casualmusic
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Hi all
A. Does back yard bread baking appeal to you?
Summer heat in some places makes it unpleasant to use the indoor oven in homes without air conditioning.
There is a small revival in back yard baking. City regulations often restrict ovens to charcoal, gas and electricity. Country living may allow wood burning except during brush fire season.
Internet search results in lots of articles, blogs, and videos by home owners, lifestyle publications, and historical reenactment organizations. Some follow 3000 year old patterns. Others are sleek and modern. (A few links are below)
B. Years ago we organized a community party to rebuild an outdoor bread oven at a friend’s Quebec family farm.
It was the latest of many replacements for the original oven, and reused the 200 year old cast iron door and door frame.
We referred to the book Quebec Bread Ovens c1979 by Blanchette and Boily. Here is an online version. Paper copies are available at online bookstores.
Our friends wanted to restore some historic parts of the farm and celebrate traditional events.
A regular event was baking many loaves of bread, pastry and treats twice weekly to feed 20ish family and helpers.
C. The first step was to set objectives, research the techniques, get supplies, and write out the steps and activities.
On the first weekend we brought in materials and tools, removed sod from the source of clay, cleared brush from the work space, repaired the oven platform, cemented the iron door frame, and set up a picnic and community area.
In the second weekend we built the oven dome.
On Saturday, clay mud was dug and wheelbarrowed to the oven site, chopped straw and water were added, and lotsa kids, teens, and adults stomped out batches of gloopy cob.
A sacrificial lattice framework of green branches and wands was assembled on the platform, and tied to the inside of the the door frame. The framework was tied together with string and covered with newspaper to prevent wet cob from falling through holes.
A ring of muddy cob was built around the lattice framework. More rings were built on top of the first until the dome was covered and packed. Lots of theatrical whacking and splattering.
The dome was scraped even, and smoothed with more wet clay. It was covered with a tarp to dry slowly. The muddy builders got hosed down and cleaned up.
Party activities were picnic meals, visiting, singing, dancing and exploring the farm on Sunday.
A few weeks later the oven door was installed and the dome was hardened, fired, and tested.
A few small fires were used to gradually heat the dome, drive out moisture, and start hardening the clay. It also burned out the sacrificial lattice framework.
On Saturday morning the oven was fired by making a small hot fire at the entrance. The embers were pushed in and another fire started at the entrance. A third fire was started and burned to embers. The door was closed on the massed embers to heat the oven.
In the afternoon the dying embers and ash were scraped out of the oven. The oven floor was cleaned with a damp mop.
Community elders with knowledge of clay ovens advised us to test it with four regular size loaves of bread dough and a couple dozen bun size pieces of dough. Bread was pulled out at intervals to check the time needed for good crust and insides. (These days we would use an oven thermometer to check temperatures over time)
Results were great hot from the oven and at dinner.
On Sunday the dome was whitewashed. The A-frame cover was rebuilt to prevent damage from rain and snow.
D. Here are a few internet links. Search for ‘make mud clay bread oven’ for many many more websites with the right details for you. You can also search ‘clay oven bread recipes’.
en.m.wikipedia.org
leslieland.com
www.instructables.com
clay-works.com
clayoven.wordpress.com
www.traditionaloven.com
www.kingarthurbaking.com
A. Does back yard bread baking appeal to you?
Summer heat in some places makes it unpleasant to use the indoor oven in homes without air conditioning.
There is a small revival in back yard baking. City regulations often restrict ovens to charcoal, gas and electricity. Country living may allow wood burning except during brush fire season.
Internet search results in lots of articles, blogs, and videos by home owners, lifestyle publications, and historical reenactment organizations. Some follow 3000 year old patterns. Others are sleek and modern. (A few links are below)
B. Years ago we organized a community party to rebuild an outdoor bread oven at a friend’s Quebec family farm.
It was the latest of many replacements for the original oven, and reused the 200 year old cast iron door and door frame.
