How to build a pizza oven. Pompeian oven. Wood-burning ovens Pizza Party wood-burning ovens for pizza, bread, Italy Outdoor wood-burning pizza oven

The wood fired pizza oven is domed semi-open hearth.

The device must keep temperatures well over 400 °C, have a stone hearth and provide free air circulation from the bottom to the top inside the chamber for even and fast baking.

Types of wood-fired pizza ovens

Pompeian structures are divided into two types- Neapolitan and Tuscan.

Neapolitan- is different low dome and is intended solely for the preparation of pizza.

At Tuscan variant of the furnace vault tall and round. That allows you to bake not only pizza, but also bread, or cook various dishes on the grill.

Specifications

Common to both types of furnaces are proportions of the entrance arch regarding the furnace dome. The width of the ceiling is equal to the level of the vault along the inner radius, and the height is 60-80% of the height furnace domes. Wherein optimum lower diameter inner chamber is about 1 m. Too wide structures accumulate thermal energy inefficiently, while small ones are inconvenient to use and have low productivity.

A distinctive feature of the Pompeian oven is chimney, located in front and above at the entrance to the arch. It is this device that allows oxygen and combustible gases to actively circulate from the bottom up and ensure uniform and fast baking of products.

The height of the chimney depends on the location. If the wood-burning stove is installed under a canopy, the chimney must extend beyond the roof to avoid smoke.

When installing the structure in open space chimney height may vary within 0.5—1 m.

For heating straw or hardwood firewood is used practically non-smoking when burning:

Alder.
Ash.

Important! Application not allowed pellet, wet and coniferous firewood that emits a lot of soot when burned. This will adversely affect the taste of finished dishes and the general condition of the unit.

Construction scheme

Foundation.
Pedestal.
Tabletop.
Entrance arch.
Dome.
Chimney.

Photo 1. A detailed diagram of the Pompeian pizza oven with explanations and dimensions.

When laying the foundation, it should be borne in mind that the furnace will have weight not less than 700 kg. The base must be strong and even to ensure the durability of the entire structure.

Furnace pedestal is a continuation of the foundation and raises the structure itself to a height of about 1m.

tabletop is a work area. It is laid on a pedestal and is formed on it under the (bottom) of the furnace chamber. Under must be perfectly flat, as the pizza is baked directly on it without any appliances.

Important! The bottom material must be safe in its composition for cooking.

An entrance arch is formed around the bottom and furnace dome in compliance with the proportions of a specific scheme. A rectangular hole is left at the top of the ceiling for connecting a chimney.

Materials for the construction of Italian stoves

The construction chamber is made from fireclay bricks. You can also take firestone. Fireclay is used for the solution sand and clay, cement mixtures are not suitable.

Attention! To form the dome and floor the use of ordinary bricks is not allowed. Otherwise, the chamber will crack, and the masonry will begin to collapse.

Foundation It is a reinforced concrete slab laid on a pillow of sand and gravel.

To build a pedestal on the foundation, ordinary clay bricks or silicate blocks can be used. As a rule, the pedestal has a niche for storing firewood or dishes.

table top can also be made of brick and stone, but it is better if it is monolithic. For this, a ready-made slab is used or a solution is poured into the formwork with reinforcement from the reinforcement. Recommended thickness countertops - 100 mm.

Between the bottom of the oven and its worktop is necessary layer of hydro and thermal insulation to avoid heat loss and destruction. The division is carried out with calcium silicate gaskets, expanded clay filler or perlite sand.

outdoor part The furnace also requires insulation, which consists of several layers:

Heat resistant plaster over brickwork.
Basalt mineral wool.
Decorative moisture resistant finishing with a special mixture, stone, tiles.

chimney pizza ovens perform brick, metal, asbestos in the form of a tube or box.

When building a furnace vault, hinged and radial spherical templates made of plywood, lumber and metal parts. Without stencils, the dome will not turn out to be semicircular.

Important! If the oven is to be installed outdoors, canopy protecting the structure from atmospheric precipitation.

Useful video

A video that shows in detail how and from what materials it is convenient to fold the vault of the Pompeian furnace.

If you are ever going to the homeland of pizza, then know that a truly Italian dish will be served to you in pizzerias with a sign "forno a legna". This means that the pizza is cooked in a wood-fired oven, on flaming logs, at a temperature of at least 400 degrees. Surely, not many have tried this dish, baked in accordance with the long-term traditions of the Italians. And yet, you can do it even at your dacha! Andrey Pavlovets tells how to build a low-budget wood-fired.

The forum member began construction from the foundation and the base for the stove, on which the furnace was supposed to stand.

Then he knocked down the formwork from fiberboard scraps, welded the reinforcement and cast the slab itself. I waited for the concrete to harden, and moved it to a permanent place.

I cut off the already unnecessary carrying eyes with a grinder and began to line them with fireclay bricks under the stove.

