April 20, 2021 - 11:43am
Quick and dirty - 2 x 1kg boules?
hey all,
We rent so are limited in permanency and size (putting down roofs after our son graduates from college - then, massive Alan Scott dreadnought!). Just a small cob oven that can handle 2 boules, batards or boulots, the odd batch of short baguettes. An oven that can be built lickety split, no frills. As an experiment, if nothing else.
Anyone in this paradigm? Thoughts on sizing, any special considerations?
Many thanks.
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I downloaded this book when it was free. It's $6 now.
https://www.amazon.com/BACKYARD-PIZZA-OVEN-BUILDING-BRICK-ebook/dp/B072SY94QY/
If I were handier, I think I could follow it. But as I am a klutz and pert-near flunked high-school shop class, I would need a mentor to step me through the book.
This is a semi-permanent table-top kind of thing that could be moved.
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Here's a video of a perlite or vermiculite and concrete oven formed over an exercise ball that looks easier and more portable. The video is a better instructor than mere text + still pictures. This looks more portable, cheaper, easier, than the cob oven, but likely won't last as long:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qno-XJwPKw
and more at: www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pizza+oven+exercise+ball
I think the first youtube link is the original inventor, or at least an early adopter. The search results in the 2nd link show people who took the idea and ran with it, and likely made improvements.
Awesome, thanks Dave!
I am a klutz as well. I just don’t have the sense to acknowledge it so I get away with “first time” things - the name of my erstwhile 20 gallon “brewery” propane rig was “Ugly Betty.” That should tell you my awesome welding skills using a pal’s wirefeed welder, the way easiest to use, lol.
I have a copy of "The Bread Builders" by Wing and Scott, about masonry ovens.
There are some non-intuitive factoids in there that make it well worth the price.
www.amazon.com/Bread-Builders-Hearth-Loaves-Masonry/dp/1890132055?tag=froglallabout-20
(coded to give Floyd a commish.)
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Forgot to mention... Strictly speaking, the vermiculite/concrete oven may be too thin-walled for bread.
Pizzas are baked with the fire going on, at least the coals. Bread is baked with the coals and ashes swabbed out, and therefore needs more residual heat in the roof and walls, so it needs thicker roof/walls than a strictly pizza oven.
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Another ideer to consider: Propane firing via a flame lance. Hook up the lance and hose to a BBQ kind of propane tank, carry it over to the oven, light it, insert, etc.
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Another ideer: A "Quebec Oven" is a cheap quick-n-dirty thing. Free Ebooks and web pages on how to do it.
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Horizontal "Barrel ovens" are another idea if you want to weld. Again, see the videos and web pages about them.
Good luck, amigo.
Fantastic, many thanks for the ideas, Dave. Agreed in the Bread Builders book. I have it and have read through it enough to at least have a rough idea once we settle, next few years. Some truly gorgeous ovens in there, and the baking chapters alone are worth the price of admission (don’t know if a commish just happens with a click but I, uh, needed to make sure it’s the same one. :)
Yeah, I do know pizza and bread ovens have different needs and have had to decide where I really want to seat for now, and to definitely bread. Thanks for your other suggestions too, including looking up the Quebec lore. I actually read through an article from somewhere, can’t recall where, but “The Mud Ovens of Quebec.”
Thanks again!
another great source of info and ideas is from Australia https://www.traditionaloven.com
Rado has some great tips and money saving substitutes.
Cheers, many thanks. I have his stuff and agree it's an awesome resource. I'll have to go back and look through everything - can't recall if he deals with mud ovens much, if at all, but do remember all his stuff on masonry ovens - and the tons of photos - really great stuff.
I went and visited the site and a lady had built herself a half sized version that looked pretty good as she admits that she had never built anything herself before.
That's encouraging. Thanks yozzause, will check it out.