How to build your own pizza oven

If you've arrived here expecting fabric and stitchery, please be reassured that this is just a brief diversion and the needle and thread have only temporarily been usurped by bricks and cement.

It's now several weeks since my husband finished building our pizza oven and you can read more about my take on the whole thing and see our first pizzas here. I'd originally asked my husband if he'd like to step in to do a guest post on the building process as so many of you said you'd be enthusiastic to share such a post with your own husband (or even take up the tools yourself). However, when he started writing about the process he quickly realised that it was something that may not fit into one blog post. Twenty-two pages later, complete with diagrams and measurements, talk of pizza paddles and sourdough starters we've decided that it's really more suited to being offered as a downloadable PDF than a guest post.

I should say that while I consider my husband to be stunningly multi talented, he has never put up a shelf or wielded power tools around our house, so hopefully this will reassure any man (or woman) who lacks a passion for DIY that it's perfectly achievable, as long as you have a strong perfectionist streak and a stomach craving pizza to propel you onward.

As projects go though, there's nothing quite like it to gain the respect of men who do possess this ability. In his building mission we have accompanied my husband to reclamation sites and builders merchants and I began to notice that it's a project that commands instant respect. On our family entering a trade-only builder's yard we were viewed with visible bemusement and curiosity. However, after my husband had requested some materials they enquired what he was building...it was like watching moths to a flame as the men gathered around him and the visible shift in how they viewed this obviously non-trade amateur builder was quite something: every man we've come into contact with declared this to be their own dream project and instantly become animated on the subject of how to retain the necessary heat, potential construction methods and building materials. Which makes me think that this is one of those projects that burns inside a man waiting to get out.

If you follow any part of my husband's how-to, then we'd love to hear how you got on, or if you have any of your own hints and tips for building or pizza making then do feel free to share them in the comments section. Again, you can download the 'How to build your own pizza oven' PDF by clicking on the button below.

Download the Guide!

Florence x

Ps: I should also add as I don't think my husband has mentioned this in the PDF: our sleepers will weather down to a more aesthetically pleasing driftwood grey over the winter - we decided to buy new sleepers rather than find reclaimed ones as they're something that often will have been creosoted in their past life...it's not a chemical that you might want in your garden or around food.