Have you dreamed of building a simple wood fired outdoor pizza oven and making delicious pizzas or breads in your backyard? It is totally doable: here’s a super detailed DIY wood fired pizza oven tutorial to help get you started!
People have been building ovens for centuries in all parts of the world. You don’t need high tech pizza oven kit or any expensive materials to build an effective outdoor pizza oven.
This simple DIY wood fired outdoor pizza oven uses easy to find natural materials, and it works amazingly well ( see it in action below! ) and costs 1% of a pizza oven kit.
This type of oven is called earth oven, or cob oven. They are made with readily available and often free materials, and a proven technique that has been used for hundreds or even thousands of years. No special tools are needed, it is also great as a group project to create with friends!
In this DIY wood fired outdoor pizza oven tutorial ( with a free ebook at the end ) I will share:
Step by step process on how to build a simple and effective pizza oven
Helpful tips and resources, including a free ebook with lots more details on each step, DIY wood fired pizza oven design variations, etc.
By the way, if you are adventurous enough to be reading this, you HAVE to check out our easy and AMAZING no knead bread recipe, made with 50% whole grain, YUM!
Easy and AMAZING no knead bread recipe
Recently I attended an Earth Oven (aka Cob Oven) building class taught by one of the best teachers in this field, Kiko Denzer. ( Some of the helpful resources are affiliate links. Full disclosure here. ) Years ago, I was greatly inspired by his book : one of the best on oven building .
During the 6 hour long class, we built 2 portable earth ovens, which were auctioned the next day. I learned so much about building with earth and other readily available materials. There’s such simplicity and beauty to the process that I find deeply inspiring.
You are probably wondering –
What can you make in a simple DIY earth outdoor pizza oven? Does it really work?
These 3 pictures are from our friend Bill, who bought the earth pizza oven made by the class last year. He loves it so much and decided to join our class this year so he can build another one!
Bill has been using his DIY wood fired pizza oven almost once a week for a year now. I asked him to share what are his favorite things to make, here’s what Bill said-
” you do get a long cooking time from each firing if you think of cooking along the temperature curve with pizza first, bread, then braises of all sorts.( pulled pork,beans, rice of all ethnic cooking styles) pies and cookies and then overnight meats like carnitas. the end temp. in the cob oven is long in the 250 f range and is great for drying fruits, toasting nut’s and great grilled cheese. those are my favorites … really it works for everything that you can imagine as long as you understand a dish’s temperature requirements.”
“Here are a few shots of a fun Sunday bake. 3.5 hr fire, coals burned out and got 900 F dropping to 600 after coals out. Baked pizza, bread at 500 F then cooled to 400 F and did the bean casserole and still the next day(24hrs) oven still at 250 F for any drying of fruit!!”
OK, is this enough temptation for you to run out there and start building yet?
Step by step tutorial on how to build a DIY wood fired outdoor pizza oven with simple materials.
Below is a summary of each step. Download the ebook at the end for more details in each step!
Step 1: Create sand-clay mix for the earth oven
For each part of clay soil, we mix in 2-3 part sand. More sand if using pure clay. Make sure the mix does not have any sharp rocks or debris. If unsure, wear rain boots!
Put everything on a large tarp, add some water, and start singing and dancing – which means, mixing!
Folding the tarp is a good way to get everything mixed more thoroughly.
You will know that your mixture is a good consistency and ready to go if you can form it into a ball about 3″ diameter, drop it to the ground, and the ball holds its shape with little cracking. How fun it is that our work is to dance in the mud?
Step 2: Make a base with insulation for your outdoor pizza oven
The cob ovens we made in class had a base of sheet metal bolted onto a wood frame ( pictures below ) to be portable, then placed on a sturdy foundation at their new home.
If you are building a wood fired outdoor pizza oven directly in your backyard, then consider the following keys to a foundation: stability, height, and insulation.
1. stability: a foundation can be built out of any sturdy materials such as broken concrete, brick, masonry block, stone, rocks, old tables or even wooden pallets, as long as it can hold an oven (which can weigh 300 to 600 lbs depending on size) without sinking and shifting.
2. height: the foundation should support your oven at a height that allows you to work comfortably!
