Enjoying a pint at my local.
Hi my name is Simon Brookes. I decided to set-up this blog in order to share my experience of building a wood-fired clay oven. If you search for information about building these beautiful objects you will find it, indeed there are some excellent on-line resources and books published on the subject. However, during the process of constructing my oven I was looking for a resource which not only provided details on the building methods, materials etc. but also gave me the opportunity to share hints and tips and ask questions of others”out there” with prior experience. I couldn’t find one so this is an attempt to provide such a resource.
I also hope to make this a hub resource for other websites and so will provide links to useful and relevant links, news and courses. Please let me know of any you find.
I must acknowledge the inspiration for my wanting to start such a project in the first place. In July my wife brought me, as a surprise birthday present, a one day course at River Cottage Headquaters. The day long course called “Build and Bake” was absolutely fantastic – easily one of the most enjoyable days I have spent. The team at River Cottage HQ in Dorset hold your hand through the process of building your own oven in a beautiful and relaxed environment, ply you with amazing food and drink and teach you how to make the best bread and pizzas you have ever tasted. I came home inspired and raring to go!
The process I have used to build my own clay oven (as outlined on this blog) is pretty much the method of construction used by the River Cottage team and even though you can follow my instructions I thoroughly recommend you enroll yourself on their course before you begin your own clay oven, if you are in a position to do so.
Finally a little background information about me. I live in a small village called Nyewood which is near Petersfield in Hampshire, England. I am 37 and work as a lecturer in enterprise education at the University of Portsmouth. I am married, have a 17 year old step son and a black and white lurcher called Scout.
Happy Building!
P.S. You can now follow me on Twitter if you like: http://twitter.com/Pompeysie.
Hi Simon ,great account you have provided here ,tx very much. We have just built a clay oven and really enjoyed the experience .i was hoping to post a link to your blog from our site with your permission .
good luck
Paul
Please do thanks Paul.
Simon
Hi, I am well into the construction of a clay oven in the garden at home, following your guidelines and those from the River Cottage book. The next step to do is the insulating layer. I am beginning to plan for the day, a couple of weeks away probably, when I can fire it up. I can’t currently find details of a thermometer which measures up to high enough, most only do to 300 degrees C. I know that I have seen something on the web before about this but can’t find it now. Any ideas?
Andrew
Hi Andrew I also struggled to find a thermometer that reached anywhere near the temperature these ovens get up to. In the end I just bought a cheap domestic oven thermometer which, as you said, goes up to about 300 degrees C. When you put it in your oven you will see that the needle goes well past the 300 mark but you can still judge the temperature still by increments. Practically these thermometers work fine anyway. When you cook Pizza you want to fire the oven up to the highest temperature it will go – you’ll soon learn when it is hot enough but anything over 300 will be fine. When cooking meat or bread your oven needs to be cooler than 300 degrees C otherwise you’ll burn the food to a crisp. Best of luck. Simon
A warning about using flint ~ if it gets too hot then it can cause pieces to fly off ~ splintering ~ could be fast & exceedingly sharp !
The base should not get hot though Martin!
Simon