I was just thinking the same thing. It majorly reminds me of Grant's old videos on TKOR. It's as if he was reincarnated. I know that doesn't make sense on multiple levels, but I have an imagination I guess. Lol
you can also add a pizza stone or steel to the top of the cooking surface to remove any fears of lead and also reduce the fears of the paver crumbling.
You can get a hotter fire (with the same amount of fuel) if you put the burning wood up on a grate, or anything that lets some air in under the fire. This creates a stronger draft through the whole burning chamber and out the chimney, which is what we want.
I've been cooking in one of these for years. Generally I haven't had an issue with needing to cook from the side, but I will consider it. The design of the oven naturally draws in air on the bottom and the flame/heat moves to the rear to go up the gap to the top chamber. If you can't weld, just build yourself a base out of inexpensive cinder block to the height you like and put a paver on top as your oven base. this allows you to place the oven on whatever surface you like, preferably a concrete patio of some sort. Cinder blocks in the center will support your base pave stone if you get heat cracks. My oven is on the ground for now. I have 2 pieces of 1 1/2" angle iron about 3 ft long turned down with the angle facing up that I use as rails for a piece of expanded metal that I build my fire outside the oven on and then slide to the rear once it is burning well. I always cook pizza on parchment paper. Lightly coat with olive oil and easily spread your dough out to form the crust. Parchment paper makes it super easy to get your pizza peel under, and you don't have to worry about contaminates from the stepping stone. Put a little flour on the pizza peel to help things slide. I have found getting my cooking stone to about 450f gets me perfect leoparding(brown spots on the bottom). I've gotten it to 600f before, but the bottom of the crust burns before the toppings are cooked crispy or the cheese begins to brown. Rotate pizza around a couple of times during the cooking and monitor closely so you don't burn. The slot that the flame/heat is coming up produces a lot of heat. I rotate on my pizza peel gently grabbing the corner of the parchment paper and put it back in. The more you use your oven the more you will develop skills and senses for the process. Be careful, your friends and family will love coming over for wood fired pizza. I just make them bring beer.
I think you could go no less with the temperature, but go higher. The reason why pizza oven have temperatures above 700°F is that nothing has time to burning before other things have time to Cook. And its literally a 90sec job for one pizza. Some good ideas, especially the sliding fire, especially if it was on a grate for more airflow, and ash falling down for later cleanup, gotta try incorporaring that to mine. Im doing meetups with my famili and friends where a single person if there aren't many of us, or pairs/teens each do their own pizza with ingridiends i prepare for them, and then I put the all for about 1.5, 2 minutes, and we have a game who made the better pizza, based on look, and taste if there are enough slices so everyone can take everyones pizza
@@TheRealElectrofox Common Sense dictates that you pause the video and count the bricks. 7.5 bricks per layer, 6 layers of bricks + 2 smaller bricks to get the bottom level. Now, common sense also dictates that if your pavers for the floor and roof are different to the ones used in the video, you will need a different number of bricks.
Personally, I wouldn't use paver stones as the base. It might not have lead, but that doesn't mean it's food safe. I'd place something like a pizza stone on top of it and cook on that. Secondly, just use fire bricks. They cost a little more than regular bricks, but they're designed to handle direct exposure to flames. They won't fall apart, so the build would last long.
I used regular bricks for my pizza/bread oven Works great. First time you fire it up just go slow to build up the heat. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wuvRWU1hyzs.html
I used you ideas , I found 24x24 papers. I used 3 high cinter blocks that i had available. Free I put sand in the holes of the block for insulation. But had to add block in the middle to raise the fire . My oven sits above 30 " high and sits on a 4x4 concrete pad I had Free again. My fire is in the back of the oven My oven temp has reached 780 to 830. It's hard to keep the temp for long periods of time.
Your genius is exactly what I needed for a pending diy pizza outdoor oven. I was inspired and encouraged. Your creativity and thoughtful analysis was point on. And yes, the pizza looked perfect! Thank you!
