How to Build a Traditional Pizza Oven

Make fresh pizza with a clay outdoor pizza oven.

People just can't get enough of pizza. With a homemade pizza oven, however, you could stop ordering out and star creating delicious pies right in your own backyard. A clay pizza oven is not only easy to make, it also creates delicious wood-fired pizza with no problem. With the proper steps, you can put together your very own pizza oven and begin making pizzas in just a week's time.

Things You'll Need

• Wood pallet
• Bricks
• Sand
• Newspaper
• Water
• Clay
• Utility knife

Instructions

1. Set up the wooden pallet on the ground outdoors so that it is leveled and away from shrubbery or plants.

2. Place a single layer of red brick on top of the pallet so that there is no wood exposed. Your will build your oven on top of this surface.

3. Wet the sand with water so that it is damp and easily molded. Form a hemisphere-like shape with the sand on top of the bricks. This will serve as the support structure while you build the clay exterior.

4. Damp a few sheets of newspaper and lay them over the sand to cover the hemisphere.

5. Mold a 3-inch layer of clay over the sand and newspaper structure. Be sure that there are no seams in the clay exterior. Any seams should be molded together with your fingers. Allow the clay to partially dry for three hours before continuing.

6. Cut an arched opening in the structure with a utility knife. The peak of the arch should reach precisely 2/3 of the way up the dome.

7. Pull all sand and newspaper out of the inside of the clay dome. Allow the clay to set properly for a full week before using the pizza oven.

References

• Thoughtful Bread Company: Build Your Own Clay Oven