This summer in addition to having a great garden which will provide food for lots of winter dishes, we built a clay, wood fired oven. The project took most of the summer. In addition to preparing the site to make the oven frost proof, Subduck built a shelter to protect the clay (and the cooks) from inclement weather. The preparations were done by mid August. A group of interested friends and neighbors then stopped by to help shape the actual oven. We made a pile of dampened sand into the shape and size of the oven interior. This sand was then covered with a 4" layer of a clay/sand mix. In a couple of days, Subduck could scoop out the sand and build a drying fire in the oven. Once the first layer was dry, we added a second 4" of clay and sand, this time with wood shavings added for insulation. Another drying fire was used for this layer.
A week or so later, we fired the oven in earnest to cook Pizza. It takes about three hours of a constant hot burn to get to cooking temp. (in this case 7-800 degrees) We cooked the crust a bit before adding the toppings. The crust took about 45 sec to brown, the pizza another minute to minuet and a half. The Pizzas were great. We have since done bread and focaccia with similar success. To do bread, the oven is cooled to temps in the 4-500 degree range.
The oven really holds the heat once you get the mass warmed up. We baked in it at 450 for a party at 6 PM. At 9:30 PM it was still 400 degrees. At 8AM next morning it was 150 degrees.
This project was a lot of fun and we look forward to sharing what we do with it in future posts. And,yes, we will be cooking out there through the winter!
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