I live in Italy near Naples, and I'm impressed with the final product. By the way, Italians make pizza with what Americans call pepperoni, but they call it "Diavolo," because they use spicy salami. ("Peperoni" in Italian means "peppers," so if you ask for a pepperoni pizza in Italy, you're going to get one with peppers on it. I have a pizza oven attachment for my Weber, which works with a little massaging. The hardest part is getting the thing to 700F. One little pointer is that pizza makers in Italy don't use corn meal, they use a flour called Semola (or Semolina) rimacinata. You can probably find it in any grocery store. It doesn't stick as much to the dough, so less comes off in the oven. And you don't need to use much, just a sprinkle. Shake the pizza back and forth on the peel to make sure it's loose. You may want to use a pizza stone, because I'm not sure pavers are food grade. Anyway, nice job. Your pizza looked perfect.
@@kloapan I don't know, but I suppose if the slab can tolerate 1000 degrees Fahrenheit without cracking, it might work. Note, however, that we don't use granite as a pizza stone, so I don't know what the result would be. If you try it, use a stone you don't care if it breaks. I suggest buying a real pizza stone or pizza steel.
That's exactly what happened to me when we visited Pisa, Italy back in 1989. I was stationed at VQ-2 in Rota, Spain and my wife and I did a Eurail tour around Europe before transferring back to the states. I ordered a pepperoni pizza and they brought out a pizza with big banana peppers on it. When I tried to explain what I wanted the waiter said "Oh you want salami" They fixed it for me and it was the best pizza ever ! We loved Italy ! I wish I could post a picture from then.
This is the best build that I have seen for this pizza oven. I don't weld so I am going to just stack up some cinder blocks to raise it higher. Going to build it next week when we get back from vacation!
Welp, I'm making my man one of these for his birthday next week. I can't weld, but I have an older rusted out fire pit I can cobble up for a base. Getting it off the ground was my issue and you gave me a solution. This is the shizzle! 🎉 Thank you!
Make extra dough and when you’re done with the pizzas use the residual heat of the oven to bake your own bread. Leave a few bricks to warm up on the top of the oven while you’re cooking the pizzas and use it to close the entrance of the oven to bake you bread.
Several years ago, I got several hundred bricks for free from an old building that was demolished. The owner was happy I took them and built a mean oven that was great for pizza parties. One trick that I learnt from a chimney guy was to use mud and molasses or brown sugar for the mortar mixture. As the heat, burns the sugar it foam to create a glue. Worked great! We moved to another state and I still miss my oven. :( I might give this a try since they are selling reclaimed old bricks now in my area.
I'm a little confused by this comment. Where exactly do you brush the oil? Under the pizza where it would become the bottom or the place where you are laying the sauce directly on top of?
I did the same mod for my outdoor masonry grill, but added a 30psi regulator and 5 inch burner to the back inside of the unit; 900 deg in 12 minutes; a medium pizza is done in 90 seconds on a round pizza stone. Great video, thanks, I feel validated now!
Great idea/project! An idea I had when you were talking about not putting on concrete directly but building a gravel or sand place to put it, what if you just put down another paver? Then it would all be removable/portable and you wouldn't have to have a gravel or sand place to put it. Also, if you wanted to use on concrete, the paver would absorb and block some of the heat from damaging the concrete. And it would help with leveling the other layer. Get the bottom paver level, and everything else above already will be.
I did something similar but I built the base out of 6x8 wood blocks at 28" off the ground. I also used 2" thick x 4" x 9" fire brick for the cooking surface supported by metal "L" channel with a 24" paver as the base. The 24" paver on the top cracked severely after a few fires but it hasn't fallen and I'll prolly use some fire proof adhesive to to secure it. I'll off set the direction next. That's a great idea! thank you for this video, it was very helpful. Keep up the good work!
