Pompeil oven build

[gwr]

Hi I am thinking of building a Pompeii oven and doing a little research on build materials. Due to the price of fire bricks I was planning on using them only for the oven floor and using engineering bricks for the dome. Has anyone built a similar oven and what materials did you use.
Thanks

 

[sunnybob]

I think youre talking about a Kleftiko oven.
Theres a picture of one at the bottom of this recipe page
http://www.cyprusliving.com/articles/kl ... -lamb-dish

If so, they are common as muck here, sold at all builders merchants and made from cast concrete base, with the igloo built of brick and then heavily cemented over. If youre fitting a door you MUST fit a pressure release tube at the rear of the oven, or you will have a large bomb in your garden.

 

[gwr]

Thanks Bob yes that is the type of oven I'm thinking of. Not so common over here well at least not up North.
Would the chimney not stop any pressure build up.

I'm hoping the engineering bricks will be ok for the dome as I have read they are heated up to quite high temperatures during the manufacturer process, more so than t common building bricks that I believe will spalter with the heat that builds up in these ovens.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I built this:

Brick, prestressed concrete lintel supporting 4 paving slabs, empty wine bottle and vermiculite/cement insulation layer, cooking surface is storage heater blocks from a skip, then vault is Vitcas firebricks, covered with a vermiculite/cement insulation then rendered. Good fun to play with, but really eats through firewood. 3-4 hours to get to cooking temp.

Read all about it here

 

[gwr]

That's a great looking oven Tony, I can imagine you have had some great pizzas and bread from that. ive seen that idea of the bottles in the base, I might use that method. I believe the round dome ovens with lower height have a quicker heat up time of around 1 hour. More research before I take the plunge.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Yes, a lower dome/arch would do pizza quicker. I made mine taller to be able to take a casserole etc. It's a catenary barrel vault. But there is a lot of mass there. At least half a tonne of firebricks to heat up !

Edited to add: the Vitcas firebricks are HEAVY. 4kg each, much heavier (and higher heat capacity) than regular brick or engineering brick. Regular bricks would surely crack up, dunno about engineering brick.

 

[sunnybob]

Ahh, what you show there is a pizza oven. The greek kleftiko oven is a sealed pressure cooker. The peasants would kill and clean the goat or sheep and put it in the oven whole. Then close the door and light the fire underneath. The fire would be fed for some time, then left to die out and the whole thing would cook overnight just like a modern slow cooker. Then they would remove the meat the next morning and it would come apart in their hands. Because of that you needed a safety bung just in case the inside pressure built up too far.

With a pizza oven there is no pressure involved. Pizza cooks best at around 550f or 260c for up to 10 minutes so there would be no need for stupidly high temps inside.Bear in mind that ordinary ovens never go above 300c.
If you got it hot enough to crack bricks the pizza would be inedible (expert opinion here, I worked on commercial and industrial pizza ovens for 15 years :shock: :lol: )

 

[Turnr77]

I've had this article bookmarked for awhile now with a view to building it one day.

https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/how-to-build-a-wood-fired-pizza-oven/

May be of interest, seem to remember it worked out relatively cheap to build.

Nick

 

[Droogs]

I've built a lot of ovens over the years. I have always taken an inflatable beach ball with me when ever I was deployed or out treking and using just clay, sand and straw along with rocks for the base, have made pizzza ovens for pizza and fresh bread. makes such a difference and is so easy. Admittedly the ovens were intended to be temporary but I'm sure they would last a long time if looked after

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Many years ago I watched a 19 year old Swedish Scout who was a trainee baker bake wonderful cakes in a mud oven at a camp.

 

[gwr]

Thanks all for your thoughts, I have read that the clay (cob) ovens are great but need to be protected from the rain or wont last too long.
I'm still trying to find out if engineering bricks will be good enough for the dome.

 

[sunnybob]

Engineering bricks are made to be frost and water resistant.
fire bricks are made to withstand temps of up to 1800c, or higher if made from silicone.

I think youre trying to use the wrong product.