# Brick Oven?



## Listmaker (Feb 24, 2012)

Since our home has a gas stove and oven, I am trying to find ideas or plans for alternative cooking. Can't really afford or even want to replace my gas range with a woodburning cookstove right now.

All over Italy, there are huge brick ovens that the villagers would use once a week to bake their bread. Think brick oven pizza.

I'd like to build one, but I'm having a hard time visualizing it. I'd really like to build an outdoor kitchen with a smoker, grill and spot for open flame cooking. Add the oven and I'm in good shape. Even without any kind of disaster, I think I'd use the thing just to keep from heating up the house in the summer.

Does anyone have any idea where I could get plans or specs for a wood burning outdoor oven? Or, if this is a bad idea, I'd like to know your thoughts on that as well.

Thanks


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Just last year Mother Earth news had a design for an outdoor wood fired brick oven.. I'll go and see if I can find a link to it..

ETA: I found one but it is not quite like the big ones you think of it is an all in one type oven
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-I...-One-Outdoor-Oven-Stove-Grill-And-Smoker.aspx


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

While in the army, I was stationed in Northern Italy for 3 years and I have seen the ovens you are referring to, their is nothing better than a fresh handmade pizza that comes out of one.

They bake fresh bread in short order, 5 to 10 minutes and the loaves are done, small loaves and not like the big sandwich loaves like we get at the grocery store but loaves all the same. 

Those ovens always appeared to be pretty simple, I wish that I would have paid more attention when I was there. "I THINK" how they did them was to lay a base of the some kind of masonry or maybe even marble, make a mound of packed sand the rough size and shape of the desired interior and use it as a mold to create the shell. Then after everything set, they would shovel the sand out.

I too have thought of making an outside kitchen and having a brick oven, it is so far down on the list though that I will probably never get to it.

Emerald, I used to read "The Mother" but haven't had a subscription for almost 20 years, lot of good stuff in there. I think that I have a pile of old issues from the 70's and 80's in the closet somewhere, will have to drag them out and read through them again. I think that I even have the first 3 issues stuck back in that box if the leaky roof several years ago didn't ruin them.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I still get the issues every year and hubby bought me a few years ago the first three discs of their first 30 years for the computer.. 
you can now buy the full 40 years worth on one disc now I think. lots of great information.. While I like my discs but I like the magazine too.
They did have the old fashioned domed brick oven in there somewhere but I put up the all in one type as with us preppers I figured that it might be more useful.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Emerald said:


> I still get the issues every year and hubby bought me a few years ago the first three discs of their first 30 years for the computer..
> you can now buy the full 40 years worth on one disc now I think. lots of great information.. While I like my discs but I like the magazine too.
> They did have the old fashioned domed brick oven in there somewhere but I put up the all in one type as with us preppers I figured that it might be more useful.


Where did the hubby get the disk(Excuse Me, the CD/DVD)? I would like to buy one. While I was getting the Mag, they had the everyday persons version of the "High Tech" trends that we all could afford to get involved in. The part about it that always impressed me was that they not only gave you the information but had it presented by those who actually did the projects.

That magazine did alot to educate me and still influences me in some of the "Crazy Pojects" I dream up.


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## Guardian (Jan 17, 2012)

Davarm said:


> Where did the hubby get the disk(Excuse Me, the CD/DVD)? I would like to buy one. While I was getting the Mag, they had the everyday persons version of the "High Tech" trends that we all could afford to get involved in. The part about it that always impressed me was that they not only gave you the information but had it presented by those who actually did the projects.
> 
> That magazine did alot to educate me and still influences me in some of the "Crazy Pojects" I dream up.


http://www.motherearthnews.com/shopping/browse.aspx?subject=ACD&PageNum=2


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## Listmaker (Feb 24, 2012)

That is exactly what I am looking for! Thanks so much Emerald! The amount of information from the members of this group is amazing, as well as your memory. I can't even remember what I did yesterday. Thank You!!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Listmaker said:


> That is exactly what I am looking for! Thanks so much Emerald! The amount of information from the members of this group is amazing, as well as your memory. I can't even remember what I did yesterday. Thank You!!


You're welcome.. I can't remember names or even which thread it was on but I have all kinds of odd stuff rambling around in the gray matter!


