If you’ve been to all the pizza places and none of them can satisfy you, it’s time for you to resort to homemade pizza. This way, you can customize your toppings to your liking, bake your pizza at the right temperature and make your dough the way you want it. To do this, making a masonry pizza oven is the most effective solution. It is mainly a wood-fired oven that can cook a pizza at 400° C in 5 minutes. However, the flame must be maintained regularly once lit. But before building it, you have to look for a perfect place beforehand.
Choose an outdoor space.
The ideal location to install a masonry pizza oven is outside so that the smoke can escape normally. It also prevents you from choking in an enclosed area. In addition, you don’t have to put up with bad smells while cooking.
Find an accessible place.
This makes it easy to access the oven at any time. You can react as quickly as possible to incidents (when the pizza is burning, for example).
Move closer to the kitchen.
Choose a location close to the kitchen so that you don’t get too tired going back and forth. This way, you can efficiently serve all-you-can-eat pizzas to your guests in the garden during happy hours.
Stay away from plants.
To avoid the risk of fire, protect your plants from fire and heat from the oven. Indeed, some plants can’t stand high heat, especially those in pots. If you have limited space, move them to your terrace or balcony. Also, avoid a place close to trees.
Choose a place sheltered from the sun.
In addition to the heat from the oven, the high summer temperature will bother you. Make sure that the front of the oven faces south so that you can fully enjoy the cooking time.
Choose a place protected from the wind.
You must beware of the wind coming from the west, which is the dominant wind regime. This allows you to manage the oven flame and keep it constant.
Think of the neighbors
Make sure that the location of your oven is not too close to your neighbors so as not to disturb them with fumes. Also, it can affect their health if the fumes enter directly through their windows, for example.
Install the oven on a suitable base
The oven should be placed on a flat and stable surface. The base serves as a support for the oven so that the bottom of the oven can be placed at an accessible level. The base is made of a lime or cement mortar slab. To do this, make sure that the base can withstand the mechanical shocks caused by the wood and the baker’s shovel, as well as thermal shocks. As for the materials, opt for refractory and food bricks made of natural red clay without additives. Choose the 30 x 30 cm square or 40 x 30 cm rectangular formats. This will not hinder the sliding of the shovel, dishes, and/or breads because the number of joints placed on them is minimal. Among other things, their thickness should not be below or above 5 cm in order to retain enough heat to avoid cooling too quickly.
Get the right size
To put pizzas in the oven easily, the height of the base should be between 105 and 120 cm. So, make sure the field can accommodate a 90 cm diameter base to cook two pizzas at the same time.
Let’s be honest, most of us could eat pizza every day, and having your own wood or masonry pizza oven at home means you can have an authentic taste of Italy from the comfort of your own home. Sound off in the comments section below and tell us if you dream of having your own brick pizza oven.