Home Brick Oven Kit [moved from Home Cooking]

[Spleen]

I've heard that there are ktis (involving bricks, tiles, etc.) that allow you change a home oven's condition to be more like a brick oven. So far, I've mostly found clay oven inserts that onyl raise the temperature about 150 degrees F. Does anyone know of a kit that can change the temperature by 200-300 (or more) degrees F?

[MikeB3542]

The "problem" with your kitchen stove is that it is thermostatically controlled. It is designed to shut off when it gets to the selected temperature. Most would consider this a desirable feature!

You could "trick" the thermostat by leaving door slightly ajar (which is what you do when broiling) but my guess that whatever heat you gain running the oven flat out you lose with the door open.

Ovens can safely be run hotter, but that is for the self-clean cycle. The self-clean cycle only engages with the oven door locked, so that really isn't a practical option for cooking. (Aside from warrantee-voiding kludges).

I get a little curious with folks who need screaming hot temps (>550F). As in, what the heck are you trying to accomplish? I am aware that temps in 800-900 range have their purposes, but how often do you really need to go there? When cooking pizza at home, I generally run the oven at 550F, and it is cooked in 12 min, burnt in 14. Not a lot of margin for error. At 800F, things are moving even faster. In a commercial pizza kitchen with ovens running that hot, the pies are practically never let alone for more than a minute, being constantly prodded and moved around and turned to ensure even cooking.

[tommy]

Pizza is the reason most people want a very hot oven, as you suggest.

[tim irvine]

I have a solution that has worked well (so far) and will also grill and BBQ (as the term is used in Texas), I have a New Braunfels smoker: a cast iron main chamber about three feet long and a fire box to the side. Obviously, to BBQ one puts the wood in the firebox and the meat in the main chamber. To grill, make a fire in the main chamber and grill directly. For pizza, make a wood fire on one side of the main chamber and put the pizza stone on the rack next to it (not over it). The thermometer says it is 900 in there with a well stoked pecan or mesquite fire. Give the stone plenty of time to come to temp. NB smokers or knock-offs (hey, maybe the NB was the knock-off!) can generally be had at places like Academy for about $120. Invest in a cover since cast iron will rust.

[pigsaidoink]

you are so right to be careful,
I had been thinking about a brick pizza oven,you can bake the best breads,
it will slow roast if it has the right insulation.
pizza cooks at about 750 to 800 degrees. yes, the numbers are right.
all you need is about 5 or 6 good sized pieces of fire wood,hard wood if you please.
it takes about 3 hours to fully heat the oven, but then you'll have enough time to cook 5 or 6 pizzas,(everyone will want one) and then you throw in a few loaf's of sour dough and French breads, and finish off with roasting some brisket, you may want to throw in some more hard wood,apple,mesquite, on the old coals for some smoke.
you will have enough heat for the 3 or 4 hours of good temp. for that long slow cook, yum.
lastly
take a look on you tube.there are some very good videos of the building of, and using brick ovens
I have searched hi and low.and the big kits are really pricy.
you can do the same as some have done and get a book at the do it your self rack.
good luck

[amoncada]

For one of the very best all around Smoker/Grill/Ceramic Cooking apparatus, check out THE BIG GREEN EGG. Go to biggreenegg.com for the customer reviews. This thick ceramic grill/smoker/oven is based on 3000 year old Japanese Clay oven technology. It holds temperatures up to 800 degrees for hours and hours with natural (chemical free) lump wood charcoal. Makes bread, pizza's, pulled pork, veggies, etc., etc.

[tommy]

The BGE makes all of that?

[Warthog]

Whether it be tiles, firebrick or other inserts, none of the things you mention is going to *raise* the temperature. The only way to raise the temperature is to generate more heat via the stove's electricity, gas, or whatever. What the tiles, firebick, pizza stones, or whatever *will* do is provide thermal mass, and possibly insulation, to allow one to keep the heat steadier (once the tiles or inserts are brought up to temperature), and to allow the heat being produced to be contained and used more efficiently.

This may result in *some* recipes needing different temperature settings to get the same effect. For example, bread being baked by contact with a hot baking stone, or surrounded on all sides by a "oven hearth" type insert, is going to give different results than the same bread in a typical loaf pan sitting on a rack "up in mid-air" in the middle of the oven.

[Scrapironchef]

I'd be pretty leery of a kit that would take my kitchen oven to 800 degrees....

I have seen DIY kits for backyard wood fired ovens that will get to those sort of temps.