How to Build a Pizza Oven for Free
- 1). Stack together large rocks and old cinder blocks to create a round, solid foundation for the oven. Make the foundation 40 inches high and 48 inches in diameter.
- 2). Sprinkle a layer of sand on the bottom of a plastic tarp or in a plastic kiddy pool. Add approximately 30 gallons of soil. Use soil that's high in clay content. The clay in the soil allows the cob to dry hard, retaining its shape. Clay soil should have a somewhat gummy texture and can commonly be found in areas near bodies of water. Walk on the soil to blend it. Add water if it is too dry. Add sand if there is too much clay and the soil is clumping and won't blend.
- 3). Take out approximately 10 percent of the mixture. Add water until a semi-wet, paste-like consistency is formed. The wet mixture will be used as for the first layer of the oven walls.
- 4). Add straw to the rest of the mixture to create cob. If free straw is not available, use dried, tall grass. Keep adding straw until it is consistently distributed throughout.
- 5). Pack cob over the top of the oven base and smooth out the top. Lay flat stones or bricks on top of the base to create the oven shelf.
- 6). Create an arching oven opening on one side of the base by stacking and packing medium-size rocks together with cob. Make the opening big enough to accommodate firewood and pizza.
- 7). Create a 3-inch-thick, dome-shape for the oven chamber out of wet sand. Make the chamber 18 inches high and 24 inches in diameter. Build up the walls starting at the top of the base, going around the arch.
- 8). Cover the outside of the sand dome with a 3-inch-thick layer of the wetter mixture that does not have any straw.
- 9). Cover the dome with a 3-inch-thick layer of cob while the clay adhesive is still wet. Smooth down the surface as much as possible with your hands. Leave the oven to dry for at least three weeks.
- 10
Make an additional 10 gallons of cob. Cover the oven in a second, 3-inch-thick layer. Leave the oven to dry for another three weeks or until the cob is totally cured. - 11
Dig out and remove the sand from the inside of the oven chamber so they you are left with only cob walls.
