Friday, September 25, 2009

Wood Fired Bread Oven in progress


I thought I would share my current project/job with those that are interested.

The master builder of bread ovens is Alan Scott. He perfected and built many ovens for both homes and commercial use. I'm continuing in the legacy of Alan by learning from his experiences and am currently building a 36" x 48" interior oven. The beauty of these ovens is in how efficient they are and in how wonderful the bread, pizza, or numerous other foods that can be cooked in an oven like this over a several hour period.

If you've ever had bread or pizza baked in one of these ovens, which you probably have if you discern between average and exceptional, then you know what I'm talking about.

If you really analyze the fuel and carbon footprint of an oven like this you will realize that any cooking device that uses natural gas, propane, or electricity uses a certain amount of energy to create a product and also has a certain carbon print. These ovens stay hot for hours and over a period of several hours one can bake bread, pizza, casseroles, pies, and so on as the oven loses heat so the usage to the very end of the heat cycle is quite high especially if one is organized and can take advantage of this effective cooking machine.

I plan to create a book that is a guide to building your own oven. I'm not saying it's an easy task but with a certain amount of skill one should be able to build their own oven and save a lot of money doing so. Keep an eye out for the book updates as the project progresses!