Outdoor ovens with earthen veneers. Examples of pure cob and adobe, and refractory castable cement over bricks.
There are two common ways of building cob ovens: one is to make a mold of sand, upon which the oven is built, and after which the sand is removed through the oven door. The other is the Quebec-style oven, in which the form is built of saplings bent into a hemispherical shape, upon which the oven is built, and after which the saplings are burned out in the first fire. Another less green option, castable refactory cement, can withstand temps to 2200º F.
The Horno: A Traditional Outdoor Earth Oven
Hornos are traditional pueblo, beehive shaped, adobe ovens. Used mostly for baking and roasting, other cooking can take place at the opening while the horno is being fired. A fire is built inside allowing the thick adobe chamber to absorb heat. After two or three hours coals are removed to a nearby brazier for other use or to reheat the oven as needed.
Related Post: Outdoor Stone Oven
Whatever is to be baked or roasted is placed in the oven and the smoke hole and doorway sealed. An horno can maintain a useable, though slowly dropping, temperature for several hours. Workshops in Payson, Arizona: paysonsmallbusiness
Horno ovens directly outside the kitchen at El Rancho de Las Golondrinas, New Mexico. sarayasjournal.blogspot
Horno at Casa San Ysidro.
Photo by Anne Galer.
thegalergroup.wordpress
Horno at Taos Pueblo is possibly the oldest continually inhabited community in the USA. Many adobe walls, domes and vaults are made of individual sun-dried mud bricks, bonded together with mud mortar. Cob construction is hand formed by shaping thick layers of mud directly on the wall or object. shimercrazytrip.blogspot
Horno built by the Kino School in Tucson, Arizona.
Originally found at kinoschool.org/community/the-horno-project/
Earth Ovens Around The World
This small figurine dates from around 500 BC and is clearly an early wood-fired oven. Vienna Art History Museum. fornobravo
Earth oven with old pieces of reused concrete for a base. Floor and walls were insulated with hardwood shavings, cob mixture and glass bottles. fornobravo
Cob oven by Hendrik Lepel. The design cut in to the cob is a technique called sgraffito. Found on Facebook
Free form cement oven.
Originally found at howjunction.com/2022/in-the-garden/how-to-build-a-free-form-bread-oven-1/
Cob oven by Michael Bláha.
ilovecob.com
Cob Oven by Cunnings Oven Builders.
Lots more interesting ovens here: cunningsovenbuilders.blogspot
This happy cob oven was built at Deanne Bednar’s Straw Bale Studio (strawbalestudio.org) in Oxford, MI, where she runs all manner of natural building projects. facebook.com
Cob oven at the City Farmer’s Cob Shed in Vancouver, Canada. Here’s an interview on YouTube with the project leader John: youtube.com
Community kitchen cob oven at the Boom Festival in Portugal. The festival has won several awards for using natural building and permaculture principles that ensure they leave no trace on the earth. boomfestival.org
This cob oven was made by Hendrik Lepel.
It is protected with a living roof.
A close-up of the oven: fornobravo
Wood fired oven (adobe formed atop sand) placed beneath a vine covered pergola. A tile covered work area links to an adjacent barbeque. woodfiredworkshops
A Jamie Oliver oven.
Kit chamber with rendered dome.
Originally found at jamieoliver.com/wood-fired-ovens/oven-range/residential-oven
A Jamie Oliver oven.
Kit chamber with refractory cement dome. Originally found at jamieoliver.com/wood-fired-ovens/oven-range/residential-oven
Wood fired oven.
woodfiredovenworkshops
Cob oven by Kiko Denzer built for Intaba’s kitchen restaurant in Corvallis, Oregon. facebook.com
Ceramic kit by Mugniani.
mugnaini.com
A cob wood fired barrel oven, and cooktop at the Natural Building Extravaganza in Asheville, NC. Originally found at firespeaking.com/portfolio/natural-building-extavaganza-2/
Earth Oven Resources
- Frequently Asked Questions – Hand Print Press by authors of
‘Build your own Earth Oven’. - Adobecookbook.tumblr.com
- DIY – Sunset’s backyard Adobe oven
- Instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Pizza-Oven
- Build an Outdoor Pizza Oven for $20 – Slice Pizza Blog
- Building a Clay Oven – The Basics « The Clay Oven
- Natural Building Colloquium– Building a horno.
- Permaculture Magazine Article The Simple Art of Making an Earth Oven
- Grit.com – Backyard Bread Oven
- Mother Earth News – Build Your own Wood-fired Earth Oven
- Little City Farm – littlecityfarm cob-oven
- Cob Oven Workshop- lots of pics: Masonry Heater Association
- Backwoodshome.com
- Two-chambered cob by Ernie and Erica: youtube
- Cob Brick: runningwave.blogspot.com
The Best Books On Earth Ovens
Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer and Hannah Field amazon.com
Start the fire in the front – shift further back once established. When roaring, push it to the back, so the roof of the chamber heats evenly.
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I am building an adobe oven and I was wondering if I could use marble slab for the floor of the oven as the cook surface. I am putting the slab on top of firebrick. Have you heard of this being done
Hi Laurie,
Sounds a fun project. As to the marble, I personally do not know anyone who used marble as a cook surface in an outdoor oven. But all kinds of questions arise as to the idea: how thick is the marble? Are there extreme temperature changes in your area? Will there be stress on the edges from the upper part of the oven? I have googled the idea and see people use marble as bread cooking stones…but see no use as a base…sorry I could not be of more help!
building own
old orange recipes photos of ovens are opportune
Mary
is it okay to use a bond adhesive to secure paver stones for he base of the cobb oven. when the adhesive dries and is non-flammable and non-toxic
I love forgathering utile info, this post has got me even more info! .
i love baking
Hello please any advice on the following
a) How long to burn out the hazel structure of oven
b)can we naturally glaze final coat with oak pigment glaze n how?
c)advice re chimney at back of oven and use of flexi silver chimney re it coming out of bender n making it obscure thanks
These are all so cool. I cant wait to get started on my own.
Iv got kiko denzers book on my wish list. I can’t wait to get my hands on his book! The craftsmanship is wonderful and creative! I love everyone’s ideas. I’ll put a design on mine to give it some beauty.
How high off the ground does the oven have to be to stay away from ground moisture. Also can 12′ square concrete paving stones be used in the floor of the oven. Or is it better off with fire brick. What kind of clay can be bought to be mixed with sand to be formed over the oven. Can fire brick be used to shape the dome of the oven?
Can a large square piece of flat slate about 1′ thick be used on the oven floor on top of the fire brick?
I’d like to put the bottom of colored glass bottles in a design in my mud oven, similar to the ones people often use in cob houses. I’m imagining I’d lose some heat that way, but I’m thinking not too much. My concern is whether the heat would break the glass… Has anyone made a mud oven with glass bottle decorations? Is there any reason it can’t be done?