What happens when....

[pizzanapoletana]

Following up from my early post when I stressed the importance of calling only authentic traditional builders (such as Forno Napoletano www.forno-napoletano.it) for authentic Neapolitan ovens, both from a cooking as well as durability, point of view

here is a picture of what can happen when the ovens is built by fraudelent builders:

The builders of the disatrous oven in the picture are connected with a big restaurant group... latelly they were selling oven under the "napizza" brand and previously under "GEMA-Artigiani Napoletani" brand.

A word of advice: Be careful

Forno Napoletano has now been called to complete the demolition and build an Authentic oven...

[Bill/SFNM]

Marco,

Isn't this how you make Pizza al Mattone (Pizza Cooked Under A Brick)? 

Seriously,  interesting picture. I hope that didn't happen in the middle of service.

Bill/SFNM

[pizzanapoletana]

One brick fell completelly out while the other is visible in the picture hanging out. If you notice, most of that part of the oven has moved and may fall any time... there wasn't a pizza underneath luckly

What is more that ovens has never cooked pizza properly even by using  the right dimension.

The Right high quality materials and what goes behind those are vital.

Ciao

[Barry]

Hi Marco,

Would a slab of granite be suitable for the floor of a wood-fired oven ? Would it shatter with extremely high temperatures ?

I know that first prize would be a "Biscotto" baking floor from Sorrento, but this would be difficult (and expensive) to get to South Africa. We do have available to us, refractory bricks used in furnaces. Most commercial wood fired ovens over here use these bricks for the floor.

Sorry to pick your brains like this. I have one last question: What height (floor to highest part of "flattened dome" roof) would you recommend for an oven 1.1 metres in diameter ?  Thank you.

Kind regards.

Barry

[Fio]

Looks like there's no mortar on that brick.  Also looks like the bricks are not cut to fit.  No wonder it fell apart.

[artigiano]

that oven looks like hell, what kind of brick work is that?  what did the builder expect?

[pizzanapoletana]

Hi Marco,

Would a slab of granite be suitable for the floor of a wood-fired oven ? Would it shatter with extremely high temperatures ?

Barry

You need a "porous" material, therefore Granite or other type of marble are not suitable.

The ideal terracotta brick has some special caratteristic which make it different from the "furnace" type fire brick.

Ciao

[Barry]

Hi Marco,

Thank you for your reply.

What height (floor to highest part of "flattened dome" roof) would you recommend for an oven 1.1 metres in diameter ? I noted that Chris Bianco's oven has a maximum height of 350 mm (14 inches). Thank you.

Kind regards.

Barry

[artigiano]

can you find these special terracotta bricks to buy for yourself anywhere?

[JPY]

If you need some I can get you the tiles that we use in our ovens.  12" x 12" x 1 1/2" thick. Shipping will be a bit however.  18 lbs each. Contact me outside of this thread and I can give you details.

[pizzanapoletana]

here is a comparison Before and after...

[johnrbek]

Looks like a nice improvement on the outside...  Could we get a before and after photo of the inside?

JB