Build a Wood-Fired Pizza Oven in Your Backyard

I know someone who has a beautiful wood-fired pizza oven, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch pizzas baking in it. They are also the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten. Pizza is a popular meal so instead of buying frozen pizzas or calling to have them delivered, why not make your own in a pizza oven in your back yard? When you entertain your guests will love you for it!

The design of a pizza oven is heat-efficient, allowing the use of stored heat and coals for long bakes instead of requiring a live fire at all times. Smoke is vented through the front of the oven by means of a chimney, built above the oven door. This oven is built with fire-resistant materials. Similar ovens, designed for bread-making, are generally quite heavily built to store several hours’ worth of heat after completely burning a load of wood, while ovens designed for pizza or other live-fire cooking techniques can have a thinner construction.

Supplies needed:

For the building frame:

• shutter-board
• masonite board
• wood screws

For the oven:

• 64 firebricks for the oven walls
• 20 firebricks for the cooking base
• 12 firebricks for the chimney
• 4 bags of sand
• 1 bag of NPC Blastfurnace cement   (Mix ratio: 4 parts sand to 1 part cement)

You’re going to need a cement slab or table to build your oven on as well. I recommend that you make it at a height so that the oven opening is not too far from eye level. This will make it easier to watch what’s cooking and slide them in and out.

Image source and complete tutorial can be found at The Gardener.