How to Build Your Own Wood Burning Oven

Make a wood burning oven.

A wood burning oven is a popular method for cooking pizza, bread and other foods. While typically crafted by professionals, a wood burning oven is a project you can complete in your backyard. Assemble the oven properly from basic materials, and enjoy its benefits at your home.

Things You'll Need

• Wood pallet
• Red bricks
• Sand
• Newspaper
• Water
• Clay
• Utility knife

Instructions

1. Position a wood pallet on an even surface outdoors where the oven will permanently rest.

2. Place one layer of red bricks on top of the pallet in vertical rows.

3. Moisten a batch of sand, and mold it into a hemisphere with your hands. This hemisphere will serve as the support structure when you construct the clay dome.

4. Moisten sheets of newspaper, and layer them in two-sheet thickness over the sand hemisphere.

5. Attach pieces of clay to the hemisphere to form one coherent exterior dome. Moisten your fingers and the clay slightly to make molding the joints together easier. Be sure that the thickness of the clay is at least three inches. Allow the clay to dry for three hours before making the opening.

6. Cut an opening into the clay with a utility knife. Make sure that the height of the arched opening reaches 2/3 of the way up the dome.

7. Reach into the opening, and pull out all of the sand. Allow the clay oven to dry fully for one whole week. After it is completely dry, you can start your first wood fire inside of it.

References

• Thoughtful Bread Company: Build Your Own Clay Oven