Rome Wasn't Built In A Day . . .

. . . and neither were the pizza ovens in Pompeii.

I've been asked about when there is actually going to be pizza coming out of the oven and the truth is I really don't know. While I do want to be baking pizza and bread right away, the oven project is not something that can be rushed. Some of the limitations (aside from the lack of experience and skill of the mason) that I need to deal with are:

• I have a day job (thank God!) and I can only work on the oven on weekends.
• The weather needs to cooperate. If it rains hard, I can't work because the mortar will get soggy and won't set. If it is overcast and gloomy, the mortar takes longer to set, so the work goes slower.
• I need to figure out what I am doing as I go along. While I have plans, they are not detailed about every aspect of the oven. There are still some design issues I have not settled in my mind yet (vent and opening of the oven, exterior appearance to be more specific).

Having said all of that, the rough time line in my head is:

• Dome construction - 2 more weeks
• Vent and opening - 1 week
• Exterior insulation and housing - 2 weeks
• Firing (the oven needs to be slowly broken in before it can hit the 900 degrees target temp) - 1 week
• Recipe testing / fine tuning - 2 weeks

If you add it all up (this is a sequential project time line, no parallel tracks) it is about 8 weeks, assuming the weather holds up.

Halloween Pizza anyone?