There were two options for building the furnace itself: from fireclay bricks and adobe. The first one seemed more expensive and time-consuming, but the structure would dry out faster. Accordingly, it could have been used earlier. On the other hand, three 50-kilogram bags of Cambrian clay cost 360 rubles, for which you could buy only nine fireclay bricks. The dilemma was resolved by the case: when fitting the brick for the hearth, the "grinder" broke. This determined the way of construction.

So that the pizza would not cling to the roughness of the hearth, the members of the forum sanded it, after which he began to sculpt a hemisphere from wet sand. For accuracy, I used a rotating pattern made from scraps of plywood and a window hinge with a pin. With this device, Andrei removed the excess.

When the Easter cake was ready, the member of the forum started pasting the sand with newspapers. Clay, pre-soaked and mixed with a mixer, lay on top of the papier-mâché. Andrei replaced the straw with dried lawn grass. Thus was born the "behemoth", as the house lovingly dubbed the building. But he was going to dry for a very long time. The owner decided to speed up the process by starting to pick sand out from under the clay. This was his mistake: without a sand support, the wet “behemoth” began to sink. But drying went faster. An electric fan placed in the "belly" for several days accelerated the process even more.

Andrey fired the stove a couple of times with newspapers, after which he launched it into a regime fire. Soon, three ruddy samosas with minced lamb were emitting an unprecedented aroma. The next day it was pizza time. She cooked for about five minutes!

After successful tests, the member of the forum wrapped the building with insulation left over from the cassette home stove. A little later, Andrey completed the stove: he welded a frame made of wire rod, on the side - a piece of pipe 25x60 mm (later it will be possible to fix a removable table on it). Then I fixed the grid and sketched the solution. After the first layer had dried, it became easier to work with the solution.

When a table was needed near the stove, Andrey made it by pouring a concrete slab:

Furnace costs: only two bags of clay for 120 rubles and two bags of cement for the slab and foundation. Andrei planned to use the rest of the cement for the outer lining of the furnace. All other materials are used, in particular, the “table” for the stove was laid by the forum member from old bricks left over from alterations of stoves in the house and bathhouse.

The base for the oven can be made from anything. Andrey offers such “free” options: dig in wooden stumps, cement construction waste in an old barrel, in general, use the unnecessary that is lying around on your site.

In winter, the stove warmed up a little longer and cooled down faster. Andrey came to the conclusion that the design needs some changes:

the vault, which sank during drying, must be made higher;
it would be nice to make a pipe not from stainless steel, but from clay with insulation and a casing, and cover the hole with foil and mineral wool, cover it with something like a bowl during rain;
the slab had to be cast at the installation site;
the slab under the stove had to be insulated or filled with concrete with expanded clay;
the stove damper must be made with insulation.

The capabilities of the pizza oven turned out to be much wider than baking "pancakes with filling" alone. To see this, just look at the "delicious" photos of the forum member's culinary exploits. "Begemotik" successfully coped with many tasks: baked samsa and apples, fried sausages, stewed cabbage soup in a five-liter saucepan, made roast lamb, cooked meatloaf with onions and mushrooms. Don't believe? , just do not forget to refresh yourself in advance!

According to the materials of the forum "House and cottage"

Anyone who has tried a real pizza at least once, and not a semi-finished product from a microwave oven, will certainly want to get a pizza oven at home. From the mere sight of the “noble sun”, just taken from the burning hearth, the saliva flows.

However building a pizza oven with your own hands, although quite possible, is quite difficult. At the same time, there are many factory-made home ovens for sale specifically for pizza. And many models allow you to get a ready-made dish that will suit even a rather demanding gourmet, and at a price it will cost no more, if not much cheaper than construction materials alone. Therefore, we will act according to this plan:

We will study the conditions necessary for baking pizza.
We define the criteria by which you need to select the finished model.
Let's move on to the structural features of a homemade oven.

Gas, electricity or wood?

Some connoisseurs say that only a wood-fired pizza oven gives a real product, and this is true. The structure of the wood-burning pizza oven is such (see below) that the combustion of fuel in it is rather sluggish, and only pizza cooked with a little smoke is considered noble.

But there is another point of view. Its supporters, apparently, proceed from the principles of English and Japanese cuisine and believe that in hot pizza, the taste of each of its components should be distinguishable. Simply put, the former believe that the flavor bouquet should develop during baking, while the latter prefer to form it themselves with taste buds. They even say that an electric pizza oven is preferable because does not introduce the slightest additional flavor into the semi-finished product.

We adhere to the first point of view as more democratic: yummy should be yummy for everyone, and what the organs of perception of the taste of the elect actually feel, only they know. Therefore, further emphasis will be placed on wood-burning stoves. A gas oven does not give a haze, and it can give a taste, so we will touch on them in passing, just as the most economical ones.

