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Components:
Dealers Masonry Bake Ovens |
Building the 36" Superior Clay Oven
1) Build masonry base at least 52" wide by 64" deep, and 38" high for a finished oven floor 42" above the kitchen floor or ground.
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3) Lay out a 36" circle on oven floor and set the entrance tunnel and five base sections using HeatStop II refractory mortar. |
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4) Set the oven dome on top of the base sections in HeatStop II refractory mortar. 5) Parge entire oven with insulating castable refractory at least 2" thick. |
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6) If the oven is associated with a cooking fireplace or is part of a larger chimney mass, brick can be laid directly on the insulating concrete. If the oven is to stand alone it can be stuccoed, plastered or finished with any non-combustible masonry material such as tile, brick or stone.
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7) The 4"x8" flue liner should be enclosed within a chimney with walls at least 4" thick of solid masonry. If the chimney is inside a house it must conform to all applicable codes dealing with clearance to combustibles and height above the roof. If the oven is outside the flue need only be enclosed in masonry as high as is desired and clear of combustibles. 8) A door-without-a-hinge or entrance cover for the oven entrance is provided. It can be propped up slightly (to provide combustion air) at the outside of the entrance when a fire is burning in the oven and can be pushed in farther against the seat in the tunnel to close off the flue to keep the oven warm longer after the fire has burned out. |
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Cooking in a Black Oven (thermometer recommended) The Superior Clay Oven is a "black oven" meaning that it is heated by building a fire in the oven itself. Some foods, such as pizzas, cook fast in a hot oven - three minutes at about 700 degrees F - and are cooked in the oven while the fire is still burning. When ready to cook throw some corn meal on the oven floor and bake right on the hot firebrick. The oven door can be placed near the outside of the entrance to keep the oven hot and not so far in as to block the flue while the fire is still burning. French bread is traditionally baked in a periodic oven with a moist atmosphere and declining temperature. Get the oven up to about 400 degrees F. Rake out the fire and mop the hearth with a wet towel. Load the oven with enough bread to fill the oven to keep the moisture high. Push the oven door all the way in past the flue entrance to seal in the moist heat until the bread is baked. Meats and roasts can also be seared and roasted in a periodic oven with declining temperature after the fire has been raked out. The oven can be used as a smoker by keeping the temperature low, using the right wood and maybe a pan of liquid, depending on the recipe. And, of course, the oven is a great place to warm plates as it continues to cool. 
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Building Fires At first, at least 24 hours after building the oven, build a small fire to break in the oven. Try to build up the temperature inside the oven at a rate of 50 degrees F per hour up to about 500 degrees F. The break-in fire will drive out any moisture, cure the refractory mortar and minimize the chance of damaging the oven.
 Graphic courtesy Alan Scott
To build a fire start with a small kindling fire in the front of the oven under the flue. Add wood when the fire is burning well, and gradually move the fire back into the oven. Use the oven door (when you are not adding wood) placed out near the front of the entrance tunnel to keep heat in the oven but not block the flue while the fire is burning. Enjoy! |
(Special note: The dome of the brick oven is likely to crack. Cracking of the dome is not structurally hazardous, and is neccesary for natural expansion and contraction of the masonry dome, which will occur during extreme heat fluxuations.) |
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Building Fires and Cooking in Your Superior Clay Bake Oven
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