  (around 350 degrees)

Odds and Ends and other Good Stuff

I need to be a little more diligent about keeping up with my blog, so here it goes.  I am calling this post "Odds and Ends and other Good Stuff" because I am going to write about other stuff besides the oven. But first, the oven.  I built the archway, I started to with the red bricks but using a wooden template I cut out based on the shape of my oven opening.  I didn't like the shape of the arch so I took it apart and built another arch using a sand form/void.  This time, instead of the red bricks I used firebricks.  For mortar I used the same clay mixture (1 part clay to 2 parts sand).  The arch is holding pretty well.

Making the archway using the wooden door template.

Last Saturday I made this bread.  (above) 

And it's probably the best tasting, best looking bread I have ever made.  I got the recipe from a book by Carol Fields, The Italian Baker.

The bread is called Pane di Altamura from the Pulgia region of Italy.  It's made with Durum wheat flour, a flour mostly used for pasta. I did not make it in my outdoor oven, but I cannot wait to do so.  There are other recipes I want to try from this book.  I think I will do the ciabatta next.

I took this set up apart and instead made a sand form/void to arch the bricks. 

First Fire and Bake

Whoa! What a learning experience tonight.  I "fired" my first pizza!  The earth/clay oven is the most different cooking I have ever done.  And I do need to do some more reading and understanding of how this all works.  But, first let me share my pics and later I will share my experience because basically I am beat, whew, just plum worn out from everything.  Making the fire, the pizza, reading the how to books all at the same time, I was almost too tired to eat.

The oven cracked---but that was to be expected according to the books I read. I  still have to put another layer---the insulation layer--- so this will be covered.

The three rivers--- the confluence! Seriously doesn't it look like it? The Allegheny meets the Mon to form the Ohio!

First pizza went in!  The floor didn't get as hot as I thought it should.  I will figure this out later.

Me and my first earth oven pizza! Yeah!

Starting the fire..

5 Days Later...

 The next step, after the dome has some chance to harden is to cut out the door. 

 I used my pizza peel to get the measurements--- the opening is 13 (W) X 10 (H).  Once the opening was cut, I cleared out some of the sand.  Not a lot since the oven at this point was still pliable and soft. 

The opening helped speed up the drying process. Everything I read said to be patient, because the last thing you want is for the oven wall to collapse.


Sandy, one of my Pizza Angels, came over to help me make a brick archway. But we  decided to wait till all of the sand was cleared out. 


We did add two extensions boards to the front and back of the oven.

Each day I cleared more sand out, allowing the oven to dry slowly---finally five days after the big build---all of the sand has been excavated.  

 Everything looks good, no signs of distressed or troublesome cracks.   I sat myself down on a rock and just stared inside.  I find myself just looking, touching, hugging this earth structure.  It feels so alive to me, and something about it resonates within me.

The Pizza Angels!

Never do this step without help!


 Whoa--- today the oven was built!  And it was a good thing I had asked for some help because it was hard work!

Sandy, Pizza Angel!

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  My friends Sandy and Dave (my Pizza Angels)  came over to help, mixed the clay, make the "bricks," and shape the oven.

 It took pretty much about 6 plus  hours.  Sandy kept saying to me... "you were going to do this by yourself?"

Clearly I would still be out there if I hadn't had the help.  But now that it is done and we learned so much, the "next" time would be much easier.

Baking an Apple Pie in a Weber Grill

Memorial Day was a very hot day, in the 90's!  Since I had the day off I wanted to bake a pie but not heat up the house.  I thought--- maybe I can "bake" it in my trusty Homer Simpson Weber Grill?  So as with all things I thought it out and of course I thought it out a lot because I did not want to burn the pie.  Here is what I did, I used the indirect method with about 30 charcoal on each side.  Then deflected the heat from those coals both inside and on top of the grill using the halves of two pie pans.  I also elevated the pie by setting it on an inverted aluminum pie pan.  I "baked" it for about an hour and a half with the lid on.   It came out pretty good!  Try it sometime.