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

I learned how to make a clay oven that works similar to the brick ones. However, some sort of shelter (a roof is enough) is recommended over them as the clay will erode in time from rain. Easy to make, though. 
Make a floor of brick, preferably fire brick that will withstand heat, but a flat clay platform, or a rock platform, or concrete has been used too. Pile brush on it the size you want the interior of the oven. Place a tin can, both ends removed on one end for a chimney/vent and plaster on the clay. Leave a front opening large enough to reach into with your pans. Build the clay up over the course of a week or two, until about 6 inches thick. The clay will need to dry a bit, and the cracks filled (clay shrinks as it dries) during this time. More permanent ovens can have a chicken wire reinforcement made over the brush to help stabilize and strengthen the clay. 
Remove the tin can, light up the brush filling and burn it out. This will further dry and glaze the inside of the oven so it becomes brick like. Sweep clean and make a door (even a wood door to fit the hole will work). Build a roof over the oven if you want to protect it from rain. If cracks develop, fill them with fresh clay. 
These can be made large for communal ovens, or small for family use, and are so cheap that the nomads that use them abandon them when they move on, since they can easily build another. It might make a good scout or survival group test project, ie: build your own clay oven and bake a loaf of bread in it.


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## tinkersdelight (Dec 24, 2010)

I've got a good supply of propane and am now increasing my charcoal storage for dutch oven cooking.


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## tamitik (Nov 19, 2014)

I know this is an old thread..

I,m slow..

I have been wanting to build one of these clay ovens for yrs..

cpl, yrs ago I DID IT.

got clay from the riverbank.. good clean clay.. and sand. added some straw/shavings and mixed it by feet.

it didnt want to mix very well in cement mixer, so me and a gal from town did the foot stomping. the outter layer got a bit of portand cement for strength.

I had built a base using cinderblocks with a concrete slab poured on top.

then put a layer (1inch) of sand.. then a half inch sheet of cement board.. then another layer of sand.

next came the fire bricks that i got for a buck each.

the vids showed how to make a wet sand form.. that didnt work for me so I cut strips of panelling and made a wicker basket type, egg shape and covered with wet newspaper.

this would be the form and would be burnt out after completion.

after mixing by feet I placed chunks of the mixture around the form. pressing down onto itself, not against the form.

it was about 4inch thick at this point.

got that all complete and then added a 1 inch layer of insulation.

the first layer against tyhe form had no straw/shavings because of fire.

after the insulation I then, did the exact same thing as the first laYER but this time with straw/shavings.

when I was done it was 9 inches thick including the 1 inch space with insulation.

I let it dry for a few days then built a small fire to help it season and dry.

I had also built a roof overtop to protect from erosion from wind and rain.

took about a week to dry completely.

the temps have been as high as 900'. cant cook at that temp so I wait for it to get to about 650 and fire in the pizzas.. takes about 4 min.. 

after it cools some more.. then comes the bread and buns .

my inside floor space is 32in across. holds about 6 loaves of bread.

I have made pies in it and at the end of the day I toss in a dutch oven with beans and water then head for bed.

in the morning the beans are done and I can add my ham and sausage to finish the bean soup.


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## tamitik (Nov 19, 2014)

trying to post more pix but so far I,m stumped.


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## tamitik (Nov 19, 2014)

I added a chimney behind the door but it was/is not needed at all. so I keep it blocked off.

my biggest regret is that i didnt put 'real' insulation under the fire bricks. only 2x1 inch of sand with a slab of cement board in between :dunno: brain fart??


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## tamitik (Nov 19, 2014)

in the pic with me holding the bread.. 

behind my back you can see a buncha sticks.. 

thats what is burnt to get the heat.

not firewood.. just a buncha stix.

pretty cheap to run.


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

VERY nice, I want to build one of these in my outdoor kitchen when I build it, also looked at the one on Mother Earth News, a lot more expensive but also more versatile to use. Ideas ideas ideas!


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## offgridcooker (Mar 5, 2012)

Brick ovens are designed for continuous use, and it takes a lot of energy just to heat them up.
They use 99% of the energy to "cook the oven" and less than 1% to cook the food.
For survival situations you may need to cook a meal with a double handful of wood chunks or a chair leg, instead of a wheelbarrow of firewood.


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

offgridcooker said:


> Brick ovens are designed for continuous use, and it takes a lot of energy just to heat them up.
> They use 99% of the energy to "cook the oven" and less than 1% to cook the food.
> For survival situations you may need to cook a meal with a double handful of wood chunks or a chair leg, instead of a wheelbarrow of firewood.


This is why I have also built a volcano stove out of tin cans.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

offgridcooker said:


> Brick ovens are designed for continuous use, and it takes a lot of energy just to heat them up.
> They use 99% of the energy to "cook the oven" and less than 1% to cook the food.
> For survival situations you may need to cook a meal with a double handful of wood chunks or a chair leg, instead of a wheelbarrow of firewood.


Not if it is used to keep the family warm, much like the wood stoves used in the home. Baking bread is not something one dose in a survival situation as one must have flour to make bread, which means stores or planting seeds 3 months earlier.
But building a oven NOW will be fun & useful, can be used later if heat & baking is needed. Many tribes used some kind of oven to bake bread long before any of us was born & their families live on to day.
So I think it has proven to be useful in day to day baking.
But that just me.


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