How Pizza Ovens Work
Components of a pizza oven in action
The refractory materials in the walls of an oven absorb heat energy from the fire (like a battery charging up), then slowly release the heat back into the cooking chamber. The dome roof sits higher than the flue entry serving to trap and hold heat. The curved shape radiates heat evenly at the food.
In a similar fashion to the walls, the dense firebrick floor absorbs heat energy then conducts it back into the food placed on it. At the same time the dry floor wicks moisture out of the pizza dough giving it that crispy result.
The flue system (chimney) works to take fumes from the fire out of the cooking chamber.
The cardboard moulds have been designed to allow you to create the dome, arch entry, flue vent and flue starter all in one go. This takes all the hard design and building work out of the equation and creates an oven you can be confident will perform the way it should.
You can see from the dimensions of the cardboard structure below that the design works to create a high performing pizza oven. Remember that these moulds represent the inside shape of the oven as the refractory mortar and following layers are added to the outside.
