Reddit reviews Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost Wood-Fired Mud Oven, Simple Sourdough Bread, Perfect Loaves, 3rd Edition
We found 8 Reddit comments about Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost Wood-Fired Mud Oven, Simple Sourdough Bread, Perfect Loaves, 3rd Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Detailed instructions including photos and diagrams make this a complete how-to book on building and baking with a traditional earth ovenTips on baking real sourdough bread, tooDenzer10" x 7"114 pages
I had been wanting to build one of these for about a year and finally got around to it this month. I roughly followed the steps in the book "Build Your Own Earth Oven" by Kiko Denzer, like the other pizza oven fella on here. I'm happy with how it turned out. I haven't cooked in it yet but it holds heat very well (the first small fire I lit went out before I went to bed and the oven was still nice and warm in the morning) and it hasn't shown more than hairline cracks (although it's not a big deal if it does crack). I'll do my best to answer any questions anyone has!
It cost about $150 (US) in total which went on bricks, gravel and lots and lots of sand. The clay, of course, was free.
Resources for doing it yourself:
Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer
Build Your Own $20 Outdoor Cob Oven for Great Bread and Pizza
How to Build a Simple Wood-Fired Cob Oven
Building an Earthen (Cob) Oven
Wood Fired Clay Pizza Oven on Imgur
Most of it came from this awsome book. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Own-Earth-Oven/dp/096798467X can't recomend it enough!
I just picked up the book Build your own earth oven. Lots of good info. I just havent had the chance to build one yet.
Came here to say cob oven. Sand, clay and straw instead of firebrick and mortar, and the cost in materials including the firebricks for the floor (if you want them - you can use cob for that too), and a tarp for mixing is usually under $50 or so. The biggest downside is having to cover it because there is no concrete in the mix, but I've built a few of them and they get just as hot and make great pizza. You can even let them weather and just build a new one every 5-10 years or so as they break down. I mean, $50.
Some great plans here though probably more than $50. And the authoritative text here.
Yes, Forno Bravo has a free PDF you can download (I think you need to register though) that has a small oven plan.
Also, the Kiko Denzer book tells you how to make the oven with clay from your own back yard.
For a ready made solution, you could go out and buy a Big Green Egg. I use mine for baking bread, pizza as well as smoking (it's an awesome smoker -- keeps the heat at a constant temperature) and have used it in below freezing temperatures without issue.
I was going to go the route you are going in, but then my wife bought one for my birthday and that killed that project. Although I long for a clay oven to cook in, the egg is pretty much the same thing but with more convenience.
You might like this book; Build You Own Earth Oven
http://www.handprintpress.com/books/build-your-own-earth-oven/
Edit: I found it cheaper on amazon.
An earth oven seems more approachable than a brick one to me. Then again, I've been saying for nine years or so that I'm going to build one and still haven't made it happen...Kiko Denzer's earth oven book