Okay, so I’ve always wanted a wood-fired oven. I mean, who doesn’t dream of making their own amazing pizzas and crusty bread? I finally decided to take the plunge and build one myself, using bricks. Let me tell you, it was a project, but totally worth it.
Getting Started
First, I spent ages watching videos and reading stuff online. I wanted to get a good idea of what I was getting myself into. It seemed like a lot of work, but not impossible, so I decided to go for it.
I started by clearing a spot in my backyard. It needed to be level and away from anything that could catch fire. That took a good afternoon of digging and moving dirt around.
Building the Base
The base is super important because it’s gotta hold all that weight. I built a simple concrete slab. I mixed the concrete, poured it into a wooden frame I made, and let it cure for a few days. It wasn’t perfectly smooth, but it was solid.
Laying the Bricks
This was the fun, but also kinda back-breaking, part. I got a bunch of firebricks – regular bricks won’t hold up to the heat. I started laying them out in a circle, dry-fitting them first to make sure everything would work.
- I used a special kind of mortar that can handle high temperatures.
- I spread the mortar on each brick and carefully placed it.
- Slowly but surely, the oven started to take shape. It looked a bit wonky at times, but I kept going.
Creating the Dome
The dome was the trickiest part. I built a sand form inside the oven to support the bricks while the mortar dried. This took some patience and a lot of fiddling to get the shape right.
I laid the bricks over the sand form, working my way up to the top. I left a hole at the top for the chimney.
Once the mortar was dry, I scooped out the sand. It was pretty satisfying to see the dome stand on its own.
Adding the Chimney and Door
I built a small chimney using more firebricks and mortar. I also fashioned a simple door out of some scrap metal I had. It’s not pretty, but it works to keep the heat in.
The First Fire!
After letting everything cure for a couple of weeks, it was finally time for the first fire! I started with a small fire and gradually built it up. It took a while to get the hang of controlling the temperature, but eventually, I baked my first pizza!
It wasn’t perfect, a little charred in places, but it tasted amazing. The smoky flavor from the wood was incredible.
It was a lot of work, but building my own brick wood-burning oven was totally worth it. It’s not just about the pizza (although that’s a big part of it!), it’s about the satisfaction of building something with my own hands. And let me tell you, everything tastes better when it’s cooked in a wood-fired oven. Now I enjoy my pizza every week.