Great sharing of the inexpensive brick pizza oven. I use a Cuisinart propane pizza oven. The pizza came out great-liked the build on the frame the best (no kneeling on ground to cook). The side fire & opposite for the entrance makes sense.
fantastic tips Nate... it's great to see something so simple that's pretty accessible to a lot of folks. I'd love it if you could build a version 2 with a little more money spent as an intermediate vs the bottom end 'cheap' version you've shown here. > perhaps using 24x24 unglazed ceramic tiles as the oven's base which I believe would be a lot more heat-tolerant than your pavers.
The beauty is in the build and the getting a good alternative for the less money. You could get an artisan to build you one if you want a costlier version. Love Nate's just as he built it.
Great looking DIY project! Gonna try this one myself. Tip from a former pizzaiolo, though: Don't try to 'launch' your pizza into the oven. Instead, get the pizza positioned in the oven where you want it, still on the peel, then quickly pull the peel back from underneath the pizza. It'll take a few tries to get it right, but once you get the hand of it, you won't have any more issues with pizzas hitting the side of the oven.
U just changed my life , was gonna build one more complicated , I will just modify your idea , thank you so much for tip with crack and check the chemicals
The addition of the supporting steel is genius. I think Grady of Practical Engineering has a video about it as well, but essentially in many area of engineering, creating a visible partial failure before a full catastrophic failure allows for a "slow failure" which allows you to repair during downtime rather than having a fast failure during a key moment (and dropping your pizza into the flames as your hungry guests watch on). Great video!
I do like this design, especially the side loading idea and the framing. Somewhat more expensive than using the middle paver stone, use a Steel rather than a stone at all. This way you get the benefit of the fire below as well as the heat circulating above.
At these temps, a steel would be too much, and would burn the pizza! A steel is good for a home oven that only gets to 500-550, but at the 700-750 of this oven, it would conduct heat too quickly.
Excellent video, loved the simplicity of the project. I always thought a pizza oven was a way to complicated project to attempt, but this is something even a klutz like me could attempt with a fairly high probable outcome of success! Of course the welding is way out of my league but I am sure there are other ways to support the pavers and raise it up high enough to use it with ease. Thanks very much for making this video!
I love your videos so much. You are the only person that I know of, who is making old school content, I just love this so much. Don't upgrade your cameras or hier any people to do on-camera stuff
@@philipchang4453 No problem!!! people overthink it. Put two fire bricks on edge inside your wood stove. To hold the pizza pan above the coals about 3 or 4 in. Or anything you can finagle together to hold a pizza pan above the coals. Obviously burn some good hardwood down to embrace. Slide your pizza and on that rack maybe rotate and it's done. ENJOY MY FRIEND. 👌🙏🇺🇲🇺🇲
Might be interesting to make an aerocrete base to insulate against the heat. You get lots of bonus points for going easy on the sauce. Great looking pizza!
Cracks come from excess moisture in the bricks and being heated to fast. Low and slow is the name of the game in addition to keeping your brick oven dry.
While true, a lot of those paver bricks that come from a department store have fillers of some form in them. Since it is not a homogeneous brick like an actual wall brick, filler and stone expand and contract at different rates.
Those are some clever improvements! You actually blew my mind a little bit because I've been planning an insulated oven with the same layout as the original and hadn't considered the practical bit of not wanting to always need to reach over the fire box. Brilliant!
I saved this video to my watch later based on the thumbnail and my 5yo loves watching food videos. When it started and I saw Nate I thought great how did I find a TKOR video and nearly turned it off. My son convinced me to keep watching and I realized this content is what I missed about TKOR, building to learn and experimenting in a more mature way. I am definitely subscribing and I hope we get more of the same.
Great video - lot’s of really useful ideas! Just one quibble: What we call “pepperoni” here in the USA is called “salame piccante”. It’s a very popular pizza topping in Italy. So no Italians will be offended by your pizza. They’ll just laugh at the name a little.
