How to Build Outside Pizza Ovens
Pizza lovers consider baking a pizza in an outdoor oven to be the best method for baking a great pizza. The flavor of a pizza that is baked over a wood fire is earthy and gives the pizza a special taste that can't be replicated with an indoor gas or electric oven. Anyone with a yard, some flat stones, a 30-gallon barrel and some cement can build an outdoor pizza oven that can be used for many years of gourmet pizza baking. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Flat stones
- Cement
- Old barrel, approximately 2 feet by 2 feet, with openings on both ends (a 30-gallon steel drum will work well)
- Shovel
- Rack
Instructions
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Lower Part of the Outdoor Pizza Oven
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1
Gather about 100 flat stones of various widths and heights. Don't gather stones from a river. River stones will crack when the fire is burning.
It's not possible to find all the stones of the same size, but they must all have flat surfaces (top and bottom). This will allow them to be used for building an oven wall--they'll be laid on top of each other.
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2
Dig the foundation for the pizza oven. This must be about 6 inches deep and 4 feet by 4 feet.
Mix cement. Mix dry cement powder (this can be purchased at a home center or hardware store) with water. When it is the consistency of a loose paste, pour it into the foundation hole.
Water the cement as it dries every day for three days. This will help prevent cracking and allow the cement to set firmly.
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3
Build the back and sides of the pizza oven by stacking the stones, one on top of the other. Use the largest stones first. The front of the pizza oven should remain open.
The stones need to be mixed and matched so that the walls end up at the same height, since the stones are of varying height.
Cement the stones together. Put cement on the top of each stone before laying the next layer on top of it. Put cement in between the stones to fill in all the gaps between the stones. This will ensure that the oven is air-tight and allow the pizza to cook evenly.
Don't build more than three layers of stone per day. The cement needs to settle and firm.
Spray the cement with water after each day's building. This will ensure that the cement between the stones doesn't crack.
Build these three walls up to a height of 2 feet.
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4
Check that the barrel or steel drum will fit in between the walls. This drum will touch the oven's walls on all sides when the upper half of the oven's construction begins.
(A 30-gallon steel drum can be located by an Internet search on woodwork or handyman forums.)
Upper Part of the Outdoor Pizza Oven
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5
Place the steel drum into the oven.
Put a large flat stone over the opening of the fourth (open) wall and begin to build up all four walls around the steel drum
Slide the steel drum up so that it is not visible through the bottom opening. Place cement on it so that it will adhere to the stones as they layer around it. The steel drum will be suspended in the middle of the outdoor pizza oven as the stones build around it.
Fill in all gaps between the stones with cement. Spray water on the walls every day after the building.
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6
Put a rack on the top of the steel drum.
The steel drum is a funnel. It will bring up the steam from the fire, lit below, to bake the pizza as it sits on the rack.
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7
Build only the back and side walls up for another 2 feet once the steel drum has been surrounded with stones.
As with the oven's bottom, the front is open.
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8
Put a long flat stone as a bridge over the the front, resting on the two side walls. A 6-inch opening must be open in the back for the chimney.
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9
Collect approximately 20 flat stones approximately 2 inches in diameter. Build up the chimney in the back where the gap was left open. Build the chimney to a height of approximately 12 inches.
Be sure any gaps between the stones are closed with cement. Lay large stones across the remaining gap next to the chimney and close all gaps with cement.
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Tips & Warnings
Before baking a pizza, allow a fire to burn in the outdoor pizza oven for several hours. The heat will "cure" the oven and set the cement. The oven will then be ready to bake pizza.
