Wood Burning pizza oven

[David]

The vent in front of the door seems to be standard,however the chimney running over the dome seems to be typical only to the Neapolitan built ovens.I was wondering if the chimney (Terracotta/Alloy?) was actually mortared to the dome as it ran over it,thus taking advantage of the estimated 25% of gasses/heat that is leaving the oven door to help maintain the highest temperatures at the cuppola?This was my guess for the central positioning of the chimney exit.I have seen  Pizzaioli  hold the Pizza up to the dome for a few seconds before placing it on the oven floor,which I assumed was to give it that initial burst of intense heat to create the maximum oven spring?Thanks,
                                                                                                       David
                                                       

[skitchmo]

pizzanapoletana,
Thanks for all of the info. I am designing an oven for my back yard and am a little unclear on a couple of details:

1) You describe 43 cm high but that it is also supposed to be D/3.4. In your example you used D=105 cm, but 105/3.4=31cm, dramatically less than 43cm. Could you clarify?

2) Any more specific details on the vent. How are the measurements you provided of 60cm x 30cm measured? That cann't be width and heighth of the opening? And how best to construct the vent?

Thanks, skitchmo

[Bill/SFNM]

The dome of the pizza oven, should not be a spherical one, but actually a "flattened" sphere. The centre should be almost flat, like a normal ceiling

The dome of my oven is not flat and I see what you mean. When the deck is extremely hot, the pizza top may cook a little slower than the bottom. When removing the pizza from the oven, I lift it off the deck and hold it for 10-20 seconds near dome. This seems to do the trick. It is really hot up there and the top finishes quickly. What do you think?

Bill/SFNM

[NS1]

 
    re the vent.....
 
            it starts in front of the door and is  60x 30 cm  or  24 x 12 ??

             and then is  reduced  to 25cm  10"  ?? 

             is this riight??  How is it  funnelled?? 

              can you explain in easy terms...   

[Adelchi]

Hi there,

I thought you were the perfect person to ask to. We are opening a neapolitan pizza restaurant in Miami Beach. We had planned to have the oven installed here from one of our experts from Napoli using materials shipped from Italy.

Unfortunately our architect has told us that an oven built like that won't pass the inspection since it's not UL approved. Do you know by any chance a company that can provide us with authentic neapolitan commercial pizza ovens which are also UL approved ? Or is there any way to have it built the way we planned and get away without having a UL approved sticker ?

I'd appreciate if you could help me with this matter if you can.

Thank you very very much

Adelchi

[Bryan Chitwood]

I too am in the process of planning a wood-fired brick outdoor oven for pizza and bread, and this Neapolitan design  and construction process is quite interesting. I ordered a book entitled "The Bread Builders" by Daniel Wing and Alan Scott (Scott is founder of Neapolitan, a company specializing in building wood-fired brick ovens and he sells plans for his ovens, which are evidently well regarded in artisan breadbaking circles). While the book is by and large focused on bread and stoves, there is some ink devoted to pizza making. In addition, the book provides pretty detailed plans for building a Scott oven. An interesting note on his ovens is that he uses a barrel-arch design, which may not be as good as the dome-type, but appears much simpler to build than laying up the brick for a dome. It appears the sand-mold construction might address that challenge.

Instead of building from scratch, I am thinking of converting the 50s style brick barbecue in the backyard into an oven. I'm thinking that if I use fire-bricks to partially fill the existing hearth (up to the level of the support arms), I can lay fire-brick for a heath and then built  a barrel-arch dome over it. I could then build brick walls around the dome to fill with insulation (after insulating the stove itself). I'm considering not filling in the present hearth completely, but instead leaving the bottom portion of it open and connected to the existing chimney. That way I can still have an open fire for aesthetics and warmth during the winter, and it could help to preheat the oven for cooking. The "working" fire would be inside the oven. If get this project off the ground (so to speak), I'll post some pictures and a progress report.

I have found "The Bread Builders" very good reading, along with the excellent material being posted here.

Bryan (DixiePizza)

[Bryan Chitwood]

Excuse me for the error I just noticed in my posting. Alan Scott is founder of Ovencrafters, his company that designs and build wood-fired brick ovens. By the way, Adelchi, he has built these for many bakeries and restaraunts around the United States, particularly on the West Coast, I believe. His web site lists many of his customers.

Bryan

[giotto]

Regarding UL concerns with an Italian Wood Burning oven, you may wish to speak to Chef Owner Chrisophe Hille at A16, who studied and was certified in the Naples area, and now produces his wood fired pizza in San Francisco.  Their phone number and site: 415-771-2216, http://www.a16sf.com/Home.html

You may also find Mugnaini useful, a company that specializes in commercial and residential Italian ovens.  You can find their site at http://www.mugnaini.com/index_1.html.  Here's an example of a residential they made for a peer:

(http://home.comcast.net/~keck-foundation1/Pizza_Oven.JPG)

Best of luck.
 

[skitchmo]

Pizzanapoletana,
Even thouth I have "tweaked" the thermostat in my gas oven, pack it full of firebricks and preheat for 2 hours I am so frustrated with my lack of heat I am about to actually build one of these in my backyard. I am therefore in debt for your postings on the subject. If you wouldn't mind I would like your thoughts on a few other details.