3. insulation: there should be a minimum of 4″-6″ of insulation between the fire brick oven floor and the masonry or wood foundation. The insulation will prevent the masonry from absorbing all the valuable heat we want for cooking, and protect the wood foundation from burning. The glass jars and vermiculite provide insulation. The fire brick hearth is set on top of that.
Related article: Staying at an Earthship: a unique home that produces food, cleans water, and turns trash to treasure!
Step 3: Build a sand form size of the cob oven interior
Just like building a sand castle! The sand is scooped out after the next 2 layers are built.
Step 4: Build the thermal layer for an effective wood fired outdoor pizza oven
The purpose of the thermal layer is to hold heat in its dense mass. Use the clay-sand mix we made earlier, take one handful at a time, and press it down to form a 2″-3″ shell outside the sand form. Be careful not to press into the sand form, which would cause the form to shift.
We also made a “molding” around the earth oven door opening using strands of straw dipped in clay, and formed it around the door opening to give it a more finished look and as a starting place for the next layer.
Lynn
September 17, 2014 at 4:01 amCool! No doubt there will be one in your yard one day!
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:39 pmand our darling jeff makes the best pizza =) xoxo
Lorie
April 27, 2018 at 11:01 pmI am signed up for your newsletter but cannot access the Ebook for “Simple Wood Fired Pizza Oven ( Easy Earth Oven in 2 days! )”. That Ebook hyperlink only sends me to the sign up page for the website newsletter.
Any assistance in accessing a working link for the Ebook on “Simple Wood Fired Pizza Oven…” would be greatly appreciated.
Lorie
My20Croft15@aol.com
BTW: The hyperlink for the Ebook “The Bread Ovens of Quebec ” located at the Canadian Museum of History website works beautifully. The book is historically fascinating; thank you for the link to it !
ananda
April 28, 2018 at 1:27 pmhi lorie, there’s a big button at the bottom of each weekly newsletter, that takes you to all downloads. if you added our sign up email address to safe list, you should get it every thursday or friday! =)
Angelic Sinova
September 17, 2014 at 9:41 amThis is AMAZING! I’ve always wanted to build a wood fried oven but I don’t think I have the patience to ever finish it <3
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 2:04 pmthanks angelic! =)
Fi
September 17, 2014 at 9:46 amWow, this is amazing!
Sam
September 17, 2014 at 10:03 amHow cool! I love food cooked in a wood fired oven. It is fabulous that you made one.
Nancy
September 17, 2014 at 10:08 amWhat, whoa! This is crazy cool. If I owned a house, or wanted to build my own oven from scratch (omg), I’d be all about it. But instead I’d prefer hanging out with other friends who’d have this hahaha. IMAGINE the pizzas. Ugh, good lord. I bet they would be heaven… on…earth.
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:38 pmthank you nancy! the pizzas from wood fired ovens are heavenly, and always a fun party! =)
Melissa
September 17, 2014 at 10:15 amThat is the coolest thing I have seen all day!
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:40 pmthank you melissa! =)
The Accidental Mama
September 17, 2014 at 10:39 amI can’t even comprehend that you did this… So amazing! As much as I love the tutorial, there is no way I am as motivated as you are 😉
xoxo
The Accidental Mama
http://theaccidentalmama.com
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:40 pmyou never know dear friend! xo
Erica
September 17, 2014 at 11:04 amThis is amazing but I think my husband may kill me if I “ask” him to “help” me with another project! 🙂
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:36 pmtrade cookies with him! =)
Maryann
September 17, 2014 at 11:33 amOMG– SO COOL! The pizza looks divine!
Lily @ From Lily With Love
September 17, 2014 at 11:55 amThis is so cool!! I have never seen a blog post even remotely similar to this. This would be perfect for summer cooking so it wouldn’t heat up your house! When I get a house of my own, this is first on the list of outdoor necessities. GREAT post!!
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:36 pmthank you lily! you will have so much fun using it one day!
Chelsea
September 17, 2014 at 12:32 pmThis is seriously amazing! My boyfriend tried to make one once.. it definitely didn’t look like this hahahah.
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:34 pmhaha that’s sooo awesome he tried to make one!!
