The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Anyone out there currently building an oven?

codpilot's picture
codpilot

Anyone out there currently building an oven?

If you are and want to share what you learned or commiserate I'm at the insulation stage of an Alan Scott oven.

What say the crowd?

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

I thought about it and I would love to see other people do it so won't be so scared of it. So please post about it!

codpilot's picture
codpilot

Will do! Just bough some 2" ceramic blanket and covered the top and then added vermiculite and vermicrete to fill in the gaps and cover it. Currently curing before stucco.

Still have to build a couple of doors. I'll make an album and post my build :)

It's not incredibly hard, but there are some interesting parts that require thinking through. But I'll share my lessons learned gladly.

Now i have to learn how to bake in this monster - and how many loaves to put in :p

 

headdown's picture
headdown
Kooky's picture
Kooky

I’ve jumped off the deep end. 

organic… fresh milled… about to buy the popular Amazon book on building an earthen oven and putting it next to my raised bed vegetable garden… help me… there’s a local supplier I’ve purchased clay from for pottery (I am not a potter). I’m wondering if she can help me out with bricks and other materials. 

tjosborn's picture
tjosborn

In a similar boat - have spent most of the day looking at the Stone Bake Oven Company and wondering if a Mezzo 76 would be too small for my needs. Or there's a DIY approach but would like to get going quickly!

Plan is freshly milled flour going into WFO and then sold locally - I wish I'd done this during lockdown...

Kooky's picture
Kooky

Yes, here we can sell it too, no problem, up to something absurd like $200,000 with the newest Cottage Law adjustments.

I don't think I'd sell my product for another year after getting a wood fired oven because I am critical of myself... no matter what people tell me. But I do believe I would grow dreadlocks and a gnarly wood-smoke infested beard, possibly build a solar powered teepee beside the vegetable gardens and oven because I'd never leave.

Just waiting on the book. I am ready to build this thing in one day.

codpilot's picture
codpilot

I sold for about a year - up to 26 loaves plus more at a local brewery. Wasn't meant to make much dough but just to have fun. Then they outsourced to a vendor who charged $100 a booth (from free that stings) so I noped out and just bake for custom orders :D

I'm all in on the goatee and solar thing!

 

Kooky's picture
Kooky

Waiting on straw currently. I have the clay. I also need to find fire bricks. Everything online is way too expensive.

islandbakery's picture
islandbakery

I've run a cottage home bakery for the last several years. Before starting out I built an Alan Scott oven with the idea of using that for my bread. A few things to consider. I, unfortunately, located the oven further from the kitchen prep area than is ideal. Because of that I have to go through the house, outside and across the yard to check on the fire. What I found is that both the fire and bread are temperamental. If I stay and fiddle with the fire, all is fine there. But the bread gets in a snit and doesn't perform properly. If I stay inside and monitor the bread then the fire gets in a snit and goes out. Trying to manage both so that the bread is at the proper point for baking as is the oven proved far too difficult for me to manage on my own. Your mileage may vary 😊 

To help my .02 worth of advice is to make use of formulas that utilize either an overnight ferment or overnight proof limiting the amount of fire prep time either way. And, if possible, try to locate your oven so that it can be quickly monitored with a glance out a door or window.

Kooky's picture
Kooky

Thanks for the comment. I don't think I would use the brick oven for sales, unless I nailed quite a few loaves back to back or something, maybe a ton of muffins, and offered them as a one time special (well each time I make them).

I would definitely need to rely on my oven for any sales.

kevinbrode's picture
kevinbrode

All,

I've just finished my second build...and am willing to post some pics...maybe create a thread if it could help others.  Let me know.

Kevin

Standing Stone Bakery

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Would love to see your WFO; hopefully a series from the start of the build to completion.

Paul

kevinbrode's picture
kevinbrode

Ok, I'll get started putting some pics and commentary together over the weekend.  I'll start with my first build, and run into the second (finished 2 months back.) build.

Kevin

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

I'll second Paul's request!

kevinbrode's picture
kevinbrode

Done.

gavinc's picture
gavinc

The second build will incorporate all the learnings from your first build. I often think of building a second WFO just for the sake of it and improve on the first build.
I built a Pompeii style WFO in 2005 (Dome shape). I refurbished the outer insulation layer after a couple a years and built a weather shelter over it.   

Gavin.

CaptTPT's picture
CaptTPT

Just recently finished a 6 month build. 

gavinc's picture
gavinc

I'd love to see some pictures.

Cheers,

Gavin

CaptTPT's picture
CaptTPT

I would be happy to post pics. Is there a guide outlined on how to do this. I’ve been working on it for an hour with no success so far. Shouldn’t be this difficult. 

gavinc's picture
gavinc

Save your pics as .jpg and optimise them if you can. Upload them to your comment using the media browser widget (right hand end of widgets).

 

CaptTPT's picture
CaptTPT
gavinc's picture
gavinc

Wow! Great work. Very neat job. Well done.

CaptTPT's picture
CaptTPT

This is a Melbourne Fire Brick Company D105. 

CaptTPT's picture
CaptTPT

This is a Melbourne Fire Brick Company D105.