Cooking with a wood burning oven is harder than it looks. The practice involves all three heating methods. Conductive from the contact the dough makes with the hearth floor. Convection from the flames heating and rotating the air inside the oven. Radiant heat from the dome and walls.
The thickness and moisture content of the dough combined with the temperature of the oven floor, the amount of flame, the distance of the pizza from the fire, cooking time in the oven all affect how a pizza turns out. And, I am probably forgetting a few variables. Practice, Grasshopper, practice.
It took eight minutes to cook a pie in my oven. It takes three minutes to cook a pie in the wood burning oven. What a difference five minutes makes. Watching the crust rise in those first few seconds is like watching a miracle. Thin dough, inflating itself. I love it.
The higher heat has necessitated retooling my standard pizza build. I can now use a higher moisture mozzarella (good thing). I had to learn how to use a pizza peel (not a big thing). I am having to get used to having burn marks on my forearms from reaching in and out of the oven (painful thing).
Moisture hides everywhere. Even in fire bricks and concrete. After letting the mortar dry for a week, I started small fires to remove moisture from the rest of the hard surfaces. Water in a pizza oven is no good. Water + heat = steam. Steam is angry and strong. Think choo choo’s from the turn of the century. I don’t want one of those things crashing through my oven (plus it would leave tracks in my pizza).
The first fire burned at 300 degrees for most of the day. I increased the temperature 50 degrees, each day, for the next four days until the pizza hidey-hole was dry as a bone. I’m still working on tiling the outside of the oven, but there is no reason not to start cooking pies. Let the games begin.
Previously : Building a Pizza Oven: Covered in Mud
The front of my oven just got dolled up with a big piece of plate steel. I figured, anything that had already been involved in that much fire and heat would fit right in. Not enough action in the above static image? Watch the video here.
Next up is stucco mud. Two eighty pound bags worth (and that’s not counting the water I added to it). The best thing about putting it on is it covers up the screen that sliced me to ribbons.
Now we are getting somewhere! It’s starting to look like an oven.
Previously : Building a Pizza Oven: Wrap It Up
Question: How do you keep 900 degree heat from escaping your oven? Answer: Wrap it in abrasive fiberglass insulating blankets. Question: How do you keep fiberglass insulation from embedding itself into your forearms? Two words: gloves, long thick gloves. The good news is, the energy from your aged Oak wood will be encased in your oven. So, all that hard work putting on irritating insulation will pay off.
Forget prison. If you want to keep someone contained, wrap them in Stucco Lath screen. Then, give them a pair of tin snips (and no gloves) and tell them they are free to go at any time. Believe me, after and hour of trying to get out, their bloody stumps will be begging for mercy (Hey, Coen Brothers, I have screen play for you).
With the lath screen in place, the stucco will have something to adhere to. It might have stuck to the fluffy, white, abrasive insulating blankets, but why take that chance when cutting one’s self to ribbons is so much fun.
Previously : Building A Pizza Oven: Puzzle Pieces
With the hearth in place, it was time for the dome. Six pieces create the oven dome and lock the floor down. The pieces are keyed and (thank god) numbered. Piece #1 was the mouth of the oven. Quick tip: concrete is much heavier than it looks. I pride myself on my ability to pickup almost anything (including car tires, logs, crying babies…excluding sorority girls, trampolines, restaurant checks, the list goes on). But, I could channel Lou Forigno all day long and still not be able to pick up the monster that is Piece #1.
Not a problem. That is what Dads are for. My old man came by to help heft the monster into place. And, once we figured out that the rest of the numbered pieces get placed starting from the left side of the oven opening, we were fine. The fit tolerances were impressive. The only tight fit was the top cap. A little shifting, bumping and scooting and we were in business.
Next up was sealing the joints with high temperature mortar. The mortar comes in two bags. We mixed it with enough water to channel Betty Crocker cake batter. The concrete was dampened and mortar applied over the joints and around the bottom where the dome meets the insulating fire board. Piece of cake.
Oh, ya. I decided to build the oven on a trailer. Because, it’s not a party if you can’t take it on the road! Anyone for pizza at the lake? UT tailgating is going to get exciting this year. Shout out to my friends at Magnum Trailers for hooking me up (pun intended). They make the best trailers around in any color you want (as long as it’s black). The oven is resting for a week, to let the mortar dry. Then starts the curing process. Stay tuned.
Previously : Building A Pizza Oven: Planting the Hearth
