Build your own brick pizza oven

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Cider123

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Last year at this time, I was figuring out the best way to build a brick oven in the backyard. I am far from being a mason and couldn't afford hiring someone. Using some basic plans from fornobravo.com and watching a lot of youtube videos, I put together a basic plan. Come spring I broke ground and didn't completely finish until October, but I was cooking awesome pizzas by mid-July.

I made several mistakes along the way, but all in all I'm happy with my creation. It is the largest paperweight in town, but it's the one thing I own that I know could never be stolen.

If you like a good brewed beer, you gotta have some charred pizza or roast meat cooked at 800-900F.

Take a look. Have at it yourself.

 
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That's really cool! I hear the pizza's cooked like that taste the best. The past few years I've been making my own pizza from scratch. All kinds too, my favorite is this lasagna pizza I invented a while back.
 
And I thought I like pizza. LOL.

I have used my weber kettle grill with some success but this does make me jealous. Whats the prep time to get the coals like that?
 
That's quite amazing!

Now this is a weird question, but can you remove the top section at will? I'm sure it's heavy but I also wnat a BBQ PIT so I think it could be dual purpose.
 
That's quite an accomplishment Cider, particularly inspiring as it is in Maine (with similar winter conditions).

We use a Kettle Pizza. It does great pizza and naan but that oven of yours could cook for a whole neighborhood on one firing.

Very nice.
 
I've had Pepe's pizza and it is truly awesome!

I wish I could fire it up year round but the weather keeps it mostly from April to November. After that that it's just too cold. Also, I wrap it up with blue tarp for the winter. A big enemy to the oven is water that can get in and freeze, causing serious cracking.

I can get it to full temp with the floor at 900 and the top of the dome over 1000F in about 1 to 1.5 hours depending on the weather (lots of rain gives you a dank wet oven). Usually takes a good wheelbarrow's worth of wood. I have 2 cords cut up and seasoning right now.
There is no way you can take the top off without destroying it. Plus, the weight of just the dome is probably a couple thousand pounds. That's why I call it my big paperweight. It ain't going nowhere.

But oh the food that it makes. All meats, chickens, pork roasts come out crackling crispy and smoky flavored. Pizza is done in under a minute and has that smoky char on the crust. I've never had anything taste bad that came out of there. I recommend it to anyone that is as passionate about pizza/food as they are about beer.
Thanks for the comments.
 
Hey Cider, nice oven, and slide show! I built mine a couple years ago using the same plans from Forno Bravo. Mine is 42" I.D. Here's a link to my build thread. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11155.0.html

Also, here is a little hobby business I recently started. I converted a 1967 Airstream camper into a Neapolitan pizza kitchen, complete with a 36" wood-fired oven.

oven 577.jpg


bagels 017.jpg


pizza 288.jpg
 
Both your ovens look awesome. It looks like you beveled your dome bricks which is something I wish I could have done. I did all my cutting with a hand held pnuematic grinder and a 4.5 inch masonary blade. I remember those cuts where the dome met with inner arch. That was difficult, trying to keep it from forming a teardrop shape.

So one thing that I wish I had done is pouring a base slab and a second slab for the oven floor. Pouring all that concrete was beyond me at the time, but I wish I had that more stable base and the extra storage underneath would be nice. So those are things for my next build. My block stand sits on a base of pure sand which is several feet deep and tamped. I only hope it does not shift too much over time, but I'm told the sand is much more stable than soil.
It has been a year and it has not moved at all so knock on wood.
I am amazed how that trailer is able to support the weight of your 36 inch oven. That is also the size of my oven. The trailer is very cool.
 
Yeah, I used a 10 inch wet tile saw for all my cuts. So much easier than an angle grinder.
I'm sure your base is fine for at least a very long time. Eventually it may shift with enough freeze/thaw cycles but I suspect it won't really affect how the oven works.
The Airstream took a lot of work. It required removing the body and reinforcing the frame and installing a new heavy duty torsion axle. It's a lot of fun though, for sure. Also, it's nice cooking in the driveway in the winter when it's too cold and muddy to hang around the backyard oven.
 

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