winter cooking ? Heat Management Discuss winter cooking ? in the Oven Management forums; Second dinner cooked in our WFO. Pizza last night didnt work with the roll your own from scratch, we will ...

[waynebergman]

Second dinner cooked in our WFO. Pizza last night didnt work with the roll your own from scratch, we will get better with practise the dough was too sticky so we a few bugs to work out. But our pre made pizza crust saved the day with some home made toppings. We will try the make your own dough again next time. Thanks again forno bravo for the free "e cook book helper". Shown in attachment is a home make wire brush (its copper not brass hope this is OK) it is a welding brush attached to some hardwood. The pizza peel in the first attachment is sheet aluminum trimmed out and attached to a long length of hardwood. My question is how much harder is it to cook in these ovens when its cold out? 0 degrees today at the time of cooking tonight and close to the fire was hot as the was the top of dome but closer to the hearth opening things were cooler for sure. Also it seemed to take a lot of wood to get things up and going. Wondering if its easier in the warmer whether....thanks wayne

[CanuckJim]

Wayne,

Sure, it's easier and quicker in warmer weather, but you can do it in the cold, too. I've baked bread when the ambient temp was -20C. You just have to anticipate, fire longer and a bit more slowly. The best method is to fire the day before, then bring it up to heat on the day.

Jim

[gjbingham]

Good lesson, Jim. I heard one of my bricks crack while I was firing the oven yesterday. I pushed it from 34 degrees (F) to full temp in an hour. I thought the pop in the oven was the wood burning, but then I saw a new crack right through a brick. Live and learn.....

[Frances]

Oohh-kaay, good one.

I've been firing in below freezing temps and just lit an enormous fire to get the oven hot asap. Heating it up slowly, sounds like a good idea...

[Acoma]

George, show a photo of the crack.

[gjbingham]

Robert,
It's only evident when the dome is heated. I was firing the thing up and "pow". I'm thinking that it was just firewood sounding funny, but 45 minutes later, I notice that one of the bricks has a crack right through it from an extension of one of the existing dome cracks that seal up when the oven cools down. Check out Dusty's photos. It looks just the same. The crack runs down a mortar joint, back and forth between bricks then, bam, right across the middle of one in the second or third row (I forget which).

[dusty]

Now that you mention it, I DID hear a pop! Maybe I heard that brick break. Seemed like a typical fire noise at the time.

dusty

[dusty]

Wayne... you are cooking already? I missed that. Congrads., sir. Either you're a bit suttle, or I have been away. If I ever start cooking, I plan on waving a big flag and possibly some fireworks.

dusty

[RTflorida]

OK, the popping noises have me wondering if I need to peek in for a close inspection of my oven.....I have had several good pops during different fires, I too attributed them to wood in the fire. Although I have had nothing more than a couple very fine hairline cracks in the mortar on my tile, could something have let lose internally? Never gave those pops much thought, and have not had much reason to go poking my head in - until now.
Plan to give it a complete inspection this weekend.....who knows, I may be a "crackhead" by Sunday.

[asudavew]

When I was firing my oven for the first few times... it popped and cracked and popped some more.

It's a different sort of sound than wood. A pinging tone. PIng ping pong pong After awhile I could tell when there was another crack, just by the sound.

During the build I kind of figured the mortar in the joints would crack, but it still amazes me that bricks can crack.

I never would of guessed that.

As James told me several months ago.
"Embrace your cracks.
And enjoy the pizza!!!"



These thing will stand tall! I have some severe cracks. A brick even fell out of my inner arch. Right where the dome ties in. But the dome still stands...(waiting for repair)

So don't worry too much. (frustrating... after all the hard work)

But I really don't think that there is much that can be done to prevent them!

Dave