DIY Wood Fired Pizza Oven

As a Burgundian and bon vivant, I have wanted a Pizza oven for a while now, After some research I immediately saw that pizza ovens are very expensive, especially if you want a decent one. I don't like stainless steel pizza ovens and that's where the idea came to make one myself.

Raw materials :

- Refractory cement 50 KG

- Perlite 130 liters

- Water (as much as needed for the mixture)

- Refractory bricks 22 x 11 x 3 cm

- Wooden planks (mdf green or concrete plywood,…)

- Screws

- Household foil

- Gym ball diameter 70cm

- Knauf Mixem water-resistant

- Chicken wire (3m2) - Chimney pipe

Materials :

- Angle grinder with diamond disc

- Jigssaw

- knife

- Pencil

- Meters

- Screw machine

- Spirit level

- Trowel or trowel

- Gloves

- Safety glasses

- Dust mask

I started by building the dome, this is the base of the pizza oven and it must therefore be very sturdy. To get the round shape in the pizza oven, we first make a mold onto which we will later spread our mixture of refractory cement and perlite.

- Draw a circle with a diameter of 70cm on a plywood sheet that is large enough.

- Use the jigsaw to cut it neatly.

(If all goes well, the fitness ball should now fit perfectly into the opening so that it protrudes halfway above it.)

To make the tunnel that will be mounted on the dome we need another mold and proceed as follows.

1. Saw the 4 arches from MDF or other wood of at least 18mm thick (see technical drawing). I know from various sources that the opening of the tunnel should be approximately 63% of the height of the dome, so we apply this.
2. We make the door in 3 steps because afterwards we get an edge at the oven mouth in which we can attach a door.
3. Use wood glue to glue these bows together and clamp until dry.
4. Saw 5 wooden beams (+- 40 x40 mm) of 11cm long.
5. Attach the 5 beams to the plate with arches using wood screws.
6. Attach the single arch plate on the other side using wood screws.

Now we are going to connect the tunnel to the Dome to have our complete mold ready. You do this in the following steps:

1. Place the board with dome in a large place and on an elevated surface so that the ball does not touch the ground. - Place the tunnel on the plank and slide it against the dome.
2. If everything is in place, you can screw the tunnel through the bottom of the plate by means of wood screws.
3. Now we cover the tunnel with a piece of flexible plastic so that it also has the correct shape.
4. We use a PVC pipe of 110mm diameter to create the shape that the chimney will fit into later. Make sure it stays firmly in place.

Congratulations ! the mold is completely ready!

We now start the real work!

We use cling film to stick over our so that the concrete does not stick to it later.

If you first spray the mold slightly wet with a plant sprayer, the foil will stick to the mold much better.

We are now ready to make our mixture and proceed as follows:

1. Take a pot or bowl that you will use as a measure (+-2l).(1 full jar = 1 part)
2. Take a mason's tub that is large enough to mix everything in. - Do 5 parts Perlite ,2 parts refractory cement and1.5 part water in the tub.
3. Mix everything well, this is best done with your hands (gloves, dust mask and goggles required!
4. Start applying the perlite by hand at the bottom of the mold. You can push the mixture a bit by hand, but do not tap it with a board!
5. Provide a first layer that is +-3cm thick everywhere.
6. When the first layer is ready, we will apply chicken wire for strength, try to follow the shape of the mold as closely as possible.
7. Now we continue with the final layer of +- 3cm so that we have a total of 6 cm of concrete at the end.
8. When everything is ready, place wet cloths over the whole thing so that it does not dry too quickly and cracks form. (leave these cloths for a few days to a week and wet them with a plant sprayer in between).

When our perlite concrete is dry, we can apply the insulation. We use a ceramic insulation blanket for this so that the heat remains in the oven.

You can purchase the Insulation at the Bread Oven: https:// www.broodoven.com/upgrade-dome-isolation-p60

Apply the insulation tightly against the dome so that it fits everywhere and clamp it with chicken wire so that you can attach perlite concrete back to it afterwards.

This is aditional step that I did to make the oven look more authentic.

I used leftovers of the refractory bricks to make an arc on the edge of the oven.

Before we continue finishing the pizza oven, it is now time to provide a support for the oven to rest on. I am not going to write an extra manual for this because there are so many possibilities. I made my support with concrete blocks measuring 39x19x14 and poured a sturdy concrete slab on top.

Now it's time for a very important part of our pizza oven, The floor ensures that all heat is retained well and for a long time so that we get a hot mass.

We make the floor from refractory bricks that are ideal for this. We do this in the following steps:

1. Make a scale sketch for the floor. (1-2 cm smaller than the outside of the oven)
2. Place the stones in a random pattern and larger than the floor will ultimately be cut out.
3. Draw the shape of the floor on the stones
4. - Cut the stones to size with the angle grinder (safety goggles + dust mask!)

When the floor is ready, we will attach it to our concrete slab. I optionally used a piece of insulating blanket that was left over to place under the bricks so that the heat is certainly not lost at the bottom. If necessary, you can cover the sides with refractory mortar.

Now we are going to attach our dome to the floor so that it forms one whole.

1. Lift the dome carefully with at least 2 people (moving it on a strong plate is recommended).
2. Slowly place the dome on the floor and see if it fits nicely everywhere.
3. Make a perlite/refractory mortar mixture (see proportions in the beginning of the manual) and provide the oven with a fresh layer of perlite concrete all the way to the bottom plate.
4. - Now let it dry for at least a week.

Now we are going to finish our oven with a final layer. This can be done in many ways and with different materials, but I chose the water-resistant Knauf Mixem.

1. Follow the instructions on the bag of knauf (mix with water)
2. Apply the knauf in thin layers with a trowel.
3. After a few hours of drying, you can start making circles with a damp sponge to remove the lines from the plaster.
4. If everything is right, you will have a nice, even but grainy layer.
5. Let it dry for a week
6. You can now also attach the chimney in the hole, make sure it is not too tight because the oven can expand and contract slightly due to heating/cooling.

Congratulations, the pizza oven is now completely ready! Oh no wait…. we still have to get stoked!

Even though our pizza oven seems completely dry, there is still moisture in it. You must let this moisture dry slowly by heating the oven in a schedule of 5 days:

DAY 1: small fire with some small pieces up to a maximum of 100°C for at least an hour

DAY 2: small fire with some small pieces up to a maximum of 100°C for at least an hour

DAY 3: small fire with some small pieces up to a maximum of 120°C for at least an hour

DAY 4: larger fire with some small pieces up to a maximum of 150°C for at least an hour

DAY 5: larger fire with slightly thicker wood up to a maximum of 250°C for at least an hour

DAY 6: You can start heating to 350-400°C, but do this very slowly (within 2 hours) and you can bake your first pizza!!!

This is the schedule that I followed myself, but you can burn for even longer (slower) if you want, of course.

Congratulations ! Now your pizza oven is completely ready and you can enjoy delicious home-baked pizzas.

This instructable is completey free but if you like what I do you can donate on my paypall account.

Scan the Qr code above to Donate.