My first sourdough Nearlypolitan in my homemade WFO

[Michael130207]

Thanks guys. I don't work at a lumber yard but the discount would help. Actually, I used wood because it was the cheapest material with an adequate wife aesthetic acceptance factor rating (WAAF), that I could use with confidence. The stand cost about $200 with fasteners, and the scrap from the 6 x 6s made a great chopping block to resplit the bigger oak splits. 

I like it....looks like a stone mountain. 

Thats funny, same thing occured to me. I also had a flash back to the close encounters mash potato scene.

[Chicago Bob]

T

Thats funny, same thing occured to me. I also had a flash back to the close encounters mash potato scene.

Yep...I flashed to Mt. Rushmour!.....

[rcbaughn]

It's inspiring seeing this thing go from a on the ground mortarless oven to what it is now. I can't wait to see the concrete smoothed up with stucco on it. It's gonna be a great looking oven that just happens to bake well too, ha. Are you planning on painting the stucco or wood base when you get it all done? I bet a nice dark stain and glossy gym floor polyurethane on the wood would look unique. I'm partial to stucco painted lighter tans too.

[sajata]

Thanks, I really like that word but rarely hear it used. I think we should come up with a pizza style for it or at a minimum a topping combination!

You should update your profile to include your location...

[Michael130207]

Thanks, I am planning on using a dark brown transparent stain on the base. Still going back and forth on the final layer between stucco and bonding cement. Will probably go with stucco for extra breathability Tom mentions. I plan on tiniting the mix light brown.

It has rained here almost every day for the last week so I haven't been able to dry it. Had a break yesterday and lit a small fire. It is interesting the air flow inside the oven is different now that it is sealed. I am anxious to see how it performs with a full sized fire. I have had it with playing with kindling and the smoky start. I have not been helped by the high humidity and rain even though my wood is in a covered bin.  I'm buying a cactus burner this weekend . BTW i'll have to snap a photo of my wood bin, its another roller coaster frame, I'm sure you guys will get a kick out of it.

[Michael130207]

Well, pulled a real bonehead move today. As I mention I got a new load of wood and it is a little too moist so I bought a cactus burner, which btw are awesome. Unfortunately in the process I cracked my chimney and insulation over the opening  .  It was the third fire since pouring the insulation and I though it had dried out pretty well. I suspect with a clay chimney one should probably never use a torch of that size. No substitute for well seasoned wood. I am going to have to build another wood shed so I can rotate deliveries and season myself for 1-2 years.  I dug through my wood pile and found some of the pieces from the previous load and forged ahead with more success. The insulation seems to be performing well. Had the oven at 700F for 3-4 hours and most of the shell is at about 95F, one spot hit 115F.  I plan on wrapping the remaining exposed chimney with some type of wire mesh and then putting a form around it, then filling it with a 1:3 perlcrete. Maybe that will protect it from getting worse. Anyone have any ideas?

Well, I baked a few NY style pies with the floor at 650F using my new favorite dough for this style. It is a 60% hydration KAAP dough cold fermented for 3 days this time. Made slightly larger than my usually pie which was one of my reasons for building the oven. These pies came out slightly oblong and average about 16 inches compared to my usual 14 inches. Used a 425g ball. One was plain the other salami. They bake in about 3 min.

[Chicago Bob]

Wow! Looks like that dough is working rather nicely Michael. Congratulations on those pie's man, they beauties.

[Michael130207]

Thanks Bob.

[RobynB]

Those are some beautiful BIG pies!  I'm impressed, you have skills to get them that pretty at that size.  I wish I could do that.  They look great!

[Michael130207]

Thanks Robyn I'm sure you can, your kale pies look awesome!

[Michael130207]

Got back to trying to finish the oven today. As has been my usual experience I discovered that the next step was much harder than I imagined. I applied stucco today. I was able to get a scratch coat. A bit thicker than it is supposed to be, I think, but hopefully it will adhere and harden strong. The friable feel of the perlcrete has me concerned on the vertical surfaces that the whole thing is just going to let go at some point. I tried to form lathe around the oven the other day but that was a fiasco and I abandoned the idea. Just going to keep my fingers crossed. Will apply another coat in a day or three.

[rcbaughn]

Did you ever get the other coats put on the oven?