How is pizza baked?

Pizza baking conditions are simple, but the resulting requirements for the oven are quite strict. Firstly, pizza baking temperature is almost the limit for frying and baking: 350-400 degrees. Below - there will be no real taste, but to give more - the pyrolysis of organic matter will already go on, and the pizza will turn out to be nasty and harmful. Simply put, pizza is baked to the point of burning.

Pizza baking time varies between 1.5-10 minutes depending on the recipe, type of oven and individual characteristics of taste. Here the classification is the same as for steaks (beef steaks):

Just arrived (rare in English) - the cheese was barely melted. Recommended for pizza with salami and olives and other ingredients that are ready to eat on their own.
Quite ready (medium) - the top side of the dough basket and the tips of the pieces protruding above the cheese crust are browned. Preferred in most cases.
Baked thoroughly (well done) - the very tips of the filling begin to burn, and the cheese crust is browned. This is for those who like to crunch. Seafood pizza is never cooked like this.

And the last point - the technological cycle of pizza preparation must be continuous. Not the slightest wisp of cold air until it hits right! And if the door is already open or the baking sheet is removed, you need to serve it as is.

Based on these conditions, it is impossible to bake pizza in the oven, all the same, on a stone or without it. Firstly, the gas stove oven develops a temperature of up to 250 degrees, and this is not enough. Pizza is brought to the desired degree of readiness by changing the exposure time to the heat, not by adjusting the temperature!

In a hob or solid fuel oven, you can heat the oven up to 400 degrees. But there will be no guarantee of temperature stability; in pizza ovens, it is provided either by the design itself or by the control electronics. Finally, who has ever seen an oven with lighting and a self-cleaning glass system? And without them, to check the degree of readiness, you will have to open the door, which is unacceptable. Or the oven on time, and there - as perhaps it will take out.

Purchased ovens

First of all, we will give a list of companies and models whose products have proven themselves well, and you should pay attention to them first of all if you intend to buy a stove:

PrismaFood, MEC, AVA, Forni, Cuppone, Fontana (Italy);
Roller Grill (France);
Bartscher (Germany);
Hendi (Netherlands);
F2Ptse GRILL MASTER, PEP-2, AS TERM - domestic.

As for the Chinese Lacucina, TRENDY, etc., they bake regularly and are convenient to use, and the price is from 2000 rubles. But in most models, the maximum temperature on the regulator is 250 degrees. Maybe there is some analogue of pizza in Chinese cuisine, but for Italian this is definitely not enough.

Household culinary pizza baking equipment can be divided into the following categories:

Home pizza ovens for individual use, two left pos. in fig. - the cheapest. Electric - from 2000 rubles, gas - from 3500 rubles. But they are also the most convenient: in electric ones, a rotating under is visible through the viewing window, and in gas ones, all the pizza is in plain sight. For proper cooking, a thermal reflector is also provided on top, to some extent acting as the arch of a brick oven.
Personal, two right pos. in fig. - these are for those who can at least do something themselves, unless money can buy it. There are also electric and gas, for 1-4 chambers. They are controlled by a built-in microprocessor, so there are no viewing windows. What the stove spat out, then burst. Prices - from 20,000 rubles.

Home family, floor and table, two left pos. on the trail. rice. They are electric and gas. They are supplied with a real hearth or branded stones under the baking sheet and a ceramic or equivalent composite vault. With skillful handling, they give out pizza almost like a real one; a connoisseur, not knowing where it is baked, almost never distinguishes. Price - from 35,000 rubles.
Mini wood-fired pizza ovens, two right pos. Ceramic or composite, a complete replacement for self-building. Models, like a stove with a pipe in Fig., Can also function as. Most of the samples are desktop, optionally equipped with a stand on wheels. The price with delivery for home models is from 42,000 rubles, for all-weather garden models - from 55,000 rubles.

Modular self-assembly ovens - with a total cost of about 30,000 rubles. You can get a completely full-fledged desktop pizza oven. But it is necessary to have the initial skills of a builder, work from half a day, and then accelerate the furnace for 3-4 days to be ready. We will talk more about modular ovens later.

How to build a pizza oven yourself?

A wood-fired oven for pizza must provide all the conditions necessary for its baking:

Create the temperature necessary for the working process.
Maintain it without significant intervention of the stoker, regardless of the type of fuel and external conditions, i.e. be self-regulating.
Provide two counter heat flows in the working area: from bottom to top and from top to bottom; this is the main condition in order to properly bake pizza.
Allow continuous monitoring of the cooking process.

Pompeii stove

The Pompeian pizza oven is considered a classic, most of the modern designs use its principles. By the way, "Pompeian" does not mean at all that ancient Roman patricians ate pizza. The date of baking the first pizza has been preserved in history, this is 1522. And the fact that it was baked in the village of Pompeii, which still stands not far from the location of the Roman city destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius, is pure coincidence. Pompeii in the 16th century only vague legends have survived of that long-standing catastrophe.

