A page dedicated to the ovens that you have built. Send me a photo, or a link, and I’ll add it to the gallery. You can email me directly at: simon.brookes@gmail.com.
Adam Lofting's Oven built in France - very nice!
Chef Clay G's Oven in Nashville, Tennessee. What a beauty!
Jan Adámek's Stunning Oven in Czech Republic
Geoff's Oven, Queensland, Australia.
Lisbeth and the Family Schillig's Oven in Tønder, Denmark. I love the log store below.
Luke's Oven, Northamptonshire, UK.
A variation on the theme "made from scrap steel and local clay, steel fire box under the oven", Bolton, UK.
What a neat little oven this is from Tony in Plymouth, UK. Great work.
Chris' Clay Oven, near Ashover in Derbyshire, UK - Perfection!
An update from Chris (see above). A roof , chimney and door added. Love it!
Merry's Oven (with Dragon!) - Devon, UK.
Linda Gibbons from Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!) has built this wonderful oven.
Another fantastic example built by Adam in Cleveland, Ohio.
Hi Simon,
A very inspiring blog you have here, I made my oven from mostly recycled material, an oil drum and a night storage heater.
I love cooking on it, it’s such a wonderful way to cook.
Cheers
Marcus
Links to my photos, I still have to do a final plaster layer but its too cold here in Calgary for anything to cure, it just freezes solid.:-)
http://www.northerntable.com/?p=897
i’ve just finished my oven, now on the trial and error on how long it takes to get up to temp…. i’ve found charcoal heats the oven up much better as the wood i have burns far to quickly. it’s my birthday this weekend – the perfect excusr for the first pizza. any tips on quick cooking pizza dough?
rick
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pizza-recipes/pizza-dough
works for me
This is a great dough which I use regularly. Make it 2 days in advance and the resulting fermentation will give it an amazing flavor. The dough must have a significant resting period to allow the glutens to relax. This will prevent your dough from snapping back into shape when it’s time to make the pizza. The result will be a very thin, quick cooking crust with the perfect crunch on the bottom.
Makes 1 pound dough
Ingredients
1. 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
2. 1 envelope active dry yeast (2 ¼ t)
3. 1 teaspoon sugar (or honey)
4. 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
5. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6. Extra-virgin olive oil
7. Corn meal or semolina flour for dusting
Directions
1. In a small bowl mix the 2 tablespoons of warm (not hot) water with half the sugar and the yeast. Allow 5-10 minutes to bloom. Mixture will be ready when foamy. The older the yeast the longer it takes.
2. In an electric mixing bowl (KitchenAid or similar), mix the water, remaining sugar, bloomed yeast mixture, 2 cups of AP flour and the salt and mix until a raggy dough forms. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and thoroughly knead until smooth and elastic, at least 5 minutes.
3. Lightly oil the bowl and return the dough to it; turn the dough to coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm spot (like on top of a warm oven) until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down the dough and allow it to fully rise again then divide it into 3-4 balls. Place each ball into individual plastic baggies large enough to allow for more rising and refrigerate for 2 days.
4. VERY IMPORTANT: Get your dough out of the refrigerator 4 or 5 hours before rolling/cooking an allow to come to room temperature.
5. Once your pizza dough is ready to be topped-use the semolina or corn meal on your work surface so the peel can easily slide under or build the pizza on the peel itself.
Chow,
CG
can anyone advise as to what type of clay to use or mixture? Theres no local source of dig your own around here! (lancaster). Been searching for two days & non the wiser.
I got my clay in 12.5kg bags, and found a puddling ratio of 12.5 kg clay to one sack of sand (usually 25 kg) worked well.
you will find, as per chapter 3 (puddling) that the guide to consistency is a fairly good guide. if you inspect the mix you will also be able to see any areas of sand that are not ‘puddled’. its definitely trial and error, with a bonus that you can always add in some extra sand / clay / water to perfect the mix.
As a tip when building, i would keep any left over mix in an airtight bag, so you have some repair mix to hand once the drying out cracks appear.
have fun.
Simon.
After a friend of mine introduced me to your blog we decided on a joint venture, to save on clay delivery. I’ve attached a few photos of the finished oven, and hopefully a link to a little you-tube movie of the oven build.
so far its cooked divine pizzas, (2:30s per pizza, 12 pizzas in one evening) beercan chicken, and your own Moroccan lamb (sort of, lamb shanks coated in a mix of natural yoghurt and tesco “ras al hanout” rub) and its been a fantastic success.
The base was made from railway sleepers, and i added a layer of bottles to insulate the base.
The oven has a 60cm diameter internal, 40cm high which gives a 25cm (63% of overall height) high opening, which is 30cm wide, just enough to get 2 medium chickens in, stood on there beer cans, along with a couple of shanks, and baking spuds.
thanks for the guide, and happy cooking.
tony
https://picasaweb.google.com/tonycwhite71/CompletedClayOven
link to photos may help
A beauty Tony. What did you make your door from?
Simon
PS where are you from?
i’m in Plymouth, so we had to order clay in, as there’s no obvious sources here.
so far the door is whatever i can fit in there. i have a set of bricks that stack to fill the doorway, and a piece of wood, recently covered in foil to sit behind.
hopefully i’ll find a sheet of metal I can cut to shape, or get cut, to be a more permanent fixture.
fantastic feature in the garden, with plenty of recipes in mind. just need to watch the waistline!!!