The Brick Pizza Oven
The Brick Pizza Oven - Overview
A brick pizza oven has the following aspects:
The arch: This is the opening through which the pizza is put into and removed from the oven.
The chimney. The chimney of a pizza oven is located near the front of the oven.
The dome: This is the oven itself. A pizza oven should be heated in the range 750 - 900 degrees Farenheit (400 - 480 degrees Centigrade). Therefore a quality brick pizza oven will be made of heat resistant bricks.
There are several pizza oven brick options, including:
- Medium duty firebrick - this brick type has less alumina (around 35%) and therefore will not get as hot as a high duty firebrick - this is an advantage because the oven should not be hotter than 900F / 480C. Medium duty firebricks are good for the range up to 900 degreed Farenheit (480 degrees C).
- Standard clay bricks - this type of brick has the advantage of being lower cost than firebricks. However they have a tendancy to splinter, furthermore they do not conduct heat as well as firebricks.
Avoid the following brick options for your pizza oven:
- High duty firebrick - these bricks can take very high temperatures, up to 1500 degrees Farenheit / 815 degrees Centigrade, due to their high alumina content and will cause the oven to get far too hot for cooking pizza.
- Concrete bricks - they will not take the heat you need.