The Pompeian oven is a domed hearth oven. In its working area, two streams of hot gases meet: convective from the bottom, and reflected from under the dome. The Pompeian stove is fired black, so it is self-regulating: if the fuel gets too hot, the flow of exhaust gases at the mouth will squeeze down the influx of fresh air that carries oxygen. The combustion will weaken, there will be less flue gases. Then they will press against the top of the vault, more fresh air will come in, the burning will intensify, and the cycle repeats all the time.

The Pompeian oven is either made of adobe. The stages of building a brick kiln are shown in fig:

On a stone slab foundation or a natural stone foundation, they lay out a plinth brick under it, and around it there is a side-pedestal of a dome with an arch;
After the masonry dries, a dome model (block) is molded on the floor from slightly moistened and densely packed loess earth;
A dome is laid out on a blockhead;
The top of the dome is closed with a lock of 2-4 shaped or hewn bricks;
After the masonry dries, the stuffing of the boob is picked out, the vault is cleaned from the inside with a metal brush;
The furnace is “dispersed”, prepared for work by test fires. How - let's talk further.

We will also talk in more detail about the methods of closing the vault. Indicated in fig. the dimensions of the oven are “family”, for one pizza for four. The adobe oven is built in the same general way, see fig. on the right, but with two differences. First, it is not loess that goes to the blockhead, it will tightly grab the length, but moistened coarse-grained sand. It is impossible to build a brick dome on sand, bricks have to be hammered in and pushed into place all the time, see below. The second - after the clay dries, the adobe vault, before removing the blockhead, is covered with lime plaster with marble chips for greater strength and weather protection.

An adobe stove is not a stove for the poor at all, it costs much more and serves several times less than a brick one. But “real noble pizza”, they say, is obtained only in an adobe oven, dispersed by straw. Pope Alexander VI Borgia (“The most perfect incarnation of the devil in human form,” according to Machiavelli) even demanded that his pizza oven be fired only with rice straw.

Better climate...

In our area and in our time, a real Pompeian oven cannot be built. First, let us recall the remark of Peter I to the architect Rastrelli, who showed the tsar the project of the Winter Palace: “You, brother, make the windows smaller. After all, our climate is not Italian.” Those., a pizza oven in Russia must have additional thermal insulation on all sides. Otherwise, instead of self-regulation of combustion, such a fumes and soot will go, that where is the smoking hut.

Next, the base. There are few natural outcrops of hard rocks on the surface in the Russian Federation, as well as deposits of high-quality building stone; however, they are also largely developed in Italy. Therefore, a concrete slab is needed under the stove, on a stand or a clay-crushed stone pillow. But concrete, with constant heating from the hearth, will last less than a furnace, so the thermal insulation from below needs to be reinforced.

The third nuance is the chimney. The thermal inertia of the new furnace will be greater than the classic one, and without additional thrust, it will simply never enter the mode and will not warm up as it should. But it is impossible to build a chimney on the dome, the circulation of gases will be disturbed. Then we will take the chimney to the arch, where it will pull up the flue gases as it should be.

The next moment is under. Plinth is not in use now, and laying it on concrete is undesirable for many reasons. It remains chamotte. But it has a TEC (temperature coefficient of expansion) much greater than that of ceramics. Therefore, it is necessary to lay out the “herringbone” under (see Fig.), Providing a complete dressing of the seams in a row.

Finally, the blockhead of the vault. We have no loess at all, and good building sand does not roll around underfoot and is not cheap. In addition, to lay out the arch on the blockhead, a skilled apprentice is needed, quickly cutting bricks in the course of work, otherwise it will take time to build the furnace, which will take time on the dome of the Cathedral of St. Peter. And about 600 kg of sand will go to the family stove, which needs to be unloaded, molded, and then picked out and taken out. In the 16th century, the masters had teenage apprentices who, for grub and clothes, were obliged to perform any work they could do. Now social relations are not the same. That is, the vault must be laid out in circles.

Russia - Italy

If you look from the point of view of heat engineering and structural mechanics, what we have now done, we will see ... a Russian stove with a rounded crucible (see the figure below)! No wonder, the need for fiction is cunning everywhere. Has the oven gotten worse? Not at all, everything you need to bake a pizza, it provides. And besides, it will be possible to bake bread in it in a completely Russian way, cook cabbage soup and cook kulebyaki-porridge. So let's figure out how to build such a furnace.

Base

Under the base of the furnace on the ground, a concrete slab foundation is needed (it can be made from a finished slab) with a thickness of at least 70 mm on a clay-crushed stone pillow, as under. If the stove is on legs, a flat stove of any material will do. The thicknesses of wood boards are:

MDF or waterproof plywood - from 60 mm.
Fiberboard, chipboard - from 80 mm.
Lumber - from 120 mm, in two layers of intersecting beams of 60x60 mm.

