How to Make a Wood Fire Oven

Creating a wood-fired oven is a project that takes patience and time, but is relatively easy to complete. This oven, which is placed outside, is capable of harnessing the heat of a burning fire to cook your favorite foods. While wood-fired ovens are most often used for homemade pizza, the oven is capable of cooking a vast quantity and array of meals. Once you learn the technique to creating an oven, you can build one with relative ease.

Wood pallet
Red bricks
Sand
Newspaper
Water
Clay
Utility knife

Instructions

- 1
  Place the wood pallet onto a flat surface outdoors where you want the oven to be.
- 2
  Arrange the bricks in a single layer of vertical columns to cover the entire surface of the wooden pallet completely and evenly.
- 3
  Take the sand and moisten it so that it is easily molded. Form a mound of sand in the shape of a hemisphere to act as the support for the clay dome. The size of this hemisphere will dictate the size of your dome.
- 4
  Moisten newspaper and lay sheets of it over the sand mound.
- 5
  Mold chunks of clay onto the surface of the sand mound starting from the bottom and working to the top. Begin with the first piece at the base, and add a second piece adjoining it until you have a layer of clay all the way around the base. Add a second level of clay on top of the base level. Continue adding levels of clay until you reach the apex of the mound. Be sure to place the clay gently onto the mound so as to not deform it. Aim for a layer of clay that is approximately 3 inches thick.
- 6
  Connect the pieces of clay by molding them together with moistened hands. Continue molding the clay pieces until there are no visible seams and the exterior looks as if it is one piece of clay. Allow the clay to air dry for two hours.
- 7
  Cut into the clay structure with a utility knife to create an arched opening at the front of the dome. The top of the arch should be precisely two-thirds of the way up the dome to ensure air-flow during cooking.
- 8
  Pull out all of the sand and newspaper through the arched opening.
- 9
  Apply a small amount of moist clay onto any cracks that appear in the exterior clay surface. Mold the clay into the cracks with moistened fingers and smooth down with your hands so that the clay surface is even.
- 10
  Let the clay oven dry completely for one full week before creating the wood fire inside.

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