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 Great book easy to read, easy to do! Aug 25, 2010
I think this is a great book. I'm no master baker or anything but the book really goes into good detail on the earth Oven. It offers great ideas to personalize your oven as well.
Good book, want to start building May 30, 2010
It seems to have good approach to building a clay oven in this book. I think you probably have to learn as you go, as experience is great teacher, but I think it is nice having someone who has done something before share their experience with those who are in need of it.
It has allot of pictures and drawings to show how to build your oven, I am exited to start. wonderful, helpful step by step guide to help you in the journey to creating a great oven.
Get your hands dirty! Apr 25, 2010
This book is an excellent guide on the path to creating your own oven. If you are looking for detailed plans to follow step-by-step, this book will be helpful, but will likely disappoint. If instead, you approach building your oven as you do (or should) approach making bread...as a process instead of a procedure, you will be greatly rewarded. The author provides ample options, details, and examples to allow you to start on your journey, with an emphasis on experimenting and sourcing local materials.
After a few nights spent reading this book, I managed to successfully build a simple test oven in about 4 hours of actual work time (5-1/2 hours total, which includes digging the clay out of the yard, picking the kids up from school, and sipping some wine once complete while the kids decorated!). The oven physically turned out great, was easy to build, and I have learned much from the experience. Now I am eagerly waiting for everything to dry out enough to successfully bake pizza (the April showers may be good for the garden, but haven't been helping my mud oven dry out!).
As the author says: Experiment! There is plenty of information to allow you to confidently get your hands dirty building a few simple ovens with minimal time and monetary investment (I spent ~$50 on a fire-brick floor, and another $15 on cement blocks so I wouldn't have to move rock for the foundation). The major investment in these ovens is the time (labor) spent in construction, which is time well spent. The afternoon I spent building my first oven is chalked up to experience (you cannot truly appreciate building with earth until you've squished it between your fingers and toes!), family time (my six year old twins had a *GREAT* time helping me play in the mud!), and actual productivity (I did manage to build a complete oven from start to finish in an afternoon).
I encourage everyone to re-connect with the earth in a way most of us haven't since we were children and thought splashing in mud-puddles was fun...get this book, dig some dirt, get your hands dirty, and build something!
If your interests extend beyond ovens, you might also want to pick up the excellent Building With Cob: A Step-by-step Guide by Adam Weismann & Katy Bryce.
 This Book Gives You Courage Apr 22, 2010
I have always wanted an outdoor oven. I love to cook, bake, and hate the (cooking - oven) heat during the summer. When I came across this book a few years ago I wasn't quite ready, but kept thinking about it. Then I started going to different web sites and exploring what other people are doing with outdoor bake ovens (WOW! - People are talented!). When I decided to actually tackle an outdoor bake oven for myself I came back to this book and purchased it.
The author makes you realize that you can do it yourself. It is empowering. My outdoor bake oven isn't exactly like his, but that is the beauty of this book. He doesn't recommend you make it 'just like his', you can make it as you like still using the same or similar techniques.
If you want a bake oven for yourself, read this book. You can do it. Mine cost me a total of $325.00 - and that was on the high end. You can do it for a lot less. I would not have had the courage to even start this project without the book, but if kids can make an oven (under his direction), I KNEW I could! And the recipes are great too!
And now that I'm actually baking in my oven... WOW it is AWESOME! The food is great. Great pizzas, bread, roasts, casseroles, and whatever you can think of to cook. We love it!
Build Your Own Earth Oven. Apr 09, 2010
Excellent book. Covers all the basic steps to building a clay oven, as well as presenting variations , other alternatives, and presenting a compelling case for hands on living.
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