Subject: [Homestead] Clay oven, was Question time again
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:21:23 -0700
On Jan 14, 2008, at 8:53 PM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:
Baking or any cooking creates moisture. The warning in the
literature is
that if the outside shell is waterproof, it traps moisture in the
clay which
eventually crumbles and falls.
That makes sense at first thought. But thinking further, I wonder why
each new firing would not dry the moisture out of the clay. I
occasionally wash my pizza stones, so they get wet. But a short time
in a hot oven and they are dry again. I would think the same principal
would apply in the clay oven, especially if the doorway is left open
both during firing and during cooking.
Btw, seems to me that repeated firing on the order of seven hundred
degrees would have the effect of firing the interior clay into a hard
surface.
One of us needs to make two ovens, one with a waterproof outer layer
and one with just raw clay with a roof over or covered with a tarp
between uses. The rest of us will be really, really grateful to learn
the results. Seems to me the guy who already has a pile of firebricks
is the logical one to do the experiment. We will provide lots of
encouragement.