Okay, so I’ve always wanted one of those fancy pizza ovens you see in Italian restaurants. You know, the ones with the brick dome? But they cost a fortune! So I thought, “Why not try to build one myself?” I mean, how hard could it be? Turns out, it’s a bit of a project, but totally doable, and I ended up with a pretty awesome homemade pizza oven, all things considered.
First off, I started looking around for some bricks. Not just any bricks, but fire bricks. My neighbor, old man Johnson, had a pile of them in his backyard that he wasn’t using. Said they were from some old project he never finished. He let me take them for free, which was a huge win. Score one for being friendly with your neighbors!
Next, I needed a place to put this thing. I picked a spot in my backyard, far enough from the house but not too far from the patio. I cleared the area, made sure it was level, and then started on the foundation. I just used regular bricks for this part, nothing fancy. I laid them out in a square, using some mortar mix I picked up from the hardware store to hold them together. I’m not gonna lie, mixing mortar is messy work, but it’s kind of fun in a way.
Once the foundation was set and dried (which took a couple of days), I started on the dome. This was the tricky part. I built a form out of some scrap wood I had lying around, kind of like a half-circle, to support the bricks while the mortar dried. Then, I started laying the fire bricks around the form, one by one, slathering them with mortar and fitting them together like a puzzle. This took forever, and my back was killing me, but I kept at it.
Building the dome was definitely the most challenging part. Getting the bricks to stay in place while the mortar was wet was a real pain. I had to use a lot of temporary supports and wedges to keep everything from collapsing. I used some old 2x4s and even some rocks from my garden.
- Day 1: Gathered all my materials and picked a spot in the yard.
- Day 2: Cleared the area and started on the foundation.
- Day 3-4: Let the foundation dry.
- Day 5-7: Slowly, painfully, built the brick dome.
- Day 8: Added a chimney and a door (made from some sheet metal I found).
- Day 9: Let the whole thing dry some more.
- Day 10: Fired it up for the first time!
After the dome was done, I added a little chimney on top, just a simple brick structure to let the smoke out. I also fashioned a door out of some scrap metal to help control the temperature. I let the whole thing dry for another couple of days. I was really chomping at the bit to try it out.
Finally, the big day arrived. I built a fire inside the oven, using some dry wood I’d been saving. It took a while to get up to temperature, but once it did, wow! I slid in my first homemade pizza (just a simple margherita, gotta start with the basics, right?), and about 90 seconds later, it was done. The crust was perfectly crispy, the cheese was bubbly, and the taste was amazing. Way better than any pizza I’d ever made in my regular oven. I mean, it wasn’t perfect; the first one got a little burnt around the edges, but hey, it was my first try!
The Results
All in all, it was a lot of work, a lot of sweat, and maybe a few curse words, but I ended up with a working brick pizza oven, and I did it all myself. Plus, I saved a ton of money compared to buying a pre-made one. The pizzas are incredible, and it’s a great conversation starter when we have friends over. If you’re thinking about doing something similar, I say go for it! Just be prepared for a bit of a workout, and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. And if you’re lucky like me, you might even score some free bricks from a neighbor! Good luck. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go make another pizza.
