Build Your Own Earth Oven, 3rd Edition: A Low-Cost Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves [Paperback]

Kiko Denzer (Author), Hannah Field (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2007

Kiko Denzer and Hannah Field, maker and baker, invite you into the artisan tradition. First, build a masonry oven out of mud. Then mix flour and water for real bread "better than anything you can buy." Total cost? Hardly more than a baking stone - and it can cook everything else, from 2-minute pizza to holiday fowl, or a week's meals.
Clear, abundant drawings and photos clarify every step of the process, from making "oven mud," to fire, and to bread. Informative text puts it all into context with artisan traditions of many ages & cultures. Beautifully sculpted ovens (by the author and readers) will inspire the artist in anyone. And the simple, 4 step recipe (based on professional and homestead experience) promises authentic hearth loaves for anyone, on any schedule.
From weekend gardeners to "simple living," back-to-the-landers; Peace Corps volunteers to neighborhood community-builders; third-graders to earth-artists of all ages, this book feeds many hungers!
• updated, expanded, re-written, & revised.
• foreword by Alan Scott, the grandfather of wood-fired ovens and artisan bread.
• super-insulated design holds heat longer with less wood burned.
• 8 pages of color photos.
• Plus: mobile ovens, rocket mass heaters for the home, hay-box cookers, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Denzer, an artist and builder, creates beautiful wood-fired ovens using the most widely available building material: dirt. Some earth ovens are plain while others are formed into the shape of animals or human faces. Denzer offers an explanation of basic concepts such as material selection, oven location, and design and then guides readers through the construction of their own oven. Earth ovens could be produced most anywhere using Denzer's instructions; he even shows how to build a weatherproof roof. A sourdough bread recipe is included. Appealing to a diverse audience of bakers, outdoor cooks, traditional crafts persons, and perhaps even homeschoolers looking for a project, this title should be part of most public library collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"... the essential book…worth many times its price in avoided labor and frustration" -- Dan Wing, author, The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves & Masonry Ovens.

"[It] will awaken in you...the artisan vision, where earth meets hand meets spirit" -- Peter Reinhart, author, Crust and Crumb

"Creative. Innovative. Brilliant. ...the definitive book on how to build an adobe oven..." -- William Rubel, author, The Magic of Fire

"...simplicity itself: brief, brisk, artful, and well-written....empowering throughout...fruit of a new movement for sustainability, it celebrates the pleasure of living well with the earth"-- Peter Bane, Permaculture Activist.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Hand Print Press; 3 Rev Exp edition (April 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096798467X
• ISBN-13: 978-0967984674
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Culinary Arts & Techniques
  • #93 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Summer Camp Hit, January 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves (Paperback)

I ran a summer family camp in July 2002 and built the smaller oven in one day. I had kids from age two to fifty two stomping the clay, sand, hay and water with thier feet. I set fire in the oven on day two and made our first loaf of bread. The directions are easy to follow and was a hit with my fourty campers. I would highly recommend this book. A great family or group activity! Loved it.

77 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bread, Beauty, and Integrity, December 25, 2000

By 

Catherine Knott (Corvallis, OR, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves (Paperback)

Reading Kiko Denzer's book for the second time this December, as I thought about friends who would most enjoy a copy as a present, I was struck again by the artistic beauty and integrity of the book as a whole. Unlike most manuals, Denzer talks about life, not just bread, or ovens, or art.

The sculptural ovens delight the eye; the color photos and flowing drawings inspire. The instructions are clear and suffused with a philosophy of simple, harmonious living. Quotes add an unexpected depth. Finally, the explanation of bread-making science and technique makes a full circle of the various experiences of making, eating, and living.

The design and excellent presentation has drawn positive comments from friends, anthropologists, ecologists, as well as visitors and professional community workers from Mali, Tunisia, Japan, England, Ireland. Another friend, after seeing the book, went home with plans to build an oven for the intentional community where she lives.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I helped people build improved cook stoves (out of earth) in West Africa. Now, as an anthropologist, professor, trainer, and returned Volunteer I especially appreciate instructional texts that respect traditions of living within material limits. I would highly recommend this book, not only to home bakers and builders, but particularly to teachers and others who work in community settings.

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing!, September 27, 2003

By 

robi dawson (Budapest, Hungary) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves (Paperback)

I read the book, and immediately wanted to build an oven.

Wonderfully written and easy to follow. It was so easy in fact that i was able to build my oven, with the help of my 10 year old son over the summer. Man hours totatled about 30. I will now build a friends oven as a surprsie next weekend! IT is that easy!

Read this book and you too will realize that you can indeed built your own oven, easily, cheaply and with fun for all involved.

*Build your own Earth Oven* is simply AMAZING!