It has been a madly busy week again. Many many thanks to Shawn, the bread oven king, for staying with us this past week, and persevering with the bread oven construction.
We had 4 tonnes of granite stone delivered and a metre of sand, and some sacks of cement. Last Saturday, Shawn and helpers started by building the dry stone granite base of the oven.
As the base reached the desired height, it was important to create a level base on which to build the actual oven. Before the cement was added, a fair bit of sand and gravel was filled into the centre. We had a block of slate hanging around, which was used to form a shelf/lip in front of where the door was to go.
Now the fire bricks could start to be put into place, cemented in with fire cement.
Once a rough circle was completed, Shawn starts building the walls. Some of the bricks had to be cut to form the circle.
Upright bricks make up the sides of the door, with an arch over, and the wall bricks continue at an angle to make the dome of the oven.
At this point it looked really unstable and bodged!
Voila! The insides of the oven are completed.
Next, we covered the top in fire cement, and pointed all the bricks properly.
So, after 3 (or 4?) days of work, a fire was set within, to help set the cement casing.
Pizzas were enjoyed later in the evening.
Then we got to play with mud! Mixing cob is an art form, with lots of stomping mud, sand and straw into the mix until it felt about right. Young Tru couldnt resist sitting in it.
When the mud fight was finished, the work of covering the oven in cob could begin. Using hands, a good layer of cob was added, and smoothed out to get the desired shape.
Several layer went on over several days, with the oven being used in the evening to cook dinner, and to help dry out the oven. Before the final coat, indentations were made in the top, so that it would really stick. Any cracks that appeared were smoothed out, filled up, or slipped over (slip – a watery clay mix).
The finished oven is beautiful and practical. It heats up very quickly, burning only twigs and prunings, offcuts and scrub, and stays hot for a long time, thanks to the thick heatsink of cob, stone, bricks and cement. The inside gets up to well over 200 degrees centigrade, while the outside is only warm to the touch (the cats love to sleep on the granite lip around the oven – a cosy spot now the nights are getting chilly).
We still need to make a door for it, fire bricks will work for now. We are very happy indeed with this new low energy cooking option added to the quinta.
