Getting started on your own outdoor oven

We first featured our backyard adobe oven in our August 1971 issue. It's modeled after mud-brick ovens used around the world, from the Southwest to Mexico, Italy, and France.

Building it takes about two days of grubby work; it speeds up building to have two or three people making the thick-walled adobe shell, the mass of which stores the heat of the fire.

The reward: wonderfully rustic pizzas, roasts, vegetables, and crusty loaves of bread from your own backyard.

Get our step-by-step building instructions

Adobe oven heating guide

Adobe oven recipes

Getting started

Find a safe, level location in your garden for the oven. Building code requires oven to be a minimum of 10 horizontal feet from any combustible surface, such as fences or walls. Also, check with local officials on property line setback requirements.

We built our oven on a 6- by 8-foot base of red concrete stepping stones ― an optional layer. The rest of the base is stacked but mortarless, which allows for easy disassembly at some point in the future.

Next: What you'll need to get started