Earth oven?

[OurLilHomestead]

Have you made/cooked with one of these? How hard is it to make? How long did it take from start to finish construction of it?

We're interested in making one, on a large scale. (Has to be large to cook for our family size) LOL

[ozarkcat]

We made one under our fire pit when we were camping for 6 months - basically built up the sides, capped it with a large, flat stone & built our firepit on top of it. It took DH a couple hours, and I helped with putting the capstone on it. It was probably 8-10" high, 10-12" wide and a good 15-18" deep. It would heat up on top (from the firepit) and we'd rake coals down into it. It baked very nicely, and gave us some wonderful baked goods - calzones, cakes, etc. When we get settled again, I'm looking to build a large one for baking in the summer, especially. Well worth the effort.

[Oldcountryboy]

The only pit oven I've ever constructed and used was made from the firebox inside a electric oven. I removed the oven box from the range and buried it in the ground. Then I took the door apart and used the inside frame of the door as the cover over the firepit.

Before burrying the box in the ground I placed some angle iron inside about 8" up to set the metal grate on.

What I do is build a wood fire on top of the lid. When the wood burns down to coal I remove 2/3d's of them and place them in the bottom corners of the firebox. Then I set the metal grate in place and place my roast/chicken, etc. on the grate. Then I place the lid back on with the remaining coals and I rebuild the wood fire.

When the fire has burned down to coals again I remove the lid and check the meat. If needs more time then I place the lid back on and add a few more logs on the coals. Depending on thickness of your meat, you may have to turn it over before rebuilding the fire again.

It takes a little practice, but after you've done a couple of meals you'll get the hang of it. It's a great way to utilize any downed tree limbs around your place and cook your meal for free.

[Beeman]

I made a quickie one copying one from a web site, I'll post it if I still have the link. It worked OK but it cracked and I dismantled it. All I did was use a clay flue pipe and dry stacked brick around it and made a wood door for it. I have all the books and plans to build one, just need to devote some time to the project. I've settled on the Kiko Denzer design, or so I think. search my posts and those of Peacebaker and Yucca Flats.

Here's some links, the temp oven is in there too.


http://www.sunset.com/sunset/garden/...690891,00.html
http://heatkit.com/html/bakeoven.htm#Domestic
http://www.geocities.com/mosesrocket/