A waterproofing of 2 layers of roofing material is laid on the slab. Modern "isols" are good, but in this case, the roofing material under the weight of the structure will firmly stick to the slab and moisture from the sides will not seep under it.

A layer of aerated concrete blocks 60 mm thick is laid on the insulation, these are wall blocks of the smallest standard size, 200x300x60 mm. The density of the blocks should be taken less, so the thermal insulation will be better and it will come out cheaper. It is denoted by the letter D or D with a number, for example. D400, D500. Blocks should not be placed on the solution, but on the glue for aerated concrete. It will cost a little more, but then the stove will definitely not leave the base.

Next, a second layer of insulation, asbestos or, better, vermiculite (slab, not expanded) is laid on the substrate on the same glue. Asbestos needs 15-20 mm, vermiculite - 4-5 mm. A galvanized sheet with sides bent down so as to cover the porous material to aerated concrete is laid on the thermal insulation. Then a sheet of basalt cardboard, soaked in very liquid (“milk”), is placed on the iron, and a furnace is already built on it.

Solutions

Masonry is carried out on a solution of fireclay marl and fireclay sand, approximately 1: 1. Fireclay sand - ground battle of fireclay bricks. Powdered marl is first poured with water in a bucket to the top of the filling, allowed to “sour” for an hour and a half, then kneaded until the density of sour cream, in which the spoon stands, add sand and knead again.

When laying the dome, you will have to give the maximum allowable divergence of seams, 17 degrees, or even exceed it. Therefore, the masonry mortar needs the highest fat content: it should not flow flat from the trowel, and if it is turned with its nose down, it should fall off as a whole lump, leaving pure metal.

For laying on a “super-fat” mortar, fireclay bricks must also be moistened, otherwise it will absorb water from the mortar too quickly and the masonry will turn out to be fragile. Before wetting, each brick is swept - dust is swept from it with a hair brush. "Bath" each separately in clean water immediately before laying. After taking it out of the water, shake it vigorously several times and immediately put it back in place.

The solution for thermal insulation of the dome is made more liquid, the density of the cream, and 4-5 parts of fluffed asbestos or vermiculite chips are added to it. For decorative finishing, if it is supposed, the oven is plastered with heat-resistant plaster on vermiculite after acceleration.

Construction

The main stages of laying the furnace are shown in fig. Almost the entire structure of the furnace, except for the 1st row of masonry of the dome, is built from halves or smaller fractions of bricks. The dome is laid out, as already mentioned, in circles. More precisely - along the semicircles, pos. 1 in fig. They are made from any suitable material: pipes, plywood, boards, dense foam.

The circles should fit snugly into the cutouts of the plywood retainer, but not tight. When building under masonry pressure, the entire template will hold firmly, and upon completion of construction, it will be enough to pick up the “blamba” so that the circles themselves hit. Just make sure that you don’t hurt yourself, you’ll have to climb into the oven with your head and hands.

The furnace is small, its design is loaded weakly. Therefore, the 1st row of masonry is made in the forbidden SNiP way - a “soldier”, from two belts of full-sized bricks placed upright on a poke with dressing of the seams between the belts, pos. 2. The next 5-6 rows are laid out from halves; to withstand the seams, they insert supports and wedges from brick fragments, ibid., pos. 2.

A whole number of halves in a row, of course, will not work, so each row will have to be closed with a hewn wedge, pos. 4. When laying, you need to make sure that the locks of the rows do not fall one above the other, but run at least 1/5 of the row apart.

The internal seams with this method of masonry will become wider as it grows, pos. 3. Therefore, already from the 6-7th row, you will have to switch to non-standard thirds of the brick, and next to two above - to the quarters, pos. . The wedges and locks of the rows will now no longer enter the seam completely, also pos. 5. They are left as is until the masonry dries, and then cut off with a grinder.

For amateur craftsmen, an irregularly shaped hole remains on the top of the dome, pos. 6. It is usually plugged with somehow picked up fragments of brick, pos. 7, but this cannot be done, over time a crack will creep from the top of the dome. Experienced stove-makers close the dome with at least 2 (pos. 8), and for large domes - with a large number of unequal rounded wedges.

It is difficult for a do-it-yourselfer to remove the dome with such accuracy, so another way can be recommended: lay a few hewn bricks until a very small hole remains (pos. 10), and close it with masonry mortar. The very center of the dome is still not loaded. If the masonry converged more or less evenly, then you can buy a shaped lock of the vault of fireclay, pos. 9. Then the vault will stand for centuries.

Chimney

Pay attention again to pos. 1. Rectangular opening in the vault of the arch - under the chimney. It is laid out, or a finished pipe is installed, after the dome masonry has dried, but before its thermal insulation.

