How to Build Pizza Oven – Try to imagine how awesome having your own pizza oven in your garden could be. It is not necessary to travel to Italy in order to eat delicious pizza. If you want to taste it without leaving your place, just buy the best quality ingredients and… make a pizza in your wood fired pizza oven! But first, you have to build it. We will advise you how to do it step by step! Build your own pizza oven with us!
What is an outdoor pizza oven?
A wood fired pizza oven is one of the oldests ovens. There are freestanding pizza ovens and built-in ovens. They may be powered by wood, gas or charcoal. Temperatures can be really high – thanks to that, meals are excellent and pizza peel is always crispy. It is ideal for slow cooking as well as pizzas.
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A wood fired pizza oven differs from home ovens – it makes it possible to attain higher temperatures (500 to 700 degrees). Thanks to that, pizza cooking time is much shorter. It works as follows – it is lit in the side, back, or centre of the oven. The aim is to heat up the inner dome and heart area.
Why is building your own pizza oven a good idea?
Nearly everyone is into eating pizza. It’s not that easy to find a person who doesn’t like this Italian dish. No wonder that this large circle of flat bread which is baked with tomatoes, cheese and other ingredients is one of the most tasty dishes in the whole wide world. Having your own pizza oven will give you the opportunity to eat pizza any time you wish, with whoever you want, in your own garden, literally step away from your house!
Pretext to nice meetings with friends
The oven is a great facilitator. It allows its owner to bake pizzas precisely. The dough becomes crispy and tender. The taste and odor unmatched! What is more, you can invite your friends to your garden with a smile on your face. There’s absolutely no doubt that smiles will appear on your closest ones’ faces too! You can serve pizzas right from your outdoor pizza oven on family celebrations, house parties, feasts and film nights.
Opportunity for experimentation with different meals
You don’t have to limit yourself to a certain type of pizza. Keep experimenting! Margherita? Capricciosa? Pepperoni? Why not try all kinds of pizzas? You do not have to order the same pizza from the same pizzeria every single time. That is not the end of good news. Who said that an outdoor pizza oven is only for pizzas? You can prepare much more, if you would like to. There’s nothing stopping you from preparing vegetables, meat, bread and different deliciousness.
Great smell and taste, which stays with you for a long time
It doesn’t take long to bake meals in garden ovens. Preparing dishes will save your time… and money! Also, there’s nothing compared to the aromas of meals taken right from a wood fired oven. The taste of garden made pizza and other dishes will be long remembered by you, your family and friends. We cannot forget about the benefits of using good quality wood – thanks to using it, meals are rich in nutrients. As you can see, there are many advantages of having your own brick pizza oven.
Things you should know before you start building
Finding a good place for the pizza oven is a must. Building an outdoor pizza oven away from trees is a guiding principle. Forget about having your dream wood fired pizza oven in the area of trees. You don’t want to be responsible for fires and accidents! Choosing a place near some wall is a much better idea. Your oven will need a stable construction. It will make covering your backyard pizza oven possible. Don’t forget to consider a type of oven, performance, style and cooking capacity.
Stay away from trees, use the right temperatures
Knowing the way the wood fired pizza oven works is one more thing to the list. You simply need to learn a few things such as the best temperatures for baking different types of meals. Think of pizza, for example. The best temperature for baking it is between 300 and 400 degrees Celsius. Moreover, some ovens have gas burners. They can get your oven cavity up to temperature so much quicker. One more thing which should be obvious – preheating the oven will not succeed with no fire on the inside or at the back. It’s as easy as that!
Build your pizza oven – just in a few easy steps!
Even if you’re an amateur, you are capable of building a diy pizza oven. Doing it from scratch will give you satisfaction for sure. Just have faith in your abilities! Positive attitude will help you too. Let’s go back to ovens. The ones which are designed for gardens are quite small. In appearance, they resemble a grill, a little bit. You surely want your oven to be long-lasting and efficient. It is possible to do so thanks to the right materials. Already know what to do first?
Buy the best quality materials!
If you’re wondering, which materials are required to build a diy pizza oven of your dreams – read this part carefully. You will need fire bricks, arch bricks, ceramic fibre boards, ceramic fibre blankets, ceramic fibre adhesives, heatproof screed, outdoor oven cements and wire meshes. It is highly likely that you will also need sharp sand, builders sand, spade, a trowel for bricklaying etc.
Lay the concrete foundation
As mentioned before, finding the right place far from trees is important. After finding this place, you should lay a concrete foundation there. As a support, you may use concrete, house bricks, railway sleepers or breeze blocks. Use cement so that connecting breeze blocks or bricks were possible.
Some wood elements shouldn’t surprise you. You have to screw the pieces together. Don’t forget about this step! It will guarantee that the plinth will be steady. If you have some free space left – prepare it for storing logs.
Lay the bricks
The next step is laying the bricks in order to create the base of your oven. Lay the bricks flush to each other. You’d better do it on a layer of sand. Your aim should be the effect of a smooth and level surface. For the best possible effect, use the best quality bricks that have no cavities.
Make the arch
Another thing you have to do to build your brick pizza oven is making the march. Do it precisely, use the semi-circular sand mould. Later on, you need to put it brick by brick. You can easily make use of polystyrene or wooden templates. It’s up to you. You may also use specially tempered firebricks. This is something that will make the building easier.
Construct the dome
You want a barrel shaped dome? Use clay or brickwork in order to build a supportive structure. You want a shape of a circle? Place rings of bricks one on top of another. When it comes to the second solution, it does not require any support. Don’t forget to leave a hole between an arch and dome – thanks to that, you can have a chimney.
Add the door
The next step is of particular importance, especially when your goal is preparing more than pizzas. Add the door to your pizza oven and it will be possible to bake the most delicious loaves of bread, meats, roasted vegetables, casseroles, fish and desserts ever. Bet on cast iron doors. They are the best among the lot! Make sure that doors perfectly fit your cooking appliance. How to do it? Take advantage of fire rope and an appropriate adhesive. They will help you create a tight seal.
Insulate
The very last thing – insulating concrete plinths. This is the last step at the entire process of building. You have two choices. The first thing you can do is to buy ready made insulation. If you feel that you are able to insulate it yourself – you can do it, under the base of the oven, with the use of ceramic fibre board. You are the one who decides.
Don’t forget that the dome has to be insulated with a thermal blanket. One more small step is creating a key – a chicken wire will help, unless you want to use some similar material. Make covering outdoor oven cement possible! Now some curiosity – if you want to clean the oven, just empty the fuel tray, which is at the back of your oven. This will enable you to wipe down the pizza stone.
Summary
Now you know what a pizza oven is and what are the advantages of having it in your garden. What’s more, we already know how to build a pizza oven in stages. Find the right place, buy the best quality materials, lay the concrete foundation, lay the bricks, make the arch, construct the dome, add the door, insulate… and enjoy your delicious meals right from the diy pizza oven! – How to Build Pizza Oven