hello from wales!!!

[ilovewales]

hello

i come from a mad baking family and we live in north wales!
i do the sweet stuff and my husband does the pizzas ,focaccias etc!!!

i like potato pizza with rock salt! yum! and i prefer gourmet type vegetarian/vegan pizzas (cheeseless) !
toppings like grilled med veg, artichokes,etc then drizzled once cooked with reduced balsamic, with blobs of green pesto on top!!! much yummier than the cheese varieties!!!

we live in rented accomodation, so can't build an oven, and i was wondering if any of you would know what something like this steel pizza oven would be like, or another suggestion for my husbands upcoming birthday!... i could spend up to £300...
as i can't post a link, the item number for the la hacienda pizza oven is 350522154759 if you want to look it up to see what its like..
 
i was also looking at the castmaster chiminea pizza oven, as i read on another blog some guys love theirs and use it for baking...i also want it to double as a chiminea type heatsource outside when we are not planning on using it for baking...what do you think?
could i get something decent for baking pizzas and breads for under £300???

[buceriasdon]

Welcome to the forum. I would look elsewhere for a patio oven. Quite honestly: http://www.lahacienda.co.uk/pizza-chimeneas/   will never cook a good pizza, the design is very poor. It would lose way to much heat. Get a pizza oven, not some patio decoration.
Don

[ilovewales]

thanks for that! they make them look like they work, but if you don't know what you're looking for, you can end up with junk!

its a pity we can't build one...we've been watching the hairy bikers bakeation, and they have used a few good woodfire ovens across europe on the show!

[buceriasdon]

Would a cob oven be not possible?  They can be taken down.         http://small-scale.net/yearofmud/2009/09/12/outdoor-cob-pizza-oven/
An aside, this oven really needs to be larger. the castmaster :  http://castironchimineas.co.uk/The%20Pizza%20oven.htm
could be modified with a lowered ceiling and would be a better oven. As it is now too much heat goes up the chimney.
Don

[scott123]

The castmaster has been discussed here:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,16321.0.html

In theory, someone could come along and produce a small, pretty oven that bakes pizza well, but, so far, no one has done it.

[ilovewales]

hmm, i'm wondering if its still worth it to get one, as it sounds like it will be great for an outdoor heatsource, which is a biggie, and also would still cook meat, veges, potatoes etc really well with no fiddle, and maybe some mucking around to bake in, but someone above mentioned making one of those cobs..that might be quite fun, and if its cheap to make we could knock it down if required when we moved??? ofcourse i couldn't give a cob as a birthday present, cause theres no building that in secret!!!

[buceriasdon]

I helped a friend build one of these years ago.
http://www.sunset.com/garden/backyard-projects/project-sunsets-classic-adobe-oven-00400000012056/
I do believe that with the cast iron oven with some work, placing an oven in the oven top heat could be retained and not lost.
Don

[Chicago Bob]

I helped a friend build one of these years ago.
http://www.sunset.com/garden/backyard-projects/project-sunsets-classic-adobe-oven-00400000012056/
I do believe that with the cast iron oven with some work, placing an oven in the oven top heat could be retained and not lost.
Don

  How well does your friends Sunset oven work Don?...thanks.

Bob

[buceriasdon]

Bob, I have lost contact over the years but the last I heard from my friend he and his wife were still baking in it after ......um, eleven years. I do recall some years ago he put a insulation layer over it and replaced the wood door with steel.
Don