Dome thermal insulation

After the masonry has dried (at least 7 days under a canopy so that it does not splash with rain), the circles are removed and external thermal insulation is applied from the solution described above. It is applied in several layers with intermediate drying, the total thickness is not less than 60 mm. The thickness of one layer is 12-15 mm. At the top of the dome, from where the solution does not drain, you cannot make a layer thicker, they must be of equal thickness.

Furnace acceleration

After the dome insulation has dried (this is another 1-2 weeks), you can accelerate the oven. This will require at least 5-6 trial runs with an interval of a day. The first is 1.5 kg of newspapers (not recommended due to the absorption of ink fumes by the oven) or 2.5 kg of straw. For the next firebox, an additional 0.5 kg of wood chips or pellets is added. The third - 3-4 kg of chips or 2-2.5 kg of pellets. The fourth is a small, completely dry log or a number of pellets equal in weight to it. The rest - adds each time a log or a portion of pellets.

Protection and finishing

If the stove is outdoor, then it must be under a canopy, "because our climate is not Italian." In this case, it must be plastered in 2 layers: the first - heat-resistant plaster on vermiculite, 6-12 mm, and on it, after complete drying - moisture-resistant external plaster 2-4 mm, maybe decorative.

Video: the process of building the Pompeii oven

How to bake?

Professional ovens (see below) are heated continuously or with short breaks. The family, described above, must be started to disperse for baking at least 1.5 hours in advance, gradually adding firewood. Noble pizza is baked only on olive wood, cherry, alder, apple and other fruit trees will go into their oven. Remember these points:

It is impossible to bake on pellets, they are only suitable for overclocking the oven.
The taste of pizza depends on the type of firewood, so burning with coniferous firewood and waste fuel is unacceptable.
Just as it is undesirable to change the type of tobacco for a good smoking pipe, it is best to heat a pizza oven with the same firewood.
Before changing the type of firewood, if necessary, it is necessary to heat the stove with straw for at least half an hour, and then let it fire with new firewood of double duration.

Professional oven

The oven described is good, but simplified. It is suitable for a picnic, but it is difficult to bake pizza after pizza one-on-one in it. In addition, a professional oven should be larger, with a diameter of the working area of the hearth from 1 m. From this, the following design features follow, see Fig.:

Effective thermal and waterproofing under the foundation with a distance of at least 1 m to the sides so that extraneous fumes do not enter the furnace.
Due to the large weight, the furnace is carried out on trenches that transfer its weight to the base.
To maintain the desired temperature and circulation of gases in a large chamber, some air flow from behind is necessary, for which an air duct is provided.
The dome is double with intermediate thermal insulation, for the same purpose.
The chimney is equipped with a chimney, which regulates draft depending on the type of fuel, outside temperature and, most importantly, the discretion of the chef.

More about mini ovens

The author of the article was once invited to a pizza picnic. And there, as it turned out, there was no special oven at all. The hostess and her friends were in full confidence that the pizza was fried on coals in a frying pan. How to be?

Among the dishes were 3 glazed earthenware dishes, two identical large ones and one smaller one. I had to brainstorm and even poke my finger into the calculator to determine when the pizza would arrive. Then the workpiece was placed on a smaller dish, it was placed in a large one and covered with another. In the meantime, the fire burned down to coals, they were raked, they put an impromptu stove on the fire and covered them with coals.

After the calculated time (heating inside from 300 to 400 degrees for 5-6 minutes), the pizza was removed and eaten. It turned out so-so, warmed up to 300 degrees for a long time. But for the ladies it turned out to be a revelation, they were not even offended and took note.

And after some time, the “inventor” was surprised to learn from them that such a mini-pizza oven, it turns out, has long been mass-produced by Earthfire in South Africa, see fig. It costs a lot on sale, about 2000 rubles, and requires a fairly high culinary skill. However, it is completely non-volatile and will come in handy at a pizza picnic.

About modular ovens

On sale there are kits for the quick construction of small adobe pizza ovens. The kit includes a set of ceramic modules and their binding solution. A pedestal with thermal insulation and thermal insulation of the dome must be done by yourself. How to assemble such furnaces is generally shown in the figure, detailed instructions are always attached. The cost of a kit with the cost of additional materials, as a rule, does not exceed that for materials for self-building, and for those who want to try pizza from the adobe oven, this is the only real opportunity to do it.

What do you need to prepare the most famous Italian dish? A good cook, certain ingredients and a special wood-fired pizza oven. With knowledge of the features and construction technology, this type of furnace can take its rightful place on your site.

Pompeian (Italian) oven, used for cooking various foods (including pizza), baking bread, roasting meat dishes. However, this type of stove is not used as a heating element of the premises.

