New 3rd Edition! Build Your Own Earth Oven
"The definitive book on how to build an adobe oven." Revised, updated, expanded; 132 pages, paper
$17.95
This brand new, completely re-written edition features:
- revised text: updated, expanded, and completely re-organized so as to simplify the making of
- a super-insulated design that holds heat longer and burns less fuel; as well as
- a simplified, 4-step recipe for making really good (wholegrain) sourdough bread – written by Hannah Field, a former professional baker who has worked in wood fired and organic bakeries on both sides of the Atlantic (also the author’s wife).
- Also: a foreword by Alan Scott, grandfather of wood-fired ovens and artisan bread, co-author (with Dan Wing) of The Bread Builders, and an inspiration to many aspiring artisans;
- an 8-page color gallery of beautiful ovens sculpted both by the author, as well as readers who wanted to share their work;
- innovations and variations, like mobile ovens, super-efficient “rocket” ovens, hay-box cookers, and more.
For an additional word or three from the author, keep reading:
The success of this book has been a (welcome!) surprise. Hand Print Press was launched with a fraternal, good-faith cash loan and 2,500 copies of a book about mud ovens. I thought I might be able to make some interesting sculpture with the books, if nothing else. 20,000 copies and about ten years later, Artisan bread is a multi-billion dollar industry, and sales of “artisanal” bread are growing four times faster than the business as a whole, and almost 20 times faster than white bread.*
*Source: www.nytimes.com, market research from Mintel Consumer Intelligence
I suppose in itself that isn’t so surprising. Specialty foods are a pretty safe bet, if you’re a betting kind of person and looking for faddish things to bet on. What has surprised me is the reception the book has gotten from all kinds of folks. Maybe it’s just a fluke of marketing and good fortune. Maybe it’s just the crest of the fad. Maybe (just maybe), it’s a confirmation of the basic precept of this little press: that what we learn to do, we learn by doing. And what can shopping teach us except debt and dissatisfaction? Man lives not by shopping alone. Nor does woman. Nor do we learn anything essential by it.
Home-made bread, on the other hand, is a basic (and tasty) antidote to buying. OK, that makes sense. And mud is simple and cheap and makes a good oven. OK. But it still doesn’t explain the kind of pride and pleasure evident in the notes and letters I’ve gotten from happy oven builders.
When I wrote it, I was mostly concerned about offering a way to make a good, cheap oven; the “art” was just sprinkled in because I’m a sculptor. But now I wonder? Maybe people want “artisan” bread because a good loaf, like good art, is unique and individual; an event that becomes a part of you.
Perhaps the ovens are real art that anyone can make; perhaps the bread is real food that anyone can make; perhaps, together, they are an antidote to the slavery of consumption, the endless earning of dollars to buy stuff we don’t need to satisfy desires we can’t name, understand, or control.
Perhaps artisan bread means more than just “complexity of flavors,” but also a complexity of relationships: In a traditional artisan economy, different artisans each made something essential to all the others. Their trade was true trade, not just an exchange of dollars, but an intimate interweaving of life and fortune. For example:
“Bernard Clavel, a French writer whose father was a baker, wrote that the bakeshop was on the way to local saltworks, and that his mother would open up at five in the morning so that the salters could buy bread on their way to work. His father sold bread to the wine-growers, some of whom gave a cask a wine in exchange, and to the wood-cutter (huge eight-pound loaves), who in return would deliver the wood needed to fire the bread-oven. When the baker ran out of salt, he would drive up to the saltworks to pick up a sack, paid for – in bread.” [see Clavel's introduction to The Book of Bread, by Jerome Assire, Flammarion, 1996, Cited in Cooking with Fire in Public Spaces, Friends of Dufferin Grove Park.]
Obviously, we no longer live in such a society, but as much as people hunger for good bread, they also hunger for the kind and quality of relationship that produces good bread. I’m not saying a mud oven is any kind of answer, but it is extraordinary how the simple act of making an oven can give people a confidence in their own ability to participate in and enrich their own lives.
Since that first printing, Earth Ovens have been seen in Country Garden Magazine, Mother Earth News, The Chicago Tribune, the UK’s Petit Propos Culinaire and Permaculture Magazine, among others. I’ve heard from mainstream, weekend gardeners to “simple living,” back-to-the-land, “fringe”dwellers, Peace-Corps volunteers, to do-it-yourselfers, third-graders, graduating seniors, and other artists of all ages!
I am grateful, and curious to see what happens next.
