3: Inside the oven

How to get the pizza in or out of the oven? Off course, we need a door!

Cutting the door

After leaving the oven to dry for one night, I drew the measurements of the door opening on the cob using my finger and then cut it out with a pruning saw. There was also a piece of leftover marble that perfectly fitted into the oven entrance

Pulling out the sand

After waiting for 5 days, I felt certain enough to pull out the sand . This is just a matter of... well.... pulling out the sand, until there's only newspaper left inside.  There was some more marble left over, so while the oven was drying out a bit more, I finished the oven area off with more stones to support the bank and a nice tabletop. 

Lighting the first fire

 To speed up the drying without reaching too high temperatures, I first filled the oven one evening with glowing charcoal straight from the fireplace. Then 1 day later I lit another fire and left it burning for one night. 

Pizza time!

The oven survived these first fires and so time for PIZZA!!! 

Best way for me to make pizza's in the oven is to first build a nice big fire from small branches at the right side of the oven. Keep this fire burning for at least an hour. Then sweep all the fire to the left side of the oven. I use a wet natural broom to sweep away all the ash and charcoal. When the oven surface is clean I cook a plain pizza base in the oven for about half a minute (until air bubbles start to emerge and the dough is dry on the outside). Then add the topping to this surface and bake the pizza in the oven till the cheese melts golden brown. (in 2 to 4 minutes).