[Michael130207]

I got the last coat on a few days ago. Need to build another wood shed and uncover some dry wood. Probably wont fire it up for a few weeks.

[scott123]

Michael, I'm very excited to see what this can do.

[Michael130207]

Finally fired up the oven for the first time since putting on that final coat of stucco. Cracked like Humpty Dumpty, but I expected that. Only had it going for about 4 hours prior to bake. It could definitely have used a few more hours. There is a lot of mass to this oven. The dough is a 60% hydration, Caputo flour, 0.3% ADY, recipe that was put in fridge for 24 hours bulk, balled and put back in for another 18 hours, then 6 hr on counter.

The tool stand made things a lot easier to handle, it got the gold star of the day. Fire management still needs work, oven not quite hot enough for nice leoparding. I think the wood is still not quite dry enough but much better than 3 months ago.  All pies were 90 secs and very tasty. I will have to continue to work on increasing the heat and my dough making skills.

[Michael130207]

Took a hiatus from the wfo for the winter as my wood was a little moist and it was cold out. Did a bake this past weekend. Refrigerated ADY  caputo 61% hydration dough. Preheated for about 3 hours as I was pressed for time. With the dry wood the oven was a lot easier to manage. I would have liked it a bit hotter. The pied shown is a lemon caper. Floor was in the high 700F. Looking forward to finding a weekend when I can preheat for a good 6- 8 hours pre bake. I am considering covering the oven in a layer of ceramic insulation and stucco to improve insulation and prevent cracking.

[Morgan]

Now thats a badass wfo Could you share some of your recent pictures of the oven and pies ?

[Michael130207]

Thanks Morgan,

The oven looks largely the same, those pics are only a couple months old, I haven't made any changes. If there are pictures of any particular part of it you would like to see, just let me know and I will post them. I plan on doing a more detailed post of the build and follow up photos in the oven section in the future.  I have been very happy with its durability and cost to build. After 9 months I have observed no signs of corrosion or degradation anywhere. I keep it covered when not in use. Since my wood has now dried to an acceptable level it fires very nicely.

As far as pizza pics go the last ones I have posted are just about the best I have done lately. I haven't been baking enough to improve my skills.

The last time I baked a couple weeks ago for a group of 10, I over fired the oven, 8 h preheat, and couldn't get the floor temp down below 900+F for hours. The walls were in the 900's as well. Outside walls were about 100-120F. Neapolitan Caputo dough pizza bottoms got over charred within 15s before it even set up enough to lift and rotate. It was a bit frustrating but it encouraged me that it was well insulated and fired well with a small fire. chimney works great.  I am excited for my next bake where I will monitor the start up more closely.

[JD]

The last time I baked a couple weeks ago for a group of 10, I over fired the oven, 8 h preheat, and couldn't get the floor temp down below 900+F for hours. The walls were in the 900's as well. Outside walls were about 100-120F. Neapolitan Caputo dough pizza bottoms got over charred within 15s before it even set up enough to lift and rotate. It was a bit frustrating but it encouraged me that it was well insulated and fired well with a small fire. chimney works great.  I am excited for my next bake where I will monitor the start up more closely.

Your pizza's at the beginning of the thread look very good. Would you say all that hard work & money used to insulate & stucco was worth it (excluding cosmetic reasons)? Or looking back, was the mortarless, uninsulated oven enough to produce a Neapolitan style pizza so long as you fired for 6-8 hours?

[Michael130207]

My early pies were done with bread flour that browns at lower temps, thus so of those pictures may hide the lower temps achieved without insulation.

The insulation and stucco is definitely worth it for the following reasons.

a) the fuel use is dramatically lower insulated.
b) the exterior of an uninsulated oven is very high and would burn accidental brushers by, such as children, even many hours after using it.
c) while high temps could be reached uninsulated, is is very uneven, unstable, and requires a large fire.
d) insulating it wasn't very expensive. I believe the entire oven and stand could be done for under $1000.
e) The stucco protects the insulation but will crack if you build it without a compressible layer such as ceramic blanket. So plan on using a cover if you do it that way.

So to some up, uninsulated was fun for experimenting but if you are going to continue to use it you are much better off insulating it.  It was a lot of work but a ton of fun too .