A feature of Pompeian food is fast heating and a long time of keeping warm. Typically, such ovens are considered an outdoor option for cooking wood-fired pizza. The exterior of the Pompeian oven can be adapted to many landscape design options.

Making such a stove with your own hands is not so difficult as it might seem at first glance.

To know where to start building, you need to understand the structure of the Pompeian oven.

Essential elements:

base (foundation);
a reinforced concrete slab that plays the role of a stand for the oven itself and a place for cooking;
refractory brick dome;
the bottom of the oven, on which the fire is initially kindled, and the cooking process is underway;
flue pipe. It is installed above the entrance arch, which distinguishes the Pompeian oven from other types of ovens;
arch;
housing from the outside;
thermal insulation layer.

The main advantage over the Russian oven is considered to be a quick warm-up. In the Pompeian oven, you can start cooking 30-40 minutes after the start of heating.

Materials needed to build the Pompeian oven

Before starting construction, it is important to purchase the necessary tools and material, no matter what is distracted from the process itself.

Construction Materials:

refractory brick (fireclay) - the main component;
mortar for laying furnaces;
edged board for creating formwork;
thermal insulation (mineral wool);
sheben, sand and cement for the foundation;
metal rods with a cross section of not more than 10 mm;
waterproofing (polyethylene, roofing material);
insulation;
ceramic brick (for the construction of the entrance arch);
foam blocks or concrete blocks (to support the pedestal).

Tools:

shovel and bayonet shovels;
solution container;
drill with a special whisk for mixing the solution;
construction tape measure and level;
spatula and trowel;
hammer, saw and nails (formwork);
grinder large or small (for cutting metal rods).

Pompeian oven masonry

After acquiring all the necessary materials and tools, you can begin construction.

Before laying, it is necessary to pour the base, make a stand and a reinforced concrete slab (countertop).

Foundation

First of all, you need to decide on the size of the furnace and mark the place for the foundation.

The base should be at least 10 cm larger than the stove itself. Next, you need to dig a hole. The optimal depth is about 40 cm. After that, make a formwork, put waterproofing and you can pour the solution. After filling with a solution, it is necessary to level the top layer of the base and check the level. The surface must be even. Allow the cement to harden for at least 4 weeks.

Table stand

The next step is the construction of a stand under the countertop (pedestal). When the base is completely dry, you can start laying. The pedestal can be made from foam blocks, cinder blocks, concrete blocks. The shape of the stand may be different. Square, only two walls, the letter P, the letter H. The latter option is considered the most appropriate, since there is an additional central support. When laying blocks, it is necessary to constantly check the horizontal and vertical with the building level. The height of the pedestal is made depending on the further convenience when using the stove.

tabletop

The tabletop is a reinforced concrete slab, poured directly on the pedestal. To do this, you need to make a formwork. For the bottom of the formwork, it is better to choose moisture-resistant plywood. Lay additional waterproofing on the bottom. After that, you need to make a reinforcing mesh of metal rods. Fix it in the formwork at a height of 5 cm from the plywood.
The optimal thickness of the countertop is from 10 to 20 cm.

After filling with a solution, it is required to level the surface and check the level. When these steps are completed, you need to cover the reinforced concrete slab with polyethylene and let it dry for 3 weeks.

According to the structure of the dome, Pompeian ovens are divided into: Neapolitan and Tuscan.

The Neapolitan oven is designed purely for cooking pizza. The structure of such a furnace is distinguished by a small vault, the size of which is almost equal to the height of the dome.
The Tuscan oven has a more versatile purpose. Due to the high vault in this type of oven, you can cook various dishes.

Before starting the laying of the first rows, it is necessary to make under. It is made of refractory bricks and mortar for laying furnaces. Fireclay bricks are laid out without mortar on the stove, the size of the furnace and the entrance arch are marked on it. After that, the necessary bricks are cut to obtain the desired shape.

Before laying the hearth on the mortar, a heat-insulating layer (calcium silicate board) must be laid between the fireclay bricks and the countertop. After that, you can lay it out yourself under the prepared brick.

After that, it is necessary to determine where the entrance to the furnace will be and lay out the so-called entrance side. Next, you need to determine the boundaries of the arch and in these places lay the bricks on the mortar.

The next step is laying the side of the furnace itself. This will be the base of the dome. Next, the second row is laid.

Construction of the entrance arch

The width of the entrance arch should correspond to the height of the dome. This rule must always be observed regardless of the chosen dimensions of the furnace.

It is easiest to build an entrance arch using a wooden template. The template can be made from two pieces of plywood and wooden blocks.

If a large diameter is chosen during the construction of the furnace, then the size of the arch should not exceed the distance from the hearth to the top of the dome. In a small oven, everything depends on convenience. For example, a pizza shovel should pass through the entrance space freely.

After calculating the size and creating a template, you can start laying bricks. A brick is laid on the template. In order to fix them in the desired position before the mortar hardens, you can use various gaskets, pieces of wood, wedges that are inserted into the space between the bricks.

