Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves Review
This book is an excellent guide on the path to creating your own oven. If you are looking for detailed plans to follow step-by-step, this book will be helpful, but will likely disappoint. If instead, you approach building your oven as you do (or should) approach making bread...as a process instead of a procedure, you will be greatly rewarded. The author provides ample options, details, and examples to allow you to start on your journey, with an emphasis on experimenting and sourcing local materials.
After a few nights spent reading this book, I managed to successfully build a simple test oven in about 4 hours of actual work time (5-1/2 hours total, which includes digging the clay out of the yard, picking the kids up from school, and sipping some wine once complete while the kids decorated!). The oven physically turned out great, was easy to build, and I have learned much from the experience. Now I am eagerly waiting for everything to dry out enough to successfully bake pizza (the April showers may be good for the garden, but haven't been helping my mud oven dry out!).
As the author says: Experiment! There is plenty of information to allow you to confidently get your hands dirty building a few simple ovens with minimal time and monetary investment (I spent ~ on a fire-brick floor, and another on cement blocks so I wouldn't have to move rock for the foundation). The major investment in these ovens is the time (labor) spent in construction, which is time well spent. The afternoon I spent building my first oven is chalked up to experience (you cannot truly appreciate building with earth until you've squished it between your fingers and toes!), family time (my six year old twins had a *GREAT* time helping me play in the mud!), and actual productivity (I did manage to build a complete oven from start to finish in an afternoon).
I encourage everyone to re-connect with the earth in a way most of us haven't since we were children and thought splashing in mud-puddles was fun...get this book, dig some dirt, get your hands dirty, and build something!
If your interests extend beyond ovens, you might also want to pick up the excellent Building With Cob: A Step-by-step Guide by Adam Weismann & Katy Bryce.
Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves Overview
Build Your Own Earth Oven is a fully-illustrated handbook for making a simple, wood-fired, masonry-style oven. It provides clear, step-by-step instructions for building and firing the oven, as well as complete directions for making sourdough bread in the best (and simplest) artisan tradition.
Earth ovens are as simple as a southwestern horno or European bee-hive oven and every bit as effective as a fancy brick hearth or modern, steam-injected commercial oven. The dense, three-to-twelve inch thick earthen walls store the heat of the fire; after the hot coals are removed, the hot walls radiate a steady, intense heat for hours. The resulting steamy environment is essential for the crisp, flavorful crusts of true hearth loaves, and you can easily build it for less than the price of a couple of fancy dough-rising baskets!
If you like to cook outdoors, an earth oven can also transform fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs into delicious pies, pizzas, and other creations (one of my favorites is fresh vegetables, herbs, and potatoes drizzled with olive oil). Pizza cooks to perfection in three minutes, and you can even use the residual heat to dry your surplus garden produce, and incubate your home-made yogurt!
Building with earth is safe, easy, inexpensive, and extraordinarily effective. Good building soil is usually right under your feet! Many will find it in their back yards. Use it plain, or mixed with sand and straw. Build the simplest oven in a day! Adding a roof and foundation makes it permanent. The simple, round shape makes a beautiful garden sculpture, or can be sculpted into a fire-breathing dragon!
It is a project that appeals to bakers, builders, and beginners of all kinds:
The serious or aspiring baker who wants the best lo-cost oven for their bread;
Gardeners and outdoor cooks who want a centerpiece for a beautiful outdoor kitchen;
People interested in creative uses of low-cost materials and simple technologies; and
Teachers who want a multi-faceted, experiential learning experience for their students (the book has been successful with everyone from third-graders to adults).
Illustrated by the author with over a hundred drawings and photos, it includes color pictures of sculpted ovens and their builders, as well as further references on food, baking, and building.
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Customer Reviews
Very nice very simple - Mehmet Musa -
This book makes it very easy to build an oven. The steps are very clear and simple to follow!
Can't wait to try it - Peipooch -
We bought this book in anticipation of building one this next spring. The book is well written and the directions look easy to follow. We'll find out when we actually try it, but it looks easy to follow. I particularly like the sculptural aspects of decorating the ovens and found the pictures helpful.
Great book easy to read, easy to do! - Eugene Fletcher -
I think this is a great book. I'm no master baker or anything but the book really goes into good detail on the earth Oven. It offers great ideas to personalize your oven as well.
Good book, want to start building - Bessie R. Skeem - oasis ut USA
It seems to have good approach to building a clay oven in this book. I think you probably have to learn as you go, as experience is great teacher, but I think it is nice having someone who has done something before share their experience with those who are in need of it.
It has allot of pictures and drawings to show how to build your oven, I am exited to start. wonderful, helpful step by step guide to help you in the journey to creating a great oven.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 19, 2010 00:00:08
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