How to make a Clay Pizza Bread Oven in 12 Easy Steps.
(Source: Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's 'River Cottage Every Day', Season 14, Episode 7, 'Bread')
What you need:
8x Buckets of sand
4x Buckets of clay
1x Blue sheet
Water
Wet news paper
3x Layers of breeze blocks (24 breeze blocks)
2x Layers bricks for oven base (70) (64 for layers, remainder for door)
1x Bucket Wood Chip
Follow each step for making your very own Clay Pizza Bread Oven and see video for clear direction:
1) Clear flat piece of ground for breeze blocks. Remove turf - 3" depth, ensure the ground is level and flat.
2) Lay breeze blocks down 8 per level - cris cross directions for each level. (Diagram; level 1 - IIII; level 2 ==; level 3 - IIII)
3) On top of the breeze blocks Lay 2 layers for the Clay Pizza Bread Oven base as diagram suggests - (II=II=II)
4) Lay blues tarpaulin sheet and mix 6 buckets of sand with 3 buckets of clay spray over with waters and mix with feet.
5) Make a dome with 2/3 buckets of clean sand on top of brick base.
6) cover the Clay Pizza Bread Oven dome with wet newspaper
7) using hands make bricks out of the clay/sand mix (around 3" thick) and lay around wet newspaper dome untill the oven dome is completely covered.
8) Break remaining bricks in half and make a doorway wide enough to take a pizza paddle.
9) Carefully remove all of the sand along with wet newspaper from the inside of the Clay Pizza Bread Oven.
10) Mix two half wet buckets of clay with wood chip. Add this mix lavishly to the clay Pizza/bread dome. This is to protect the Clay Pizza Bread Oven from the elements
11) Light a small fire to dry out the inside of the Clay Pizza Bread Oven - leave it overnight. The oven should ready for use the very next day.
12) When using the oven for the first time test cook some bread first to check temperature and cooking quality.
Bibliography:
For full video see Series 14 Episode 7 of Huw Fearnley Wittingsall River Cottage Every Day. The making a Clay Pizza Bread Oven Section starts at 40 mins.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/river-cottage/4od#3140237
Or this is the link to the Pizza Bread oven episode on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc4lqdBiizM
For more information on Huw Fearnley Wittingstall and his recipes visit:
http://www.rivercottage.net
or wikepedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Fearnley-Whittingstall
Good luck.