We referred to the book Quebec Bread Ovens c1979 by Blanchette and Boily. Here is an online version. Paper copies are available at online bookstores.
Our friends wanted to restore some historic parts of the farm and celebrate traditional events.
A regular event was baking many loaves of bread, pastry and treats twice weekly to feed 20ish family and helpers.
C. The first step was to set objectives, research the techniques, get supplies, and write out the steps and activities.
On the first weekend we brought in materials and tools, removed sod from the source of clay, cleared brush from the work space, repaired the oven platform, cemented the iron door frame, and set up a picnic and community area.
In the second weekend we built the oven dome.
On Saturday, clay mud was dug and wheelbarrowed to the oven site, chopped straw and water were added, and lotsa kids, teens, and adults stomped out batches of gloopy cob.
A sacrificial lattice framework of green branches and wands was assembled on the platform, and tied to the inside of the the door frame. The framework was tied together with string and covered with newspaper to prevent wet cob from falling through holes.
A ring of muddy cob was built around the lattice framework. More rings were built on top of the first until the dome was covered and packed. Lots of theatrical whacking and splattering.
The dome was scraped even, and smoothed with more wet clay. It was covered with a tarp to dry slowly. The muddy builders got hosed down and cleaned up.
Party activities were picnic meals, visiting, singing, dancing and exploring the farm on Sunday.
A few weeks later the oven door was installed and the dome was hardened, fired, and tested.
A few small fires were used to gradually heat the dome, drive out moisture, and start hardening the clay. It also burned out the sacrificial lattice framework.
On Saturday morning the oven was fired by making a small hot fire at the entrance. The embers were pushed in and another fire started at the entrance. A third fire was started and burned to embers. The door was closed on the massed embers to heat the oven.
In the afternoon the dying embers and ash were scraped out of the oven. The oven floor was cleaned with a damp mop.
Community elders with knowledge of clay ovens advised us to test it with four regular size loaves of bread dough and a couple dozen bun size pieces of dough. Bread was pulled out at intervals to check the time needed for good crust and insides. (These days we would use an oven thermometer to check temperatures over time)
Results were great hot from the oven and at dinner.
On Sunday the dome was whitewashed. The A-frame cover was rebuilt to prevent damage from rain and snow.
D. Here are a few internet links. Search for ‘make mud clay bread oven’ for many many more websites with the right details for you. You can also search ‘clay oven bread recipes’.
Clay oven - Wikipedia
Giving thanks for the bread (oven) – with plans for building a wood fired clay oven of your very own. | Leslie Land - in Kitchen and Garden and all around the House
Giving thanks for the bread (oven) – with plans for building a wood fired clay oven of your very own.
leslieland.com
Build Your Own Earth Oven
Build Your Own Earth Oven: Who doesn't love delicious wood-fired oven pizza? NO ONE. I had a dream of back yard pizza party fun times and began to do some research to make that dream a reality. First, I looked at the materials cost for a brick oven (spoiler alert: they are …
www.instructables.com
Earth Ovens - Clayworks
clay-works.com
Build An Outdoor Bread Oven - AGCO FarmLife
Here’s how to build a wood-fired clay oven and take outdoor cooking to a new level.
myfarmlife.com
1. Building a Clay Oven – The Basics
[PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LINKS TO THE OTHER 7 PARTS OF THIS ‘HOW TO’ CAN BE FOUND ON THE LEFT HAND COLUMN. ALTERNATIVELY JUST CLICK THE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH SECTION TO GO TO THE NEXT…
clayoven.wordpress.com
Earth bread cob oven by the sea
Building our cob mud earth clay wood fired oven by the sea and the first pizza cooked in 2 minutes from this earth cob oven was a great fun. I used to visiting a building site daily to collect all the clay mud mix for the whole oven building. We successfully bake breads and roast meats...
So you want to build a wood-fired oven? Start here.
With so many wood-fired oven options — ranging from thousand-dollar builds to portable tabletop ovens — the first step is deciding which one is right for you.
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So, are you getting to the page okay?
