It's recommended to first test your soil before jumping-in to a bigger project, so that's what this is about. As you can see from the first picture, about 6 inches down from the surface I've got a large layer of clay (actually because of the water that filled in you can't really see it). The book by Kiko talks about how the majority of soil needs "amending" - adding sand, even rough concrete to get the proper consistency. Well, I have no sand, or any money to buy sand - so I'm going to see what I get from the clay that's in abundance in my back yard.
Picture 2 shows the formed oven. I first layed down 2 solid concrete blocks, then stole enough sand from my grandaughters sand box to form a hump on top of the blocks. I wasn't too particular or precise on any of this, but I did try to leave about 2 inches from the edges of the block. If the structure holds - I'll get an idea of heat retention.
Over the mound of sand I draped wet newspaper (you can see some where the door has been carved out). This provides a type of slip-joint between the clay and sand, and gives me an indicator that I've gone far enough as I'm scooping out the sand.
Had this been a larger oven I planned to use for awhile, I would have extended the door out a little bit, which helps in creating draft for the fire built inside. Both in brick-oven building and these earth ovens, door size is very important. In all the books I have, mathematical formulas are given to determine the size of the door based on the measurements of the oven.
Hopefully with the sun out today, it will be dry enough either this evening or by tomorrow to start building small fires in it. This will cure it. Obviously it's too small for baking loaves of bread, although I could get some rolls in there. The problem though is I don't think I want to bake on concrete, and I didn't have any bricks lying around - - - and fire bricks at that. All I'm really concerned with is how the clay cures and holds up after being fired. If all goes well, it won't be long untill we're enjoying some earth oven pizza's and breads!
In Kiko's book, he talks about building one of these ovens for his wife, a chef and caterer, that she used at an outdoor festival. For 3 days they baked about 275 pizzas per day - each pizza taking about 2 - 3 minutes to bake! Look Out, Maryland - Here I Come!!
If I really get things under control, I might be able to get some cheap labor out of Buster - - he certainly has dug enough holes in my yard already. ha.
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