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.