April 2011 - The bread-oven

Jan starting our bread-oven

As April rolled in, we kind of missed our bread-oven which we had to sacrifice so we could place a water tank. An outdoor bread-oven has a certain charm about it, and even though its a science to use one, it still has that something special. The making of the fire, and so on.. :-)

So we had some bricks left over from the foundation of the carport, and then we ordered a lorry load of broken bricks. In the same token we also wanted to change the braai area so that it was more of an integrated story, rather than just a braai.. Adding the bread oven would do this job well. :-)

A little further

Of course, Jan had the willing help of Andreas, who loves doing anything that involves mixing cement and so on. So he enlisted himself to help, and was quite good at passing bricks, and fetching some more. When Jan got to the height where he had to start the dome, he came to a halt.... How would we do that? We discussed it quite a bit, it had to look nice with the cast iron door that I had snatched up at an auction, and it also had to be steep enough for the warm air to circulate properly..

One wall done, now the next one.

We decided to follow the curve of the top of the door. Doing this would create a lovely look, and provide an okay slope inside for the hot air to circulate. So the roof of the bread-oven was built as follows:

1. We constructed internal supports out of wood.
2. Over this we laid wire mesh.
3. We laid the first layer of bricks, followed by wire brick-course.
4. A second layer of bricks, followed by fire retardant insulation (Pink Aerolyte).
5. The whole oven including the roof was plastered with a thick layer of cement, after the bricks had set.
6. We allowed the whole thing to dry for a couple of days, after which we burned out the internal supports.

The completed oven

 Jan was amazed at his own building prowess... seeing as the roof didn't collapse. :-)

So there it stands, and we have already made Pizza in this oven.. not so much bread though, cause like I said: It really is a science to figure out just how one does that.... lol.. But we will get there.. one day.

Random garden shot.. :-)