Are you one of the biggest pizza lovers and thinking of building a DIY pizza oven? It takes a lot of work before you make one. Now as we have seen the heights of the lockdown period, many of us are trying to build a diy pizza oven plans free so that we can make pizzas at home instead of ordering online as we have understood the value and essence of home-cooked meals.
Although constructing a pizza oven can be confusing and needs perfection in every step, we are here to guide you as we have collectively gathered details about it.
So if you are confused about what a DIY pizza oven is, then here it is. It’s a cooling chamber or hall which you will build by yourself using some kits and durable materials. It varies in size, designs and also has different shapes which depend on how it is made to match the functionality and also to make it aesthetically pleasing.
Can You Build A Pizza Oven Using Normal Bricks?
Are you thinking of making a pizza oven with bricks in your backyard? Well, go ahead with that. You can use old bricks made of clay to make the pizza oven. But if they are concrete bricks, make them stay away from fire.
The firebricks and the red clay bricks can be used to build ovens, but not concrete bricks as the clay bricks can withstand heat and high temperature from the oven, but the concrete bricks cannot do that. So the type of bricks you should use while constructing a pizza oven matters very much. Although the bricks are made of different kinds of material, the firebricks are made especially to withstand heat and temperature.
But the red clay bricks are more traditional brick house bricks that can be used to make ovens but the only thing to remember while using it is that you need to fill the hollow cored with mortar before you use it.
How Much Does It Cost To Build A Pizza Oven?
The cost of the pizza oven that you are planning to make depends on the quality of materials you are using, size, shape, etc. Most of it depends on the bench or base size and shapes.
A fully assembled pizza oven with a customized base can cost $3000 which includes the cabinets and chambers. Other estimated costs of a pizza oven vary with methods. Here’s a list of methods and its cost.
- If you are thinking of building a clay and cement oven it will be a lot cheaper than the pre-made and portable ovens with cabinets which cost over $1000 to $9000. But building it with clay and cement will cost approximately $275 to $350.
- Building the brick oven will be a little expensive, but if made with quality can turn out great. It will cost something around $950+.
How To Build An Outdoor Pizza Oven?
It can be a little tricky to build a pizza oven by yourself. But it can be done using certain techniques which you need to know before you build one.
- First, you build the base of the pizza oven using good-quality cement.
- On top of the cement padded base structure, another structure needs to be named b to support it. You can use cinder blocks and concrete for that.
- Then you need to cover the base to make it look more appealing.
- For that arrangements of the right bricks or woods are required. Using fire bricks can be the best option as they are made to withstand heat.
- The woods that can be used are generally the hardwoods that are dry and seasoned like oak, maple, birch, ash, and beech. But to consider it, oak is the safest of all and burns got compared to the other woods.
- Prepare the countertop.
Does A Pizza Oven Need To Be Domed?
Building a pizza oven can raise the question about its shape. As most of the traditional pizza ovens have a domed shape, it’s very common that if you are sourcing one you’ll think of making it domed. But it can be made into different shapes. Pizza ovens can be made in a square shape or rectangular shape with an arched top, although those are quite uncommon.
But it is considered that the domed-shaped pizza oven has a better heat efficiency which reflects the heat evenly and has a better-got airflow which provides an oven with good hot spots.
Why Are Domed-Shaped Pizza Ovens Considered The Best?
We often have this question of why must a pizza oven be rounded? To answer this question, the circular oven has a heat efficiency that is considered better than the barrel vault of the rectangular-shaped pizza oven.
Here’s are some reasons for considering domed shaped pizza oven better than the rectangular ones:
- It reflects heat from all the angles so that no cold spot is left in the oven. The connection flow of heat happens to be more effective in the round-shaped pizza oven, which makes the cooking better.
- It’s also worth mentioning that the domed-shaped pizza oven requires lighter materials than the ones with the barrel vaults. This is because the oven is built in a way that every brick of the base structure supports the center of the dome. So it requires less mass to be heated because of the round shape.