– Kiko Denzer
Reviews of Build Your Own Earthen Oven:
“Brief, brisk, artful, and well-written….explains the principles of breadmaking with a few deft strokes…. Graceful, well-detailed, and empowering throughout.” – Permaculture Activist, August, 2004
“There are really only three books for the would-be bread oven builder. If you get only one, get Kiko’s…” – John Connell, architect, author, Homing Instinct
“…inspired creativity combined with traditional wisdom….Get a copy and build yourself an earth bread oven. It’s that simple.” - www.walnutbooks.com
“…enjoyable, down-to-earth and sensible….his instructions are clear as rainwater, his advice…intelligent and sound….” - Petit Propos Culinaires
“…Appealing to a diverse audience of bakers, outdoor cooks, traditional crafts persons, and…homeschoolers looking for a project…should be part of most public library collections.” – Library Journal
“…The illustrations really make it accessible, and the information is such a good blend of science and love.” – Marc Peter Keane, Landscape Architect, author, Japanese Garden Design
“Your book is an excellent guide to building an earthen oven and lots more…. My son-in-law just finished an Italian bread and pizza oven [that] cost $4,000. I told him I will soon build a horno of adobe for less than $100.” – Clint T. Colorado
This question is for Kiko Denzer.
Excellent book, but I am confused by the materials chart on page 30 of the 3rd edition.
Are the oven and insulation figures both after mixing sand/insulation materials with the mud or is only the insulation after mixing? If the mud is not mixed, do I add the sand to it in the proportion resulting from my test bricks, e.g. for a 1 to 1 ration, 17 buckets of mud plus 17 buckets of sand? If not is it 8.5 buckets of each? Also, I plan to use perlite. Do I need to calculate “half again as much?”
Thanks,
Doug Wistendahl
answers below in line…
> This question is for Kiko Denzer.
>
> “Build Your Own Earth Oven” is an excellent book, but I am confused by the materials chart on page 30 of the 3rd edition.
>
> I live in Athens, Ohio, a region once famous for its brick industry because of the abundant rich clay virtually anywhere you dig. So, good mud is no problem. My confusion and questions concern how to calculate quantities for the mix of mud and sand and for the insulating materials.
>
> I plan to build a 36 inch oven, and here are my questions as succinctly as I can phrase them:
>
> 1. Are the oven mud and insulation quantities both after mixing sand/insulation materials with the mud/slip or are only the insulation material quantities after mixing?
yes, all quantities are of mixed material. when you calculate the oven mud, the clay will effectively “disappear” in the gaps between the grains of sand. For example, if you mix 3 buckets of sand w/one bucket of clay, you’ll end up w/about 3 buckets of mix, not 4 (depending on your clay and sand, of course). With that in mind, I generally just use sand volume when figuring totals.
> 2. If the oven mud quantities are not mixed, do I add the sand to mud in the proportion resulting from my test bricks, e.g. for a 1 to 2 ration, 17 buckets of mud plus 34 buckets of sand?
n/a, see 1.
> 3. If the oven mud quantities are mixed do I calculate the 1 to 2 ratio for 17 buckets of oven mud as approximately 6 buckets of mud and 12 of sand?
That sounds like a pretty “lean” and sandy clay, so my “normal” estimating rules might not apply. (If the soil is as clay rich as you say, you might get some cracking. However, I like a clay-rich mix, as I think the clay is more durable in repeated firing.) However, when in doubt, check it out (do a little test) — or just make more than you need.
> 4. I understand the insulation quantities are a mix of slip and insulation materials – I plan to use perlite – but I don’t understand what you mean when you say “get half again as much loose stuff.” Does it mean increase the quantity of insulation materials in the chart by 50%?
no, it means that you’ll need a much larger volume of unmixed sawdust to end up w/your target volume of mixed insulation. However, perlite tends to pack pretty solid, so I doubt the same rule will apply. I always try to order just a bit more than I think I’ll need (more insulation is always better). I’m afraid I work more by intuition than by exact measure — I cook that way, too…
> 5. Finally, how thick do you recommend the oven mud sub-floor (#3 on your page 43 diagram) should be. Is it the same thickness as the oven walls?
yes, as in the diagram on p. 38, I generally suggest you make the subfloor the same thickness as the walls, since you’ll be taking more heat out of the floor, where the cold food comes into direct (conductive) contact.
> I am anxious to get building and baking and look forward to your response.
Remember Hannah’s rules for bread! “Patience, wonder, nae stress.” They apply to ovens too…
> Thanks,
>
> Doug Wistendahl