Have you ever 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 inserts, pizza oven kit or any expensive materials to build an effective outdoor pizza oven.
This simple DIY wood fire backyard 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. Made with readily available and often free materials, and a proven technique that has been used for hundreds or even thousands of years, it’s] even easier than a brick pizza oven. No special tools are needed, it is also great as a group project to create with friends!
* Some resources in article are affiliate links. Full disclosure here .
In this DIY wood fired outdoor pizza oven tutorial ( & a free ebook with instructions at the end ) I will share:
- Step by step process on how to build a simple and effective DIY 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 super yummy no knead bread recipe, made with 50% whole grain, YUM!
Recently I attended an Earth Oven (aka Cob Oven) building class taught by one of the best teachers in this field, Kiko Denzer. 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.
Now 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 DIY 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 for his patio!
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?
Materials, Design and Foundation
The ovens we made measure about 24″ in finished diameter, and have an inside cooking area of 12″ diameter and a 14″ high dome. They each weigh about 250 lbs, and each took about two 5-gallon buckets of clay and sand mixture to build. If you want a larger oven, please adjust the materials accordingly.
Also we need an oven door for the arch opening before the building begins. For this oven with a 14″ high inner dome, our door is 8.75″ high by 8″ wide. The width is not as crucial as the height. Researchers found through studies of hundreds of traditional ovens that the best designs all have a ratio of 63% between the door height and the inner oven dome height! Isn’t it cool that it’s so close to the Golden Ratio?!
Does cob oven need a chimney?
There are many traditional earth ovens with no chimney, which burn slowly, use less wood to heat up the oven mass, and work really well.
DIY ovens with chimney burn faster and require more wood. Some prefer to have a chimney near the oven door opening to have better control of smoke. Here‘s a good discussion if you want to explore further.
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 (you can also use plywood) 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, bricks, firebricks, 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! You can use concrete slab or a layer of firebricks as the oven base. The sand is scooped out after the next 2 layers are built.
This sand dome is 12″ in diameter and a 14″ high, which is the height of the dome.
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.
The final steps are adding insulation and finish layers.
Step 5: Insulation layer for the earth / cob oven.
The difference between this layer and the thermal layer is that the mixture here has more air, which is great for preventing heat loss of the thermal layer!
When coarse saw dust or wood shavings are mixed with just enough clay to hold the shape, and when they are exposed to the high temperature from the thermal layer, a new material- clay foam – is created. It’s sort of a light weight charcoal-clay which is airy, thus conducts heat slowly.
And of course, don’t forget to take a nice break and show off your muddy hands!
Finally step: the finish layer for your wood fired outdoor pizza oven!
An earthen plaster is applied to the final layer to give the cob oven a smooth finish and decorative sculptural details!
Here’s a beautiful book Using Natural Finishes: Lime and Earth Based Plasters, Renders & Paints with ideas and recipes from many cultures
Helpful resources on building a wood fired pizza oven !
- Here is one of the best books on oven building by our teacher Kiko Denzer, Building Your Own Earth Oven. It offers lots of valuable information from planning, site considerations, to foundations and roof options, as well as many pizza oven plans. And Kiko’s website, where you can find great articles on building with earth, as well as his future workshops. You will not only appreciate his knowledge, but also his wisdom on how to live life more simply and more fully.
- another of my favorite books on earth building: The Hand-Sculpted House by the great pioneers Ianto Evans(Kiko’s teacher) and Michael Smith. I took a week long class from Michael and built a cob / straw bale room at a Waldorf School – one of the best weeks ever! Michael’s website, lots of great natural building methods, and workshops!
- if you love natural finishing, here’s a beautiful book Using Natural Finishes: Lime and Earth Based Plasters, Renders & Paints with ideas and recipes from many cultures
- The Bread Ovens of Quebec is an exquisite book. It’s out of print, but available as a free ebook via the Canadian Museum of History. It’s possible that it might be back in print soon.
First, you can download the free Ebook with lots more details here:
Once you get your hands DIRT-Y, you will fall in love with earth building. It’s a magical way of building that connects us with our essence, with the elements of earth, fire, water and air, with makers across centuries and continents, and, with one another.
Now you can bake this easy and AMAZING no knead bread recipe!
Easy and AMAZING no knead bread recipe
Happy building!
What a fantastic tutorial on cob oven! I enjoyed building a similar one in our backyard!
