As I started firing the oven it was difficult to raise he temperature and to keep it constant. It was a very stressful time! At first I thought I built the roof to high, or that the walls were perhaps to thin. Then I visited Ile De Pain bakery in Knysna. They have a large wood-fired oven, and there I got a few ideas. I started playing with ventilation, choking the fire to allow it to burn slower and longer, thus enabling the bricks to absorb more heat that way. I then started firing the oven.
Over 3 days I slowly raised the temperature to 450
°C. I found that a lot of heat was escaping through the roof. I allowed the oven to cool completely and built a third layer of bricks over the existing roof. I first had to wet the roof to get the cob mixture to bind with the existing dry cob. I left the roof to dry and slowly fired her up again. This time I raised the temperature to 760°C. It surely was very exciting and the sense of achievement was well worth the effort. The oven kept the temperature very well, 12 hours later the temperature was 400°C, 16 hours later I baked a sample batch of bread at 250°C for 30 minutes. Well, the oven is fired and definitely hard enough by now - time to bake some bread or invite some friends for a pizza. While the oven was dying, I spent time on deciding on the breads I want to produce, sizes and weight. I have made a French country bread which was rustic in appearance and texture, and with a rich strong flavour.
Over 3 days I slowly raised the temperature to 450°C. I found that a lot of heat was escaping through the roof. I allowed the oven to cool completely and built a third layer of bricks over the existing roof. I first had to wet the roof to get the cob mixture to bind with the existing dry cob. I left the roof to dry and slowly fired her up again. This time I raised the temperature to 760°C. It surely was very exciting and the sense of achievement was well worth the effort. The oven kept the temperature very well, 12 hours later the temperature was 400°C, 16 hours later I baked a sample batch of bread at 250°C for 30 minutes. Well, the oven is fired and definitely hard enough by now - time to bake some bread or invite some friends for a pizza. While the oven was dying, I spent time on deciding on the breads I want to produce, sizes and weight. I have made a French country bread which was rustic in appearance and texture, and with a rich strong flavour.