At the end of the manufacture of the arch, you can start laying the remaining rows of the dome.

Ordering:

During the masonry process, you can use a special device for the correct shape of the dome. It can be a hinged arm, or a homemade fixture made of plywood and wooden blocks. Here's what these tools look like:

Rows begin to be laid from the arch in both directions. Each row must be moved to the side, in order to avoid the formation of vertical cracks along the seams.

To round off the top of the dome, you need to properly chop or file the bricks. The same must be done, bypassing the arch.

Also, to facilitate the task, for the construction of the dome, you can use ready-made wooden frames, on the basis of which the bricks are laid out.

outer arch

The outer arch should be wider than the inner one. You can build an external arch in the same way as an internal one, only the template should be 3-5 cm larger.

Another feature of the outer arch is the presence of a hole for the chimney. The hole must be rectangular.

Chimney installation

The appearance of the chimney is chosen at will.
You can lay out a chimney from refractory bricks, make a galvanized box, use ceramic or metal coated with mortar.

The dimensions of the pipe depend on the location of the furnace and the required draft.
After the installation of the chimney is completed, its surface must be covered with a layer of clay mixed with fireclay sand.

Drying kiln

After the solution has dried, it is necessary to fire the furnace. This process will prepare the furnace for further operation.

The first kindling should be carried out only with straw. During the second, you need to add small branches and wood chips. On the third kindling, the straw can be removed completely and replaced with wood chips or thin branches. On the fourth kindling, you can lay down whole logs. The next time you need to increase the amount of solid fuel.

Both during drying and during further operation, it is recommended not to use coniferous trees for kindling. This will negatively affect the taste of your dishes and the further use of the oven. The best fuel options are fruit trees, especially cherries.

Thermal insulation of the Pompeian oven

After a properly carried out firing process, a decent thermal insulation of the furnace is necessary. This is necessary to evenly heat the food and achieve maximum temperature inside the oven.

Mineral wool, reinforcing mesh, aluminum foil and cement-perlite mortar are used for insulation.

The first step is to cut the mineral wool in the shape of the furnace. After that, the mineral wool is fixed to the furnace with the help of refractory mastic. The next layer is aluminum foil. This is not a mandatory layer, however, it will increase efficiency.

After the foil, you can tie the furnace with a metal mesh or wire.
When the reinforcement is completed, you can proceed to the last layer. A layer of cement mixed with perlite is applied to the furnace.
Furnace insulation is ready.

Exterior finish

After the complete hardening of the heat-insulating layer, you can proceed to the external design of the furnace. In connection with the outdoor location of the stove on wood, it is necessary to take care of the moisture-repellent layer. In this case, you can use one layer of heat-resistant plaster, and apply moisture-resistant plaster with the next layer. After that, you can choose the finishing material.

At this stage, everything depends on the personal desire of the owner. Facing bricks and tiled mosaics are excellent materials for this.

In a properly assembled Pompeii oven, you can cook dishes no worse than in real Italian pizzerias in compliance with all technologies.

Pizza honestly won the right to have the status of a favorite dish served in specially created establishments - pizzerias. It has evolved from a fast-food staple to a full-fledged lunch or dinner staple.

Today, pizza is prepared not only in an Italian restaurant, semi-finished products are easy to find in a store or cafe. But since everyone considers himself a true connoisseur of natural Italian cuisine, preference is given to establishments that use the word "Real" in the slogan. At the same time, many people argue that if you build a wood-fired pizza oven, then you can easily make the most real pizza yourself.

Original oven for working with Italian cuisine

What is real pizza

Nowadays, pizza has become popular in many countries. Each contributed to the creation of the recipe, so such varieties as American pizza, French pizza are known. Italy is considered the birthplace of this masterpiece.

There is no single history of the creation of the recipe, since the prototype was created back in the Middle Ages, but the most amusing version is that it is indicated that pizza was invented by contemporaries in order to “empty” the refrigerator.

On a flat cake made of unleavened dough, products were laid out that had been lying on the shelves of the refrigerator for quite a long time, these were cheese, salami, mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes. Naturally, with such an approach, there can be no real single recipe. This explains the variety of types of pizza, which differ in composition.

Pizza making process

Cooking equipment

With all the variety of pizza recipes, there is one common requirement. Its baking should take place for a short time, but at a sufficiently high temperature. A conventional oven will not cope with this task, since its limit is limited to 300 degrees, and about 400 degrees are required.

It is quite possible to cook pizza on your own right at home, and there is no need to build a special oven. Purchased ready-made models of brands such as PrismaFood, AVA, Roller Grill, Hendi are designed for baking. They differ in technical characteristics, visibility, dimensions and fuel consumption. Gas pizza oven, convenient for home, due to easy installation, low cost operation, small size.