The ultimate project for the DIY cook: a chance to construct a working oven, as adjunct to the barbecue, for baking home-made bread and pizza. Have you ever wondered why bread doesnt taste like it used to? Bread with never the chance to develop the crackling deep crust, or capture that aroma of wheat that comes from making bread slowly, and baking it in brick: this book holds the secret. Ovens were invented in the ancient world for one thing only: baking bread. Their design, materials and methods of firing have not changed over millennia. The ovens now working in the Greek countryside-or which stand ruined in village squares in the Dordogne-are the same as those that baked bread for Caesar. This ancient technology is within our grasp. The construction of a brick oven in the garden (no fire hazards, no major structural problems, no planning difficulties) is described with the novice builder in mind, the plan based on the authors own oven, running in Devon today. Detailed plans and illustrations are provided. Further chapters describe how to fire and run such ovens, and give guidance on bread and pizzas which are ten times better, and tenderer, than any baked in the usual cooker. And there is information on restoring and running old ovens thousands of which have survived in farmhouses across Britain.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
The ultimate project from the DIY cook and baker: an oven in your own back yard. Pizza cooks faster and is more tender, bread crusts as it's never crusted before. The anticipation prompted by the smoking chimney is indescribable, the results without peer. This little book tells how to build and outdoor brick oven from scratch, with working drawings; and how to restore an existing oven if your house is so lucky to have one. There is guidance in firing and running the oven, and a recipe for good measure.
Table of Contents: Introduction 1. Construction 2. Running the oven 3. Restoration 4. Recipe Bibliography
About the Author
Tom Jaine is the publisher at Prospect Books, which he has run since 1993. He has been a restaurateur, an author of cookbooks, editor of the Good Food Guide, and editor of the revised edition of the Oxford Companion to Food.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
128 of 128 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you're interested in building a wood-fired oven for baking, this is a good supplement to Alan Scott's essential "The Bread Builders". Provides very interesting historical background, amusing anecdotes and a set of plans which are aimed a bit more squarely at the amateur builder than Alan's plans. I'm building an oven now using plans interpolated between the two. If you're going to tackle a project like this, get a good book on masonry techniques too, or better yet, a video. (Amazon, care to provide some suggestions?)
51 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although the book is a bit wordy, it gives the reader comprehensive history, information and instructions on how to build a wood-fired oven. The author is English and tends to refer primarily on British ovens and on baking bread. I bought the book to build an Italian style pizza oven, however the book mentions pizza only a few times. The plans on how to build a wood-fired oven are helpful and I am glad that such a book exists.
43 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book gives one set of plans without much discussion on how to modify them. I was hoping for more theory and explaination about size, height, chimney placement etc.
In British fashion, the author uses more words than necessary to explain himself (think Dickens).
Overall, not a complete waste of time, but less helpful than the title would lead you to believe.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not worth the money...
i was hoping to find some worthwhile information on building my own brick oven... but i was disappointed... Not worth the money...
Published 16 months ago by Bazmon
Interesting, but not really helpful
This is a cool book on the history behind ovens, and I enjoyed reading it. You will not be all that close to being able to build your own oven after reading this. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Jacketfan14
building a wood fired oven for bread and pizza
I thought it was the wors exampe of a book on the subject
I would not recommend it to any one thinking of building one
There are other books far better
I would not recommend it to any one thinking of building one
There are other books far better
Published on January 21, 2009 by Edward Qualls
Agood one for the 'dustbin
I didn't realize this softback book was from the other side of the pond. I don't have much use for the metric system and am real tired of the damn Euros and Canucks trying to... Read more
Published on February 3, 2007 by Carl R. Goetz
not the best
you don't really understand how big this thing is until you see the finished product. Which by the way -- there are no finsihed pictures. I actually saw the finished oven on ebay. Read more
Published on August 2, 2005 by Gregory C Utz
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