 Re: Ash slot?
The Bread Builders oven describes an ash slot in the plans, so I am guessing that many of the barrel vault ovens have one. For a bakery, where the oven is used primarily with retained heat, and the fire and ash are removed and bread is loaded into the oven and removed with a peel, it makes sense.
For a backyard oven, or a pizzeria oven, where there is primarily "fire in the oven" cooking and a lot food, pots and pans going it and out, and pans sitting at the opening to stay warm, the hole gets in the way.
James |