FLOWER POT KITCHEN: WOOD FIRED CLAY OVEN COLLAPSE !!!

13 Aug 2013

WOOD FIRED CLAY OVEN COLLAPSE !!!

OOOPS, BLAST AND DARN IT !!!

After cooking a lovely Sunday lunch, we were indoors tidying up, when there was a muffled bang! I did not think anything of it, then my husband came and said to me, I need you to have a sense of humour and to expect the worse. I knew immediately that my oven must have had an accident.

The heat from the oven has cracked the slate base that I build the firebrick floor on top of. This is my error, I did not do any homework about what the base of the pizza oven should be made from when I built it. If I had put more than one supporting beam in place then the base would have still cracked under the heat but the supporting beams would have stopped the floor from falling through.

To repair I am going to build a new wall left and right, front to back inside the base and then slip on top RSJ supporting beams all the way across, then a heat resistant 1000 degree asbos board and then finally slide in a new floor layer and pug up, so in effect I am building a new base floor from below to support the existing base floor, as I believe the rest of the base floor will probably crack from future heat over time this is to minimise any movement of my oven firebrick floor and add permanent support.

I am missing cooking in my oven already, so hopefully I plan on getting this work underway next week and finishing within a week. Then I think she will have to be christened again with something spectacular, like pitt beef or another pizza party...

4 comments:

Mark the Ark13 August 2013 at 12:23
What a b----r!!
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Kristi Riches14 August 2013 at 11:15
I am just grateful that the rest of the base has held fast!!!
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Anonymous16 August 2013 at 03:38
Oh, what a shame! I hope it all goes smoothly fixing it up. Maybe firebricks next time? I have used clay pavers ( my second build too, my first collapsed :(. This time around taking it very slowly and letting it dry between layers. I commented before and you said you would love to see a photo when I was done, but just wondering if you have an email address or something? I have documented my build at The fresh loaf in forums- beginning the rebuild. Good luck with fixing up your floor, you did a great job with your oven and really inspired me, after two builds you will be quite an expert!
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Kristi Riches16 August 2013 at 05:52
Hello, thanks for your kind words, You have just hit the nail on the head and really helped, I will look into doing the new floor underneath with fire bricks, thank you. My email is riches4eh@btinternet.com, how exciting cant wait to see your build. :-)
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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.