There are a few avenues to source it from - you can buy it, dig it up from the ground, or if you live in the right area, you can use an abandoned termite mound (depending on local regulations - see Note below), which is what I did on the River Cottage Australia farm. Check the moisture of the interior wall. Once all the sand has been removed, your door has been built and you’re certain that the interior is dry, build a fire in the oven and let it burn for two to three hours. The oil from the chorizo imparts a delicious flavour. If it’s your first oven, I’d recommend starting small, making it just big enough to cook a couple of pizzas or a couple of loaves of bread; that would give you an oven floor of about 70cm. How to Build a Simple Wood-Fired Oven My pizza, of course! Have you ever eaten a wood fired pizza? Watch Paul build his oven in River Cottage Australia on SBS Food (Channel 33) and on SBS On Demand. There’s nothing I enjoy more on a cold winter’s day than a steaming hot toastie, laden with butter and cheese. In Australia’s north, people have been known to dig out holes in abandoned mounds and bake directly in them! Making a wood-fired oven is a fast and relatively simple DIY home project that can be completed in a few weekends, even if you aren’t an accomplished mason or builder. Check local regulations for what applies where you are, including what may apply on private land. River Cottage Australia's Paul West shares how to make your own bread and pizza oven. If that’s the case, remove the rest of the clay from the door opening, smooth edges and gently scoop out the sand from the interior. Now it’s time to start mixing and laying on the clay. Wood fired ovens are usually built using one of two materials, brick or clay. Build the pile to create a nice hemisphere that’s around 40-50cm high. Next you have to decide how big to make the oven. Building a WFO (wood Fired Oven): In the spirit of off the gridness and in an effort to be more self-sufficient, my wife and I recently tackled a new project at home. That’s the kind of consistency we’re after. Once you have the sand bed sorted, lay the fire bricks on top, making sure that you press them firmly into the sand and that they all sit nice and flush. The ideal accompaniment for a piece of fatty, fried pork, such as bacon or sausages. Once the fire has burned down, remove the coals and place the door on, your very own wood-fired oven is now ready to bake! You can use the base for any toppings - or if you can't decided, try all three of my ideas. Pack the clay around the mound of sand, starting at the base and making the walls around 15cm thick. This will prevent the sand sticking to the clay when it’s removed later. Paul and friends get into the hard work of turning an abandoned termite mound into oven-ready mud. Lay a piece of paper over the opening and mark the shape to create a template. Gradually build the walls upwards until the clay forms a complete dome. Build your own wood-fired earth oven with this easy-to-make oven and bake crusty breads, tasty pizzas and roasted meats. Use some chalk to mark out a 70cm circle in the middle of the fire bricks and start mounding wet sand into the circle. Lay your template over a piece of timber and cut it to size. Now it’s time to let the clay dry. That’s the bulk of the building done. I can’t promise you that your clay oven will be perfect, or last forever, but the good news is that if it breaks, you can use the same materials to learn from your mistakes and start again. If you’re looking to build an oven that will be standing for the grandkids and are happy to drop some serious coin then I’d recommend having an expert build you a brick oven, though if you’re a bit of a DIYer and happy to have a crack at making your own then the clay oven is for you. (River Cottage Australia), withstand higher temperatures and retain heat better, Episode guide | Palisa Anderson's Water Heart Food, Episode guide | Cook like an Italian with Silvia Colloca, Black Summer bushfires anniversary: a struggling food industry one year on, Eternal Sunshine: a trip across this Melbourne suburb's cultural history, My grandmother's red date and lotus seed soup, Clay from an abandoned termite mound [Note: state and local regulations vary; in NSW, the Office of Heritage & Environment advises not to remove mud or interfere with termite mounds in national parks. ]. First of all, you’ll need to select a location; choose somewhere that isn’t too far away from the house but far enough away that the smoke won’t fill your lounge room when the oven is cranking (you should also check whether there are any council or state government regulations controlling this type of construction, or smoke emissions). The good news is that you can build a very simple wood fired oven in your backyard and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. It’s crucial to stop any extra water from getting on your oven at this stage, so I recommend building a simple roof over it.