Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer New- 3RD EDITION, 2007 ISSUE Expanded to 132 pages, PLUS larger color photo section. Learn how easy and practical an outdoor baking oven is to build and use!! PLUS if you are ready to try "cob" [ before you build a house or other large project, then this is a wonderful way to get your hands muddy, create a work of art and be able to make great slow roasted/baked foods too! The design is a two layer retained heat oven, and can be built with onsite materials such as earth and sand, and uses a brick base-floor, or even an earthen floor. These ovens burn a small amount of wood, get very hot, and allow you to bake breads and meals slowly after the coals have been raked out. Kiko sculpts his ovens with wonderful animal and nature shapes. Build Your Own Earth Oven is a fully-illustrated handbook for making a simple, wood-fired, masonry-style oven. It provides clear, step-by-step instructions for building and firing the oven, as well as complete directions for making sourdough bread in the best (and simplest) artisan tradition. Earth ovens are far more simple but every bit as effective as a fancy brick hearth or modern, steam-injected commercial oven. The dense, three-to-twelve inch thick earthen walls store the heat of the fire; after the hot coals are removed, the hot walls radiate a steady, intense heat for hours. The resulting steamy environment is essential for the crisp, flavorful crusts of true hearth loaves, and you can easily build it for less than the price of a couple of fancy dough-rising baskets! Building with earth is safe, easy, inexpensive, and practical. Good building soil is usually right under your feet! Use it plain, or mixed with sand and straw. Build the simplest oven in a day! Adding a roof and foundation makes it permanent. The simple, round shape makes a beautiful garden sculpture, or can be sculpted into a fire-breathing dragon! Illustrated by the author with over a hundred drawings and photos, it includes inspiring color pictures of sculpted ovens and their builders, as well as further references on food, baking, and building. About the Author -- Kiko Denzer is an artist, writer, builder, and baker who has been working with earth since 1994. He is also the author of Dig Your Hands in the Dirt: A Manual for Making Art out of Earth, and other titlesImagine a huge Phoenix bird, its belly the oven, the flue its throat, with smoke escaping from the upturned beak! Children can help build these ovens, and play with earth at the same time. Complete instructions, 132 pages, 8.5x7, line drawings, and wonderful COLOR oven photographs of frog, squirrel, and Phoenix bird oven-bench, plus B&W of a snail and other fanciful ovens. |