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I am in the middle of building a Wood Fired Pizza Oven. I am looking it see if any you guys have done something like this ?

Ted Calver

Ted Calver

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I've always wanted one, but been too lazy to build it. I've read the only drawback, in these times of instantaneous gratification, is that it takes a few hours for it to come up to baking temperature. I'm patient and the wait would be so worth it.
 
Ryan Mooney

Ryan Mooney

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Ted Calver said:
I've read the only drawback, in these times of instantaneous gratification, is that it takes a few hours for it to come up to baking temperature
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I've been eyeballing some designs that incorporate a rocket stove, basically you fire the oven from below and the heat comes up an entry in the back and then heats the front. The main advantages I can see is that it heats a bit faster, and you can fire it with smaller trash wood. It's somewhat more complicated to build though.

I only have one book on the subject. It's ok if you like meandering stories that never seem to get to the point and doesn't talk about oven design all that much except some anecdotal stories about building some. Yeah I was mildly disappointed in it. Perhaps more of a "don't buy this book expecting to learn how to build wood fired ovens"..

The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens: Wing, Daniel, Scott, Alan: 9781890132057: Amazon.com: Books

The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens [Wing, Daniel, Scott, Alan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens
www.amazon.com

We recently (in geological timelines) got a big green egg clone ("Pit Boss" from Costco - more of a Large Blue Ball). I've been using it in lieu of a pizza oven. It's charcoal fired, but now that I can make my own that's not so bad. It has a lot of the same cooking properties. One thing I've found is that if you plan your cooking day you can really utilize the residual heat efficiently. Last firing we did I started with rustic bread, then did some more regular loaves, then dropped the grill, tossed in a handful of fresh charcoal and cooked some wings, finally wrapped some spuds and beets (separately) in foil and put them in alongside a giant pot of beef cheeks in tomato/red wine/carrot/celery/onion braising liquid. When the cheeks were near done I threw some green beens on top to sort of steam for a wee bit until just tender. That was a relatively efficient way to use basically one firing of charcoal (except a wee bit of extra heat for the wings). I've also done roast chicken or slow cooked ribs or brisket after the bread/pizza firing.
 
Darren Wright

Darren Wright

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My pellet cooker doesn't quite get as hot as the green egg, but I have occasionally thrown the pizza stone in there, heated it up, then cooked a Papa Murphy's pizza on it. It does a close second to the pizza oven. A coworker used to make his own dough and do it in the same method, but cook the dough itself for a bit, then pull and add the sauce and toppings before finishing the cook.
 
Chuck Ellis

Chuck Ellis

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Seems like an awful lot of work just for a pizza.... I like pizza ok, but not necessarily my favorite food.... most have too much bread in the crust for me. Prefer a really thin crispy crust.
 
Ryan Mooney

Ryan Mooney

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Darren Wright said:
My pellet cooker doesn't quite get as hot as the green egg...
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I actually did some pita bread on a steel plate in the propane cooker and also did a loaf in the dutch oven heated in it at the same time. The propane cooker has a bit to much bottom heat and not enough top. For the dutch oven I heated the lid separate and then dumped the loaf in and turned that side down, I still burned the bottom a bit but over all it worked ok. I had to flip all of the pita once to get the top cooked but otherwise it worked ok. Was all still pretty good though because fresh bread is fresh bread :)

A masonry setup has all that thermal mass which is a HUGE help.
 
A

allen levine

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new york city burbs
Sayer Fancher said:
View attachment 112290View attachment 112289
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Ive eaten pizza out of this oven, if I had a yard big enough Id have sayer come over and pay him to build one for me also. something Ive always wanted in my yard, this , an outdoor kitchen and a nice inground pool.
its gonna happen, maybe sayer wont build it for me, but the pool and outdoor kitchen as soon as we move out of this tiny house
 
S

Sayer Fancher

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Hudson Valley NY
my fire bricks are set on their side, side by side, on 3inches of concrete. No mortar or sand, just real tight side by side. The concrete they sit on has rebar running through it and the whole floor is suspended so there is no heat transfer to the outer build of the oven. The oven sides and domed top is also built on the suspended floor. The outside of the oven between the oven walls and the brick outer finished structure is then filled with vermiculite. It stays warm for days after a good fire.
 
Gayl Beals

Gayl Beals

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Muskegon,Mi.
Sayer Fancher said:
my fire bricks are set on their side, side by side, on 3inches of concrete. No mortar or sand, just real tight side by side. The concrete they sit on has rebar running through it and the whole floor is suspended so there is no heat transfer to the outer build of the oven. The oven sides and domed top is also built on the suspended floor. The outside of the oven between the oven walls and the brick outer finished structure is then filled with vermiculite. It stays warm for days after a good fire.
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Sayer Thanks a bunch. You have given me lots of good ideas,I have never thought of setting the fire bricks on their side.
 
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