A while back I outlined a few goals for the Firedome project. I want it to behave so I can feed the masses. Ideally, I'd like to be able to use downed wood from my lot (cheaper for long cooking sessions and little residual ash) and I really needed it to be charged on the fly.
I live by the tagline on this blog, yet I'm not a perfectionist. Developing an idea, for me, is a practical matter. Get the job done as good as I can given the timeframe. 80% of ideal is good enough - time to move to another project. Sometimes I wish I were a perfectionist, but life's short. Anyway, I think I'm finished with this. I'll cut one more dome out - no hinged door - Kate's generously donated Weber dome, your time has come, meet my angle grinder, you two go have fun.
So, here it is. Note the door stays open throughout the cooking. This enables a nice constant temperature and prevents the neighbors from being smoked out. A dancing fire prevents one from determining the headspace temperature accurately. All I could do is measure surfaces. The clay base was steadily in the 950°F range, ca +/-30F, the inside of the dome surface, about 700°F. It was windy so the heat wicked off the surface, but the base was pretty stable. All I needed to do was toss in chunks of wood from the front to maintain a fire. I only had little pieces and they burned quickly, so I'll be repeating this with bigger chunks (see bottom image).
This is one of two test breads I ran today. The first came off the grill and I tossed it straight to the neighbors for their breakfast. I think they liked it.
Before the next run, I went through our neighborhood and dragged back a bunch of fallen wood, chunked it down and am ready. But, not this weekend. I'm too ecstatic to face any irreproducibility. I'm taking a break to bask in the glory.
What seemed correct with the Firedome to date was a symmetrically placed ring of fire about the cooking surface. It's served me (and friends) well for over a year now, but a few lingering flaws forced me to persist in its development.
1. briquettes are good, but lots of byproducts and I could not boast "wood fired" to a more discerning crowd. I wanted to switch to wood. Something easier and cheaper to use and recharge on the fly without a mid-burn disassembly.
2. A wood fire would be hard to maintain in a circular configuration.
3. Any good pizza oven I've observed has the fuel source "indirect," not directly below the food, but in a pile offset.
4. I have a continuous stream of wood on my property. Oaks give it up every time it's windy (remember Ike?).
5. One pile of fuel is trivial to start; a ring is often a pain.
All modifications must still result in uniform cooking top and bottom of the dough.
Today the wood fuel vision begins to come into focus; I think we might be hitting the oven that was intended in the first place.
A chilly morning seemed the perfect time for a fire and it's always a good time for lightly smoke-infused flatbread. Made some dough, fired up a chimney of briquettes (briquettes are a killer starter for any fire by the way). After a few clumsy reorganizations, I placed the fuel on one side of the lower grate of the Firedome, placed the cooking surface on the upper grate and positioned the clay cooking surface on the opposite side of the grill. On top of the briquettes, I placed several pieces of oak, they started immediately, a kick ass fire in minutes. I capped the dome, lifted the door, positioning the opening so the blazing fire was on the right and the cooking surface to the left.
Here's how the morning progressed in a few frames and a few movies:
The circle of fire is ok, but laborious to maintain. Also!.. note the decorative chimnea stand I scored in someone's trash. Elegant? I think so.
This was shot after I moved everything to either side. In this way, I could add to the fire by pitching wood right through the door as I need. The flames would swoop around and I'd be cooking "in the tube" of the firewave. It also tolerates water balloons tossed in when you need that extra bit of humidity.
Final product. To be eaten with tonight's roasted red pepper hummus.
I'm waiting for a replacement thermocouple or this post would've been oozing with temp data. However, a pita cooked in about 90 seconds. I'm guessing the oven was about 750°F while the flames were up, maybe a bit higher. There will definitely be more to come on this.
Final notes for those following along with your own pet Firedome:
1. one chimney full on one side of the lower grate
2. add small, ca. 8" logs of wood, on the briquettes
3. place upper grate in place with one side of the grate open in a way you can toss wood in
4. place Firedome on top of roaring fire with the hatch open, wait a few minutes and cook away
5. getting some wood this size might require a chainsaw
I'm happy with the use of this thing, but I need more experience. A big problem I'm having is dome temps. They're all over the place. It may not be a problem, it just has to do with whether there is a live fire or if the fuel is smoldering.
The objective I set out to acheive at the beginning of this project was evenness of cooking, crucial for a pizza. With this rig, the only thing that will burn the bottom of a pizza is placing the fuel beneath the stone and not on the perimeter. I've observed this several times.
What keeps tugging at me is using wood for fuel. After briquettes are started, this thing is pretty damn hot and new fuel catches fast - and burns fast. Also, since so much of the perimeter is accessible with the hinged grate, removing the dome, charging fuel and regaining temps isn't such a big deal. I do it routinely. Now, I want to try to recharge with two logs on either side. Once they catch, I'm curious about the temperature and the burn time. So, that experiment's on tap. I also have a few friends queued up who need some samples for tolerating my babbling about this thing.
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