Andi
September 17, 2014 at 1:00 pmThis is so awesome – I can just taste a salmon smoked in one of these!
ananda
September 17, 2014 at 1:32 pmwow andi, smoked salmon sounds so good!
Amy
September 17, 2014 at 5:39 pmthis is so cool. I never thought about making an oven like this.
Brenda
September 17, 2014 at 6:24 pmThis is so cool! I must figure out if it can fit in my little outdoor patio! 😉
Amanda Love
September 18, 2014 at 6:04 amWOW! This looks like not only would it be fun to make but fun to use as well.
Amby Felix
September 18, 2014 at 9:14 amWOW! My jaw literally dropped when I saw how cool this was! I would TOTALLY be down to do something like this. Oh man, pizza… I used to work a pizza station at an authentic Italian restaurant, and though it’s very hot, I never got tired of that bubbly charred pizza aroma! ^_^
ananda
September 18, 2014 at 6:49 pmthanks amby! can’t wait to see your pizzas one day! xx
Jessica Doll (@teamwiking)
September 18, 2014 at 9:23 amThis is so cool. I know they probably aren’t that similar, but my friend had a wood fired oven in her backyard and the pizza was always SO delicious.
ananda
September 18, 2014 at 6:47 pmthank you jessica! we just went to a pizza party and ate way too much! =)
liv
September 18, 2014 at 9:29 amYou always share the coolest stuff and I am here for it! I bet the pizza’s in the earth oven are good! That’s def a big project to do with friends!!! I could totally see myself trying to jazz it up!
ananda
September 18, 2014 at 6:46 pmthank you dear liv! xx
Jemma Andrew-Adiamah
September 18, 2014 at 11:05 amThis is such a cool idea.
Neely Stoller
September 18, 2014 at 11:38 amUmmm OK now I want one
ananda
September 18, 2014 at 6:46 pmme too neely! =)
Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen
September 18, 2014 at 7:34 pmGahhhhh!!! Now you’ve got me wanting to play in the mud! What a great class! I’ve never taken a class anything like that, but it looks like a blast! Love all the pictures too!
ananda
September 18, 2014 at 10:54 pmjust imagine the divine goodies coming out of your oven kristi! xo
Carly Anderson
September 19, 2014 at 5:00 amThis is such a pretty oven! I would love to have one of these!
Sarah Shermann
September 20, 2014 at 5:14 amI’ve seen these done before, I’ve always felt there just amazing and the bread I’ve had bake in one of them was brilliant, just wish I had the space to have one 🙂
kendall
September 20, 2014 at 1:18 pmAre you kidding me? This is AMAZING! It turned out great!
Raewyn
September 20, 2014 at 1:38 pmOh my gosh I love this! I would love to have one but we aren’t technically allowed to burn wood in certain areas of California
myrabev
September 20, 2014 at 2:25 pmSeen these around the sphere but never really taken in how they are made and what you can use them for. Thanks for sharing x
Ayana Pitterson
September 20, 2014 at 7:20 pmThese ovens are the best for baking breads as well! In my home country, Trinidad, the best breads were made like that. YUMMM!
Thrifting Diva
http://www.thriftingdiva.com
ananda
September 21, 2014 at 8:27 amnow i must visit trinidad! x
The Daydreamer
September 21, 2014 at 5:12 amI would love to be able to make this or even attend a class! I only need the right garden/backyard 😉 I can only imagine the satisfaction of cooking in this oven after having built it from scratch.
ananda
September 21, 2014 at 8:24 amhi donatella! it was a magical experience, you will love it! xo
Avie
September 21, 2014 at 12:07 pmWhat a great learning experience! I love learning new things, especially when its hands on!
Nikki Rae
September 21, 2014 at 12:15 pmWhat a cool idea?! I’m sure the minute I show this to my dad, he’ll want to make one.
Cam | Bibs and Baubles
September 22, 2014 at 2:13 pmThat is seriously the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while.
Samantha
September 23, 2014 at 4:35 pmThat is seriously one of the coolest and most unique things I’ve ever seen!! How fun!
Jessica
September 24, 2014 at 8:17 amHow COOL! I had no idea you could make one yourself.
