Brick Oven Faces

Building custom brick ovens offers the opportunity to design the exterior of the oven to the tastes of the owners.  This means variety.  Although some of the ovens I've built have similar face arches, I've played with the central theme.  Others are one-of-a-kind 'inspired' designs.  Either way, the face speaks to the owner and frames the fire.

2000 year-old oven in Pompeii, Italy

TBO 54" at Pietree Orchard in Maine

TBO 36" Ventura CA

TBO 36" NH

TBO 48" Maine

Some of the designs originate with a cultural context.  Some originate from the qualities of the materials. And others are a direct result of the customers wishes.

Original TBO 36" Portable

TBO 48" portable CT

TBO 36" Art Deco

TBO 36" in colonial

TBO 48" in Restaurant

TBO 36" outdoor NH

TBO 36" MA

TBO 54" Dining Facility

TBO 48" Baker's Oven

TBO 36" in my house

TBO 36" Maine

TBO 48" MA

Brick Ovens in Horse Trailers

Welded base for oven structure

It may be fair to say that True Brick Ovens' David Neufeld was the first brick oven builder to use horse trailers as the enclosure and transport for portable ovens.

Why are horse trailers so well-adapted to brick ovens?

• Horse trailers have double axles mounted close to the rear of the trailer.
• They have a rear door or ramp so that the face of the oven is fully accessible.
• They have good shocks, for the horses and then for the ovens.
• They have two access doors forward useful for storing baking gear.
• They provide a surprise when opened.

Owens Farmhouse TBO 48 oven ready for delivery

TBO Audrix demonstrated at Home and Garden show

Owens Farmhouse oven in use.

The TBO 45 Audrix model

All TBO ovens are from custom-cut bricks

Brick Oven, Greek Style

One of the first conversations I have with a customer wanting a brick oven centers on style.  Throughout most of the western world, brick ovens share a common core construction, a dome.  What the oven looks like from the outside varies greatly.

Therefore, when someone with roots in Greece contacts me, I research the style most often found in their region of Greece (styles within countries vary, especially north to south).  These two photos show two Greek ovens.  The whitewashed oven is likely a family's oven, small, low to the ground, and chimney-less.   The second oven below appears to be much larger and with an enclosing face that includes a full-width chimney, much like the ones in Pompeii and in parts of France.

In fact, with closer examination, the large oven has another cooking space to the left, behind the woman.  This perhaps is for more capacity or for cooking at lower temperatures simultaneously.

The photos below are from a recent TBO build.  The design emulates the qualities of southern Mediterranean and Greek ovens.  I took a grinder to the face bricks to emulate limestone. Repeated applications of stucco and whitewash soften the hard edges of the base masonry and give it 'age'.  Time will take care of the rest.

Brick Oven Cooking: part six

At some point, usually in preparation for a party, I confront the delicious reality that my brick oven(s) make great pizza.  This has been proven again and again by impartial taste critics (my friends).

The brick oven's ability to reach temperatures in the vicinity of 700F coupled with an intense radiant heat from the 'live fire' (active flames), has created the oven's reputation for great crust and browned toppings. Because pizza baking is such an immediate experience, and because so many ingredients can be incorporated into the process, a word of caution is advised here:

700+ degrees Fahrenheit is hot.  Most of our other cooking never gets this hot.  This is good because a rapidly risen and baked pizza is both tender and crisp.  Long bake times at lower temps create tough crusts.  

However, it is easy to burn food at these temperatures.  That is why the pizzaiolo (pizza baker) never lets his or her attention stray from a baking pizza.

Brewster Academy TBO 54

And despite my sometimes resistance to brick ovens being called 'pizza ovens', I relish the opportunity to make and eat pizza baked in them.  The range of pizza styles and methods has expanded in our current 'foodie' world.   We've moved way beyond the simple cheese or pepperoni pizza.  

Pizza On the Fly TBO 48 portable

Residential TBO 36

I thank my many customers who began wanting a brick oven for pizza and discovered the many other foods that are enhanced by a wood fire as well as the experience of artisinal cooking.

Owens Farmhouse Restaurant TBO 48 portable

Brick Oven Cooking: part five

Brick ovens have many temperature settings... but no dials.   To achieve various temperatures requires fire management, which by the way, is easier than it sounds.  An infrared thermometer helps.

A lively fire, such as the one that brings the oven up to 700F can be used while 'on the way'.  This is the broiling stage.

If you don't want to use more than four or five pieces of firewood, you let the fire decline after broiling and the coals can provide a slow-cook environment.

OR you can bring the fire up, move it to the side or rear and continue to prepare current foods, or get ahead on ingredients for future meals by roasting and then storing.

Brick Oven Cooking: part four

I'm reposting this blog from Labor Day because it supplements the cooking series.  It is my ongoing campaign  to de-pizza-ize the image  of brick ovens.

Because my brick oven retains temperature over long periods of time, I could braise leeks and roast beets one evening, then make a peach crisp the next day.

Eggplant parm one night, preparing all the ingredients in the oven prior to assembling and re-baking one night, Bimbambap another night.

Street corn, pane Tuscano, and husk roasted sweet corn.  The list is endless.

I've occasionally re-stoked the oven with a minimum of firewood to maintain higher temps over the course of a few days.

I've been dehydrating peaches and tomatoes using the last 180 degrees.  It concentrates the flavor and reduces the volume for preserving.

Brick Ovens as Heat Source

For years people have asked me if the brick oven could double as a heat source for their home.  Having built a brick oven in my conservatory, I set out to explore that possibility.

The results point to 'yes'.

Here's what I've done:

After a period of baking, perhaps beginning with roasting and ending with moderate oven temperatures (400F), I insure that the coals have burned down or have been removed.   The mass of the oven holds the temperature.  Because indoor ovens have dampers in the flue, closing the flue and leaving the door off of the oven results in the accumulated heat being vented into the room space.  This continues anywhere from 12 hours to 30 hours depending on the indoor temperature.

If you bake in your oven every other day, then you will get a minimum of 24 hours of surplus heat from the mass of the oven for use in heating the interior of your home.

side vent for minimal heat 

Other options for venting heat are minimal and I do not recommend coiling copper around the top of the dome (as some have suggested).  The oven functions as an oven; THEN the oven functions as a heat storage source; two separate time frames.