Bricks in a rowlock pattern, outlining the future oven.
I’m learning to lay bricks as part of this summer’s Big Project: building an outdoor, masonry bake oven.
Slow Going
We started The Project around Memorial Day and thought we’d bake our first pizza over Labor Day Weekend. But it took two days to lay three level courses of cement blocks, and four days for the cement slabs to dry. Not only are we slow, but we all have day jobs, so we only work weekends. Indigenous People’s Day is looking more likely.
Why a Bake Oven?
Despite talking about a bake oven for years, what tipped the talk into action was the Covid-19 pandemic, when we spent more time living outdoors, including dinner parties under the full moon, even in winter. I wanted to recapture the fun of living outside without the fear of contagion. I couldn’t think of a better way than combining being outdoors with my love of breaking bread with copains. “Copain” is French for “someone you share bread with” –a buddy. It shares its etymological roots with the English word “companion.” Baking bread—both flatbreads and lofty loaves—are labors of love. It’s only fitting to bake them in a similarly handmade oven. That’s the romantic fantasy; the reality is that laying bricks is hard labor.
Laying Bricks Takes Time.
So far, we’ve installed about sixty bricks in a rowlock pattern, outlining what will be the oven floor. We’ve also started cladding the cement block foundation with brick that is purely decorative, and therefore a good place to practice our skills before we attempt the oven itself.
I have an affinity for doing hard things: writing books, growing food, and foraging for wild, organic, meat (aka deer hunting). It turns out that learning to lay bricks is right up my alley. It also helps that I have an abiding interest in words, and the world of masonry is filled with words to keep my mind off my aching knees.
Next week: My Growing Glossary of Masonry Terms.