Forum / Plans for wood burning pizza oven

Ymullaji

Pizza oven refers to an oven or a stove in modern terms, in which a pizza is baked. Baking requires heat which may be created by using different fuels, and when wood is used as fuels the oven is termed as wood burning pizza oven. A wood burning pizza oven could be constructed for one’s backyard or within the house itself. An average size wood burning pizza oven measures 35x39 or 39x35 inches, but if one desires to build such an oven for one’s restaurant the oven dimension could be 5ftx6ft or even more.

One can plan to build an oven with igloo round dome or a rectangular floor dome. People’s concerns regarding the design of dome relate to it being easy to build, hold heat longer, heats up speedily, lasts long, and is economical to fire. Next, one can use refractory mortar or building mortar to build the oven, but refractory mortar should be used only sparingly in cases where firebrick joint is not possible. The building mortar should be prepared by mixing sand, Portland cement and lime in the proportion 6:1:1, and in case lime is not used the proportion of sand and cement should correspond to 4:1. Talking about concrete cladding, it should be at least 2 inches thick layer used over the firebrick dome whatever its style. Besides being economical, concrete oven cladding is easy to do, and that also speedily.

The oven to be all the more economical and efficient, one needs to use refractory insulation. The heat generated by wood burning goes up, so the insulation is used to prevent loss of heat energy through the top or the sides. Insulation which can be done by using a variety of materials also prevents heating up of the outer decorative wall of the wood burning pizza oven. The preference should be for a brick dome which is casted, and not a prefabricated one. It is imperative to have symmetry in the dome’s internal height and the entry dome height, and the right dimensions of entry door height and vault height should be 10 inches and 16 inches respectively.

A wood burning pizza oven made of bricks utilizes only 75% het energy in the baking of pizzas while 25% escapes through the chimney. An oven with cladding can be used for 5 hours for baking after it is wood fired once. The thickness of walls should not be a cause for concern if the oven is intended for the baking of pizza only. A firebrick heating stove having a drought labyrinth uses 90% of the energy produced by the wood fire, and only 10% is wasted; it is the wonder of technology.

The construction of one such oven is possible by an individual based on his vision whether it is a small or a big oven, whatever the shape of the dome, with or without a chimney, or a magnificent outer wall decoration. It is simple, straight, and easy; and does not require any technical competence.