Archive for December, 2010

Bread Oven Building workshop in King City, Ontario

Posted by on Dec 02 2010 | Baking Bread with Children, bread, bread oven, workshops

Here are pictures from a August 2010 Bread Oven Building workshop in King City, Ontario. It was a perfect hot and sunny weekend. We had an inspiring crew of 16 participants who were easily able to build two bread ovens in two days. The first oven we built quickly and fired it up the next day to make delicious pizza. We took our time with the second, added a number of details and enjoyed the process of collaborative sculpting.

laying fire bricks

We began laying our fire bricks on an artistically designed river stone base.

mushing the clay

Many feet make easy work of mixing recycled pottery clay,

clay subsoil, sand and straw into homogeneous cob to build the ovens.

making clay bricks

We kneaded the cob into loaf size bricks.

first layer of bricks

We placed the bricks around a form made out of sand.

We built it up like an igloo, molding the bricks tightly together.

second layer of bricks

We added a second layer of bricks for improved strength and heat retention.

It is essential that all the bricks of both layers are well kneaded together so that there are no air gaps. The structure becomes one monolithic dome.

sculpting

Artists at work.

The forms were dynamic connecting and influencing one another.

finished oven

Here is our finished oven complete with its oven spirit.

We removed the door and hollowed out the sand after all the sculpting was complete. This facilitated easy refinement of the doorway of the oven.

Thank you Leslie and Jamie for organizing the event. Enjoy your oven!

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