My "Earthy" Outdoor Kitchen Build Other Oven Types Discuss My "Earthy" Outdoor Kitchen Build in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hi Toby, Most interesting. I have a question to see if I am interpreting what I see in the photos ...

[Wiley]

Hi Toby,
Most interesting. I have a question to see if I am interpreting what I see in the photos correctly: Is the only support for the chimney tile the lip of clay on the bottom edge or is there some other support?

Bests,
Wiley

[charger10s]

Originally Posted by Wiley

Hi Toby,
Most interesting. I have a question to see if I am interpreting what I see in the photos correctly: Is the only support for the chimney tile the lip of clay on the bottom edge or is there some other support?

Bests,
Wiley

Wiley,

Embedded in the clay are two angle irons supported by the bricks on the sides. In the mockup you can see supports. I guess I wasn't very clear on that, but I did leave the angle irons in and built the clay around it.

[Wiley]

Toby, My bad, I tried to edit my post as I spotted the two angle iron pieces just after posting.
Thanks,
Wiley

[charger10s]

First Fire - newspaper and cardboard!
Nothing collapsed or cracked (more than it was cracked anyway ).
The sand mold was covered with newspaper to keep the clay from sticking to the sand. Most of it is still stuck up there, and you can see some of it burning off in the second pic.

Temps inside peaked right around 200F. Of course, it was 115F outside - got to love Arizona in July!

[Modthyrth]

Hooray, the first fire! You'll have pizza in no time!

[Dino_Pizza]

Yikes Toby! I think your 1st fire occurred when the temp hit 115F. Your oven looks really rustic and beautiful. I don't know the properties of clay but the 100 deg per day they teach on this forum is a good rule. Can't wait to see the rest of the oven area finished. Oh, and some real food come out of the oven too
Take care, Dino

[charger10s]

Thanks Dino, it has been hot, I think I did most of the drying prior to the actual flames! The oven is really rustic at the moment, but soon I will be building an enclosure that I plan to fill with loose vermiculite/perlite.

I wish it were done already, as now we are in the monsoon season, so I'm playing a delicate game of chicken with the firing and the storms. So each day I light the fire as soon as I get home from work, then before the storms roll in (around 7pm lately), I scramble to put up a makeshift enclosure of tarps and 2x4's. It's pretty fun!

Got my first load of wood yesterday, all the pecan small splits that I could fit in the back of my VW bug; you should have seen the look on the wood loaders when I backed up to the pile.

[charger10s]

First Pizza!!
Saturday night, I started the dough using the recipe on the Pizza FB pdf. That was my first experience making any kind of dough, and I made a mess. It went ok thought, and I learned a lot. I'm sure I will get better as I practice more.

Sunday we had some friends over to help us with the "grand opening". I made the pizzas on a wooden peel, and then slid them onto my placing peel. That part went great, and I placed them perfectly in the oven with no problems! Thank you rice flour!

The first two pictures are the very first pizza, on the wooden peel, and then in the oven. Yes, I know, my pieces of mozzarella are huge! I did better on the subsequent pies. Well, the pizza cooked up great, nice and fast. I took it out of the oven on my sound steel peel, and paused for a quick picture, then I promptly dropped the pizza right on the ground! Unfortunately, you won't see a picture of that.

Quite a shock at first, but I bounced back and quickly got #2 in the oven. I changed tactics on that one; as soon as I brought the cooked pizza out, I slid it onto a wooden peel to carry into the house - much more stable!!
So, at least I have a good story to tell for years to come!

We also made some bread (going to try hearth bread next time) and muffins (not pictured).

Concerning the pizza, I must say all the stories are true, that was the best tasting pizza I have ever eaten, and our friends said the same thing. I was truly impressed, and I am so happy I started this project. Now, I just need to get re-motivated and build my enclosure.

[charger10s]

Another wonderful Arizona summer day, first pizzas made with outside temperature around 110 degrees. Needless to say, we ate inside.

Here are some of my homemade tools. The door is the next project.

[Modthyrth]

Magnificent! The story of your first pizza is one to remember, certainly!

What kind of door are you going to make?