Bread Oven

As with any structure you need to start with a solid base foundation.

We built up walls of logs from some leftover fence posts and filled the interior with gravel and sand as a base to retain the heat.

Linda had some salvaged kiln bricks that we alternated with sand.

A level sand base for the bricks that will be the bottom of the oven.

We started the walls with loose bricks . .

. . and used a piece of “door skin” to shape the arc that would hold the adobe.

Linda started the process of making the adobe by smashing clay from dried pieces of rejected pottery, . .

. . mixed it in the pug mill, . .

. . pile it on a plastic sheet with sand . .

. . mix the pile using your feet much like stomping grapes . .

. . wedge it with straw and horse manure (which our two horses are happy to supply) . .

. . make the clay into manageable bricks (Dancer and Cola want to help) . .

. . using the clay bricks, start building the adobe walls.

The walls are 10 to 12 inches thick which helps the oven retain the heat required for cooking longer.

We let the first layer dry, filled the cracks and then add the next layer.

. We put on three layers.

We used chicken wire between the layers for strength and used clay slip to make the clay adhere.

Brushed the last coat on using a pigment for colour.

We built a roof to protect the clay from the rain. Rain tends to wash the adobe away.

The metal roof matches the roofs on the existing buildings.

It takes 4 or 5 hours to heat the walls all the way through so they will retain the heat for the same amount of time.

We usually cook pizza first when the oven is around 600 degrees F.

Potatoes, carrots and chicken when the temperature is between 300 and 400 degrees.

The oven does an excellent job with our Christmas turkey.

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