Curing (firing up) the oven for the first time
Hi all,
I have built a wfo that is an amalgam of the oven design from Alan Scott’s ‘Bread Builders’, Norbert Senf (Canada) and my builder’s input.
The internal hearth is approx 6’x4’, so pretty large inside!! The oven has cured for over a month now and we are finally ready to light the thing up!!!
Just wondering if anyone could share their thoughts on the best way to properly cure the oven. I have read different things online, such as:
- have a CONTINOUS fire burning for 5 days, starting with a small fire and building them bigger each day to slowly bring the temp up
- Build a fire each day, letting it burn for approx 6 hours, following the same process in terms of fire size/temp as above
Do I really need to keep it continuous? I think it seems unrealistic to be able to do this, given work schedule, etc.
Also, can I expect the oven to be burnt quite black during this time? Do ovens stay black, or does it go away? Ie: eventually burn off?
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!!!!