1) I see differing opinions on mortar: FronoBravo recomends mortar sand/portland cement/fire clay (whatever that is) but you recomend no cement?

2) How important is the lime over the sand dome template? And if it is important how do you do that?

3) Although I am pretty clear on most of your instructions I am still a little perplexed by the concept of the vent. I undertand it starts in the doorway arch, arcs back over the oven to the apex, and then rises vertically as a chimney. It sounds as if you are suggesting it be about 30 cm wide and it's length up to the central apex of the oven is 60 cm. How tall is it then? How is it formed? If it is just formed by leaving a gap in the brick strucyure of the dome one would need some kind of supporting roof for the vent sice the bricks can only span about 20 cm. And finally how would you transition from the brick vent to the double wall chimney?

My wife and I are just finishing our patio, and I have her permission to now move on to an oven so today I will start on the foundation! Thanks.
Skitchmo

[skitchmo]

Thank you, I got it. It is such a big vent it was hard to believe, but I will take your word for it. I finished my wife's honey-doo landscaping projects after 3 gruelling days today and I finally started excavating for my oven today, my muscles are killing me! I will post pictures as the project progresses.
Have you seen the http://mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/wildac05b.htm site describing a small commercial "half barrel" shaped pizza oven? How does this shape compare to an actual dome, it looks easier to construct.
Skitchmo

[scott r]

And I was worried that I was crazy!  I wish these guys lived in my neighborhood.

[JAG]

I've got this burning question, no pun intended, well maybe.

Could anyone give me a ballpark figure as to how much fuel a large (pizzeria sized)(a la Marco's style) wood burning oven would consume?

Operating parameters being 700-800 deg. F, 10 hrs. a day, using oak or a similar hardwood?

Thanks
JAG

[JasonH]

I've got this burning question, no pun intended, well maybe.

Could anyone give me a ballpark figure as to how much fuel a large (pizzeria sized)(a la Marco's style) wood burning oven would consume?

Operating parameters being 700-800 deg. F, 10 hrs. a day, using oak or a similar hardwood?

Thanks
JAG

Hello Jag -

I have found that my oven uses roughly a "milk crate" worth of wood per day when utilizing the retained heat from the previous day.

The oven I use is very heat efficient and has a one piece parabolic dome - and the ovens internal size is just under 1 cubic meter (roughly 36in diameter cooking surface X 18in dome height in the center) and has about 1800lbs of thermal refractory material within its walls and floor.

I burn Almond wood exclusively, as it burns about 20% hotter than the others, and is comparably priced to oak - so theoretically over time I use less wood, given the thermal efficiency of Almond. (However, I really don't notice a tremendous savings overall) Then again the oven isn't used in a commercial environment - just for personal use.

Hope this helps.

Jason

[skitchmo]

I have started on my backyard oven. This is a great project along with the deck and bar-b-que area. I will post pictures as the project progresses.
(http://)
Skitchmo

[Trinity]

Hello Jag -

I have found that my oven uses roughly a "milk crate" worth of wood per day when utilizing the retained heat from the previous day.

The oven I use is very heat efficient and has a one piece parabolic dome - and the ovens internal size is just under 1 cubic meter (roughly 36in diameter cooking surface X 18in dome height in the center) and has about 1800lbs of thermal refractory material within its walls and floor.

I burn Almond wood exclusively, as it burns about 20% hotter than the others, and is comparably priced to oak - so theoretically over time I use less wood, given the thermal efficiency of Almond. (However, I really don't notice a tremendous savings overall) Then again the oven isn't used in a commercial environment - just for personal use.

Hope this helps.

Jason

A milk crate...

Is that really true?

[JasonH]

Hello Trinity -
Yeah,  I go through roughly a milk crate worth of wood for a 10 hour burn - somehow that doesn't seem like a lot to me, but perhaps maybe milk crates are smaller for us "softies" here in Southern California . I can best describe the amount as using two of those "store bought" bundles of firewood they sell in the supermarkets for a better volume comparison.
Jason

[Trinity]

Thats really efficient. I would have thought it would take a lot more to maintain such a hi temp.

[bigbubba33156]

What type of stone do i use for a wood burning oven??

[Pizzella Pizzerria]

pizzanapoletana,
Again you have opened my eyes to what is truly possible and right in the world of pizza. Thank you for sharing. The spector of dangerous toxicity levels of coal is enough to change my mind.

How then might you suggest I utilize this mason who specializes in wood & coal ovens to build a "perfect" wood burning pizza oven capable of fully baking a pizza in 90 seconds or less?

the pies take 3 mins at anthony's, i work there.

[giotto]

Here in the states, I suspect different materials will be employed.  What type of material and at what thickness will you employ to provide a safe-to-touch heat enclosure for 800F - 900F internal temps (e.g., brick, cinder or concrete blocks around sand)?  Regarding the salerno bricks, will you be using fire brick instead, and what different material have you decided on for the bottom to ensure less temps than the rest of the enclosure?