The sauce and cheese though... use a can of good tomatoes and get a mozzarella ball, it will taste 1000x better! Don't waste a nice oven with jar sauce!
Your pizza looks better than most of the ones I have seen that were cooked in the store bought units. I will build one as soon as I can find toe components here in Roatan, thanks
Nate, excellent job at making the pizza oven, and the pizza! I would love to see you build an offset smoker from a 55 gallon drum for beef brisket or ribs.
The side loaded design with the bricks completely destroys the air path. The other side of the oven won't be as hot, and you will lose a lot of smoke that goes directly to exhaust. With proper airflow, you don't have to worry about the fire underneath.
Nice result another improvement. Instead of 1 gap at the back on the inside have 2 or 3 since you have the metal support frame you can get more heat from 3 sides of the pizza from the fire. 👍👍👍💡
OMG, EXCELLENT!!!! and Cheap, Cheap. I’ve watched tons of videos. Your is the best yet. It looks easy and I will try tomorrow. Thank You. Store bought you don’t know what’s in it. I can make my own even using cauliflower dough, just became pre-Diabetic. The less cars the better.
Great ideas. Use clay bricks and 2 to 3 unglazed big ceramic tiles on top of each other for the bases that can take the heat - no need for support and will last long. I will make the top higher to fit a roast pan to make it more versatile
With your raised oven, since you're building a fire directly on a paver stone base, you might consider replacing it with fire bricks. In fact, since the entire first level and the cooking surface are exposed to the highest temperatures, you might use fire bricks for them as well
@@TiltmanMusic 2000F rated firebricks are 4 dollars a piece, but are 4-1/2 in. x 9 in. x 1-1/4 and he only needed 48 of the smaller ones so with this he’d use half of them so less than 100 bucks when you only need 24.
@@omarious The comment was referring to the paver base that the fire was on, and the base that the pizza is on that is under the fire. There is no reason to use firebricks for the side walls. Normal clay building bricks are fine, and cheaper. How are the fire bricks going to work as a base? You need a big slab as a base.
@@TiltmanMusic I've made a oven similar to this. I cook my pizza on a "base" of firebricks. Six in total. The rest of the oven is made from clay bricks. The firebricks rest on 4 rebars, stretching across the width of the oven. I cut slots in the clay bricks for the rebar (about 1 inch wide) and as deep as the rebar. That way the rebar is flush with the bricks and I could stack more bricks to make the "roof" without leaving a vent. For the roof I did the same thing with the rebar, but used clay bricks. I'm actually considering replacing the roof with firebricks too, for that extra but of heat reflection.
Kudos on your dough handling skills. I’ve watched at least a hundred pizza making videos on RU-vid and they often fall short on handling even when they’re trying to be instructive.
I need to watch this about 50 more times so I can find some minor imperfection to make a federal case about and then offer my stellar expertise (despite that I have _never_ attempted this) 😂
Nice video. Some mods I did. I use clay brick which can tolerate more heat and for the bottom layer use brick that has holes in it such that the fire gets more airflow from the bottom. I also used old granite counter tops I found to make the main slabs. Thinner and can tolerate massive heat. I am concerned your metal base will accelerate the cracking of your slabs as it will quickly concentrate heat in one area, thus accelerate the cracking. You want evenly distributed heat to avoid cracking.
My pizza tastes fine in the inside oven. But this is cool to know that we can have a bake oven outdoors if the oven goes out. Lots of people have pavers n brick to put something together. Thanks for this video. And the ideas! 😊
I found you on Guga's Channel and I am so looking forward to building this. I was surprised that it cooked the right side since the heat from the exhaust is on the left and can escape right out the front left. Glad I found you.
I remember seeing something similar to this call a Limestone oven the big difference is you would dig a big hole and put the whole thing inside of it which would also help prevent you from putting your hands near the flame since that part would basically would be buried while the rest of the oven will sit above ground and obviously the entire thing would be made from limestone.