- It gets heated up faster than the rectangular-shaped pizza oven.
Is Wooded Fire Pizza Healthy?
Yes, the wooded fire pizza is much healthier for you and your family as they are freshly made at home. The wood heats the pizza faster so that the nutrients remain in the food even after it’s fully made. It also retains the fruit and the vegetable toppings on the pizza, but if you cook the pizza in a regular oven it will not have the same nutritional value as it takes much longer time to get fully cooked.
It’s also much easier to cook pizza in a wood fire oven which just involves flipping which enables you to enjoy the delicious and smoky flavor of it. It even makes the bottom of the crust taste much better giving it a charred flavor.
What Can I Cook In My Firewood Pizza Oven?
While thinking of constructing a pizza oven, you probably have the question: are pizza ovens worth it? But that is because you don’t have much idea how useful it is, and it can be used for several other purposes. They are varieties of recipes that you make using your firewood pizza oven.
These wooden fire ovens are very versatile which you can even use for trying different new recipes. It can be used as a regular oven at the right temperature.
Recipes and food that you can cook using the firewood oven are :
- If you love eating roasted vegetables, you can use the wood oven for making it.
- It can also be used for baking or grilling fish.
- If you don’t like your heat to be cooked at a very high temperature but slowly you can try that here.
- It’s great for preparing smoked and barbecued meats and the high flames add the smoky traditional flavour.
- It is also useful for preparing freshly baked loaves of bread.
- Another very useful side of this firewood oven is it can be used as a side oven to cook the side dishes when your main oven is engaged. Various side dishes like potatoes, shrimps etc can be made using it.
- It can be used to make hot desserts, stews and casseroles.
The only thing that needs to be taken care of is the temperature while cooking these recipes.
Unlike cooking a pizza at a very high temperature, it is needed to gain a crispy base, the baking and roasting of veggies need less heat.
What Is So Special About Brick Oven Pizza?
Many of us don’t know why the brick oven pizza is considered the tastier option. The smoky flavor, crunchy toppings of veggies and fruits certainly rules out all the other options.
For years and decades, the pizzas have been made using a wood fire brick oven. It enables the heat to radiate out from the heat source to spread around the oven, and it’s absorbed by the bricks of the walls. The floor of the structure remains cooler, but the heat across the dome.
A small fire is kept in the structure to maintain the temperature which creates a perfect environment for making a delicious pizza and because of the stored heat in the walls the time it takes to cook the pizza is very minimal which is very economical when it comes to cooking the number of pizzas. The bouncing heat from the oven makes the crust crisper while seals off the moisture in the dough.
This results in a flavorful crust that is soft and chewable. The smokey flavor cannot be achieved if the pizza is cooked in a regular or normal kitchen, but only in a wood and bricks kitchen.
How Many Fire Bricks Do I Need For A Pizza Oven?
If you are trying to estimate the total number of bricks that you will need to construct a pizza oven, then we have been instrumental in gathering some information about it. Old clay fire bricks are the most suitable one for an oven,diy pizza oven plans free and we do not recommend the use of modern cement bricks, which is not very ideally efficient for radiating heat.
The number of bricks you will need to construct a pizza oven totally depends upon the size and shape of the oven. The dry-fitting fire bricks allow you to set the structure of the oven according to the user’s convenience. But mostly you will need one hundred to two hundred clay bricks while constructing an oven.
You’ll also need a strong and thick iron rod to place, two to four pieces of iron blocks, concrete boards, and a concrete box. The sizes of this equipment need to be decided according to the structure and size of the oven.
Conclusion
The DIY pizza oven not only enhances the taste of the pizza, but it is very cheap and economical. These ovens can last a long time if taken care of properly and can be efficiently used for the purpose of cooking other dishes.
The expensive and assembled ovens are way more expensive and sometimes don’t even last longer. The only thing to keep in mind during the construction is that the quality of the material should be checked and installed.