somewhat experimental 36'' build, Fethiye, Turkey

[blackjimmy]

Today was Pizza-day.. and it was very successful! I fired the dome to almost scary temperatures! well probably not scary for you guys, but scary enough for me as it was the first time I've taken it so high. The dome turned white as I've read on here that it would, and the oven seemed to be almost throbbing with heat.. hard to get near it!

I did 2 pizzas.. both worked out well. I made the first one slightly too big for the peel and it got a bit misshapen but it cooked in under 2 mins. The second one was the better one although it took more like 3 mins.. I think the hearth hadn't reheated fully from the first pizza. The 'go for it' method of fire seemed to work well. Also it was my first time working with the peel and it turned out to be a lot easier than I'd thought.

I think here is a good place to say thanks for all the info and advice that I've got from the FB forums! I couldn't have done it without all of the help I've got and been given here.

I'm also pleased with the way the materials have worked in the oven. I remember reading on the Pompeii oven-plans page this advice to people who can't get hold off/afford fire bricks:

"If your choice is to build your oven with clay brick or not at all, we would strongly recommend building your oven with clay brick."

This is the attitude I took with pretty much all of my materials. Couldn't get refractory mortar so used regular, couldn't get firebricks for the floor so used terracotta, couldn't get blanket or vermiculite so used pumice. I figured that having an oven which is slightly less efficient is better that no oven at all! So far the materials seem to be working really well. I did a cost estimate and I think that in total it cost me about 80GBP or 130USD.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

I did a cost estimate and I think that in total it cost me about 80GBP or 130USD.

wow.... wish I could say that....

Congrats on sucessful completion using irregular materials... Its good others in your region will find out there are other ways to build..

Cheers
Mark