I would use some cheap “fire bricks” to line the fire box to prolong the life of the outside building bricks. They are sold at tractor supply or anyplace that sells wood stoves. Yes, it will reduce the size of the fire box, but shouldn’t effect the heating of the baking plate above.
About to close on my first house....I have plans to make a large cooking/patio area with a pizza oven as the center piece. that pizza looked incredible!
Oh man, I haven't eaten in over 36 hours, some kinda gut bug has me flat on my back. Thought Nate was comparing ovens not making the food of the gods! Man I'm so hungry now. That looked like awesome pizza. Maybe cook it a few seconds longer. The pepperoni had curled up but hadn't completely dried and crisped yet. Beautiful job, Nate!
Nate, this was great..(right after I typed this, I realized the rhyme...lol...). Seriously, though...I'm an old guy now, 56, but I can still spin a pie (was a pizza-maker in my teens). I completely appreciate this episode about the pizza oven. I've never thought about doing an oven this way. You got my wheels turning....I may have to try this. Thank you! p.s. I liked, and subscribed.
LOVE LOVE LOVE your content Nate!!! This is wayyy cooler than the TKOR's content and why I subscribe to you! I understand that it was Grant's wishes for the TKOR channel to become a hands free business sorta thing but I'm not in elementary school anymore and your projects are more sophisticated and mature. This reminded me of the time grant made his own dough in the wild with stones and wheat and I believe he made a small pizza with it lol. The question now is do I build this at home? I will in the future... but for now tryin to lose some weight 😅
I love using fruit wood for flavor! 🔥🔥 I also grab a fresh branch of rosemary, basil, oregano, &/or a handful of thyme. Right away when you put the food on for maximum effect! 🔥🔥
Great Job! I wonder if having the fire being able to come up on the two sides (and maybe the back too) might give better heat distribution so you don't have to turn it. That would also give an even larger oven area.
Dammm!! Just saw this now. Was staying at our house in northern Thailand and was getting a craving for my homemade pizza. Wish I saw this as easily could have slapped this up.
i think the next improvement would be to find some way to incorporate a dome ceiling. Something premade that can handle high heat, like your firepit lid, but enclosed instead of mesh to hold in the heat. That way you could potentially get a higher heat, and also be able to cook taller items like bread.
I was thinking this exact thing. I wonder if a used grill domed lid would work. Possibly for a short time as I don't know if they can even handle these temperatures.
Really cool. And like everyone's saying, it would be improved with a cordierite stone, firebrick, and raising the fire off the floor in a basket of expanded steel. The only problem is that what you've built is an offset smoker, and you're going to have to manage the quality of the smoke. To avoid bad flavors you're going to have to either control the oxygenation to the fire, or wait til you're down to embers before throwing on the pizza.
Inspiring. The ventillation slit to the cooking space makes it much faster to heat up and smokes the food. However unfiltered smoke is highly likely to be carcinogen. The heat should envelop a closed cooking space without the smoke entering it to be safer.
@vagolyk professional wood burning Naples style brick ovens like restaurants have, have the wood fire going just off to the side of where the pizzas are placed. They don't seem to be worried about the smoke being in contact with the pizza. Also, what about the long tradition of BBQ Smokers for brisket, ribs, etc? In moderation, is this likely to be a problem?
@@GallowayKelly They are problematic. Ofcourse there are oarameters that can make it worse, like the type of wood, the condition of the wood or the heat of the burning, but to the best of my knowledge there is a reason why cold smoking is done with filtered smoke, and that itself is a preservation method, which means it is not exactly organic friendly.
I can't wait to look for this video again in 5 years when I've moved out of the city and have a bit of space to set one of these up. I guess until then, we're stuck with using the regular oven 😂
been planning to build something like this next summer in my cooking area but with high heat resistant materials such as fire brick and rendering it for long lasting use
