Customer Build Story · New Jersey
How to Build an Outdoor Bread Oven: The Boguslavsky Family’s 11-Weekend Build
A bare cement pad, 11 weekends of building with help from friends and family, and one big pizza day for about fifty guests. Here is the New Jersey backyard bread oven that fed the whole party.
- Built By
- The Boguslavsky Family
- Location
- New Jersey
- Oven Style
- Fire Brick Barrel
- Number of Photos
- 58
- Homeowner Review
- ★★★★★
Build Time-Lapse
Watch It Get Built
Eleven weekends of building in about 54 seconds. Press play, or grab the slider and scrub through all 43 build photos yourself.
Some projects you build for yourself. This one was built for the family. For 11 weekends, this New Jersey homeowner and his friends and family worked toward one big day: pizza day, with about fifty guests on the way. Here is how they did it.
Step 1 of 7
A Family Project From Day One
It started with a cement pad and a row of cinder blocks laid out on the patio, and the family was right there from the very first day. Course by course, the block walls went up with an opening left for wood storage, until the base was ready for its hearth.
Step 2 of 7
Laying the Firebrick Cooking Surface
An insulating layer went down on the hearth and cured under plastic, and brick trim finished the front edge. Then the firebrick cooking surface went in. Each brick was marked, cut, set and leveled until the cooking surface was flat, because this firebrick cooking surface is where every loaf would bake.
Step 3 of 7
The Barrel Rises
The foam form set the shape. Each firebrick was buttered with mortar and set against it, course by course, until the barrel closed overhead and the chimney went up front.
“With a ton of help from my friends and family…”
The homeowner
Friends and family pitched in over the weeks it took to finish the oven.
Step 4 of 7
Insulate, Shell, Smooth
To hold heat for long baking sessions, the barrel was wrapped in foil-faced insulation. Then the outer shell was built up and parged smooth, and the entry arch was finished inside and out.
Step 5 of 7
Signed by the Family
Every BrickWood oven starts from the same kit and plans. The finish is where a family makes it their own. Here, that meant a stucco-finished barrel with the family’s initials pressed right into it, then red brick veneer and a bright band of blue tile.
Day 1Finished
Drag across the photo (or just move your mouse) to go from cinder blocks on the patio to a finished brick oven.
Step 6 of 7
Bread From the Leftover Heat
The morning after the party, the oven was still around 250 degrees. A few logs and a couple of hours later, it was hot enough to bake bread, and the garlic and rosemary sourdough loaves came out with a ridiculously crunchy crust and a soft, airy interior.
Hover over the dots (or tap them on your phone) to explore the finished oven.
- Brick ChimneyBuilt at the front of the barrel and finished in brick to match the oven.
- Pizza Day18 pizzas for about fifty guests, all baked right here.
- Blue Tile AccentA bright band of blue tile wraps the hearth, the family’s signature touch.
- Fresh Sourdough LoafGarlic and rosemary sourdough, straight from the oven.
- Extended Side Prep CounterCounter space beside the oven for dough, peels and finished loaves.
- Natural Stone Veneer BaseThe block base is wrapped in natural stone veneer.
Step 7 of 7
Pizza Day: 18 Pizzas for Fifty Guests
Bread is only the beginning. On pizza day, the walls of the oven turned from soot black to ash white with half an hour to spare, and the first pizza went in around 3PM. By the end of the night, 18 pizzas had come out, from classic cheese and pepperoni to figs, gorgonzola and arugula, and the S’more dessert pizza was the most popular of the night.
The first pizza went in around 3PM and rose in front of my eyes, with the nice sourdough dough rising and blistering, cheese melting and the toppings browning!
The Boguslavsky Family · New Jersey
In His Own Words
★★★★★The Boguslavsky Family · New Jersey
The official start to the build was June 24th. After 11 weekends of adventures the P-day (Pizza day) was here at last. I fired the oven and said a little prayer that it would get hot enough to make pizzas. There is supposed to be a color change in the walls of the oven as the critical cooking temperature is reached, they are supposed to turn from soot black to ash white. Despite many trial runs in the previous week as I was curing the oven I had yet to see this transition, ergo I had yet to see my oven turn hot enough to feed the fifty guests anticipated to grace our back yard. With a party just a few short hours away, I fired the oven up and hoped for the best (with a backup plan to call Pizza Central if the oven was a bust)!
And yet, after following the handy instructions on how to light the oven included in the oven-building instructions, first the ceiling, and then the walls turned nice and white with half an hour to spare! The first pizza went in around 3PM and rose in front of my eyes, with the nice sourdough dough rising and blistering, cheese melting and the toppings browning! All in all 18 pizzas were made including such delights as:
- Cheese
- Pepperoni
- Roasted Red Pepper
- Blanca with garlic
- Figs, gorgonzola and Arugula
- Bacon and Scallops
- Pulled pork and Jalapeno
Last but not least as the party began to wind down, the guests had a few slices of my dessert pizzas, including the most-popular pizza of the night - S’more pizza with chocolate and marshmallows! I closed the oven up and found it still around 250 degrees this morning. A few logs and a couple of hours later the oven was hot enough to bake bread in. The sourdough loaves (garlic and rosemary) that came out were beyond fantastic with a ridiculously crunchy crust and a soft airy interior.
So, all in all, with a ton of help from my friends and family, I can officially declare that those folks at BrickwoodOvens.com were right when they boldly declared that: “Anyone can buy a pizza oven, and anyone can BUILD a pizza oven!” For if I can, then everyone can!
Best,
David
Your Turn
Build One for Your Family
The Boguslavsky family built this outdoor bread oven in 11 weekends with help from friends and family, then fed about fifty guests on pizza day. Your family can too. Start with our free oven plans and materials list, then pick the Mattone Barile Grande pizza oven kit that fits your backyard. Not sure which one? Compare all of our pizza oven kits.