Jenn Pilgrim [The Newlywed Pilgrimage]
September 25, 2014 at 9:46 amWhat a cool experience! I would love to build one of these.
Steve
October 7, 2014 at 4:55 ami’d love to have one of these, but how do you use it?
ananda
October 7, 2014 at 7:04 pmhi steve, I’m no expert, but it’s like any wood fired ovens, deserves another book on this topic! =)
Seema
October 12, 2014 at 11:05 pmwowwww, awesome clay oven. seriously I need it. I want to bake different kinds of yummy naans.
ananda
October 13, 2014 at 10:41 pmwooo i LOVE naans! =)
maggie
February 27, 2015 at 6:01 pmAre these safe to use? Will there be possibility of blowing up from over heating?
ananda
February 27, 2015 at 10:11 pmhi maggie! these ovens won’t blow up, but if the mixture is not well proportioned, it may crack! =)
Adrian
July 14, 2015 at 6:49 pmI do not understand one essential thing: you can make fire but not cook at the same time..? So once you made the fire, you must wait for it to consume and then get it out and then clean the base and then cook a pizza?
ananda
July 14, 2015 at 8:07 pmhi adrian, the very first fire is to cure the oven. when you cook with it in the future, the oven gets hotter as the fire is almost burnt out, so when you clear out the ashes and coals, the inside surface of the oven releases heat and cook the pizza. people get to know their ovens as to how much wood to burn and when to stop the fire to cook! =)
Steve
July 26, 2015 at 1:46 pmwhat kind of clay? Can I use red clay from the yard?
ananda
July 26, 2015 at 9:47 pmyes you can!
Enendore
March 4, 2016 at 2:41 pmGreat, but it doesn’t seem to have any space for cooking things.. there is space only for fire and wood, isn’t it?
ananda
March 4, 2016 at 5:36 pmhi! the fire and wood is to heat the oven. the coal is pushed to the sides when cooking starts! =)
Murry
August 4, 2016 at 1:33 amWhat a wonderful idea, I would love to print out the plans and make my own oven, included in the new BBQ area I’m working on.
Chamoise
May 11, 2017 at 5:37 amWaouh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What i would love to be able do build one! It’s fantastic to make bread,pie! In garden with the flowers,lovely friends and cats ! A dream!
Thank’s Ananda…
Woodburner spare parts
June 7, 2017 at 3:57 pmGreat article. You can’t beat a pizza cooked on one of these.
Selina
April 15, 2018 at 2:40 pmGreat instruction. But How to make the base frame for the pizza oven?I couldnt figure it out.
ananda
April 15, 2018 at 4:03 pmhi! many ways to do that. there are more details in the free ebook and some books in the resources!
Michelle Leslie
February 19, 2019 at 4:55 amOoooooo I’ve always wanted one of these and the hubby will only eat pizza that has a “wood burnt” base. I can’t wait to show him the tutorial. Thank you Ananda
Jody Barker
March 11, 2019 at 12:03 pmDo you have info on the class?
ananda
March 11, 2019 at 1:37 pmhi jody, look up kiko denzer, there are others that teach cob oven classes too. 🙂
david
April 16, 2019 at 7:56 pmHow long do you think an oven like this would last before breaking? (In canada, outdoor with a tarp covering it in the winter)
ananda
April 17, 2019 at 11:03 amhi david, there are ovens like this properly protected that lasted hundreds of years in rainy climates, so if it is protected, i would say a very long time!
Lorelai
May 31, 2019 at 6:03 amwow lovely project, we are so on it to make our own pizza oven very much inspired by you. there would be tho some questions about the building process which i would like to ask u! please let me know how can i get in touch about these subject.
cheers and keep up the great work and inspiration!
ananda
May 31, 2019 at 6:17 amhi, you can ask questions anytime in the comments section of a project, this way it can help others who might have similar questions. have fun building the oven! 🙂
Lorelai
July 3, 2019 at 9:34 pmok great than i will go on with my first question which is about the clay. for example i use normal sculpture clay and i wanted to know if i should put in the mix also some earth clay and sand or just the sand. and for example for the above oven which quantities should do? thank you and sorry for my delay but i was around meanwhile.