What types of clay can you use? Ratios? Thanks!
hi Robyn! any clay soil will work, such as river bank clay. in the article, there’s a test in Step one which is the best way to determine ratio, because local soils are so different. this book has lots of detailed info as well- https://amzn.to/3k6rEdH 🙂
Hi,
I registered but could not find the link to the Earthen Oven ebook.
How can I down load this.
Thanks,
hi steve! did you get the welcome email or newsletter (going out tomorrow)? a red button in there takes you to all downloads page 🙂
Wow, thank you very much for the material you provided, this information will be very useful to me as a pizza fan
wow 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!
hi, 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! 🙂
ok 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.
How long do you think an oven like this would last before breaking? (In canada, outdoor with a tarp covering it in the winter)
hi 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!
Do you have info on the class?
hi jody, look up kiko denzer, there are others that teach cob oven classes too. 🙂
Ooooooo 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
Great instruction. But How to make the base frame for the pizza oven?I couldnt figure it out.
hi! many ways to do that. there are more details in the free ebook and some books in the resources!
Great article. You can’t beat a pizza cooked on one of these.
Waouh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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…
What 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.
Great, but it doesn’t seem to have any space for cooking things.. there is space only for fire and wood, isn’t it?
hi! the fire and wood is to heat the oven. the coal is pushed to the sides when cooking starts! =)
what kind of clay? Can I use red clay from the yard?
yes you can!
I 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?
hi 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! =)
Are these safe to use? Will there be possibility of blowing up from over heating?
hi maggie! these ovens won’t blow up, but if the mixture is not well proportioned, it may crack! =)
wowwww, awesome clay oven. seriously I need it. I want to bake different kinds of yummy naans.
wooo i LOVE naans! =)
i’d love to have one of these, but how do you use it?
hi steve, I’m no expert, but it’s like any wood fired ovens, deserves another book on this topic! =)
What a cool experience! I would love to build one of these.
How COOL! I had no idea you could make one yourself.
That is seriously one of the coolest and most unique things I’ve ever seen!! How fun!
That is seriously the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while.
What a cool idea?! I’m sure the minute I show this to my dad, he’ll want to make one.
What a great learning experience! I love learning new things, especially when its hands on!
I 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.
hi donatella! it was a magical experience, you will love it! xo
These 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
now i must visit trinidad! x
Seen these around the sphere but never really taken in how they are made and what you can use them for. Thanks for sharing x
Oh 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
Are you kidding me? This is AMAZING! It turned out great!
I’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 🙂
This is such a pretty oven! I would love to have one of these!
Gahhhhh!!! 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!
just imagine the divine goodies coming out of your oven kristi! xo
Ummm OK now I want one
me too neely! =)
This is such a cool idea.
You 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!
thank you dear liv! xx
Hi. I’m int process of building a cob pizza oven. And I like the idea of not needing a chimney however council requires a chimney. So do I need the door to be the required height of the dome. Or can I mke it any heirght thank you.
This 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.
thank you jessica! we just went to a pizza party and ate way too much! =)
WOW! 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! ^_^
thanks amby! can’t wait to see your pizzas one day! xx
WOW! This looks like not only would it be fun to make but fun to use as well.
This is so cool! I must figure out if it can fit in my little outdoor patio! 😉
this is so cool. I never thought about making an oven like this.
This is so awesome – I can just taste a salmon smoked in one of these!
wow andi, smoked salmon sounds so good!
This is seriously amazing! My boyfriend tried to make one once.. it definitely didn’t look like this hahahah.
haha that’s sooo awesome he tried to make one!!
This 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!!
thank you lily! you will have so much fun using it one day!
OMG– SO COOL! The pizza looks divine!
This is amazing but I think my husband may kill me if I “ask” him to “help” me with another project! 🙂
trade cookies with him! =)
I 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
you never know dear friend! xo
That is the coolest thing I have seen all day!
thank you melissa! =)
What, 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.
thank you nancy! the pizzas from wood fired ovens are heavenly, and always a fun party! =)
How cool! I love food cooked in a wood fired oven. It is fabulous that you made one.
Wow, this is amazing!
This 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
thanks angelic! =)
Cool! No doubt there will be one in your yard one day!
and our darling jeff makes the best pizza =) xoxo
I 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 !
hi 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! =)