How to Build a Wood Fired Pizza Oven Outside
- 1). Gather or purchase natural clay, which is different from modeling clay; modeling clay is colored and does not dry. Gather the clay from soil if you live in an area with high-clay content, or purchase clay from a pottery or craft shop. Clay dug from your backyard will appear red, orange or gray, and will be mixed with rocks and bits of plant material.
- 2). Dry the clay in direct sunlight, then smash it into a fine powder with a hammer. Shift the clay through a thin screen to separate it from rocks and other debris. Reconstitute the dried clay by slowly stirring in water until you have a consistency adequate for molding.
- 3). Make a foundation on which the clay oven will sit. The foundation must be made of materials that can withstand heat and exposure to the elements, such as thick wood or stone, with the center-most part made of stone. Be sure to use stone that is fireproof.
- 4). Build a bonfire and toss a couple of the stones in it to test them; if they survive the fire unscathed, you can use them for your foundation. The foundation's design possibilities are nearly limitless. You can make, for example, a foundation from a concrete tube turned on its side and filled with stone, a wood platform lined with brick or even a flat, wide tree stump with a stone top. Be mindful of where you build the foundation; you don't want the smoke blowing into your neighbor's window, for example.
- 5). Form a dome-shaped mold on the foundation from wet sand around which you will place the clay. The molded sand represents the inside oven space. Leave several inches of foundation on all sides of the sand mold so you have room for the clay. Pack it down tightly with your hands.
- 6). Mix clay with sand so that the mixture is two parts of sand to one part of clay; this will prevent the clay from cracking as it dries. If you have a 5-gallon bucket filled with clay, for example, you'll need two 5-gallon buckets filled with sand. Thoroughly mix the two substances together. This is a very difficult and tiresome process; make it easier by mixing a lot of water with the clay and sand until it has a mud consistency, then allow it to dry for several days until it has the correct molding consistency again.
- 7). Build the first clay layer around the sand dome. Roll clay in your hands to soften it up, then place it around the dome's base. It should be about 3 inches thick, though a precise thickness isn't necessary. Continue this process until you have covered the entire dome with clay. Wet your hands slightly and smooth the clay out so that it is round and free of unsightly bulges.
- 8). Allow the first layer to dry until it is firm but not hard. Cut a door into the clay using a long, sharp knife. Put the clay aside, or soften it with water and mix it in with the rest of the clay. Allow the clay layer to dry until it feels hard.
- 9). Mix straw or wood shavings into the clay mixture and mix thoroughly; the exact amount doesn't matter. The straw or wood should be visible in the clay mixture, but not so dense that you have trouble forming the clay. Place the clay around the dome just as you did with the first layer, making it about 6 inches thick. This is the insulating layer, which holds heat and keeps the oven warm for hours; the thicker this layer is, the longer your oven will stay hot. Allow this layer to dry for several days until it is hard to the touch.
- 10
Create a final clay layer using clay without straw or wood. This is the protective and decorative layer; it looks better than the straw mixture, and protects you from the burns you would sustain if you accidentally touched the insulating layer. Add the layer just as you did the previous two, making it about 3 inches thick, though the thickness doesn't have to be precise. Smooth it using your hands. You can embed stones or scratch patterns into the clay. Allow this layer to air harden for several days. - 11
Scoop the sand from inside the clay oven. Fill the oven with small pieces of wood and light them using a match. Allow the fire to burn for a couple hours, feeding it new wood as is necessary. This will harden the clay so that it feels like stone. After a couple hours, allow the wood to burn to ember. You can now use the oven to bake pizza.
