Are you looking for a way to take your pizza oven game up a notch? Consider using fire bricks to create an even more authentic experience. This guide will show you how to choose the perfect fire bricks for pizza oven.
These are top 5 fire bricks for pizza oven:
Table of Contents
What Are Fire Bricks?
Fire bricks, also referred to as refractory bricks or fire clay, are made from ceramic refractory material that can withstand extremely high temperatures, such as those achieved in kilns, incinerators, and furnaces.
Fire bricks are usually made of fire clay, alumina, or silicon carbide. They are used in all sorts of applications including pizza ovens, kilns, and fireplaces. Fire bricks are made of refractory ceramics that can withstand extremely high temperatures.
These bricks come in several different types and are often used for building pizza ovens. If you’re building a pizza oven, it’s important to choose the right type of fire brick for your project. Bricks used in a pizza oven need to be able to withstand extremely high temperatures without breaking or cracking.
Why You Should Use Fire Bricks For Pizza Oven?
Fire bricks are a great way to have perfect heat distribution in your oven at a reasonable price. Fire brick is a block of refractory ceramic material used in lining furnaces, kilns, fireboxes, and fireplaces. A refractory brick is built primarily to withstand high temperatures, but will also usually have a low thermal conductivity for greater energy efficiency.
Firebricks have specific properties that make them the best choice for use in high-temperature environments:
- Heat resistance: Firebricks are able to withstand temperatures of up to 2,300°F (1,260°C). For comparison, ordinary bricks will begin to melt at temperatures of around 1,800°F (980°C). The ability of firebricks to withstand extreme temperatures makes them perfect for use in pizza ovens and fireplaces.
- Thermal insulation: High-temperature environments require a good insulator. Since firebricks can withstand extremely high temperatures, they do a great job of keeping heat inside the fireplace or pizza oven.
- Durability: Aside from being able to withstand high temperatures, firebricks are also very durable and last longer than ordinary bricks. This makes them more economical especially if you want to build a permanent pizza oven or fireplace that you don’t intend to replace anytime soon.
What To Consider When Buying Fire Bricks For Pizza Oven?
Pizza ovens are becoming more popular, so fire bricks are more in demand than ever. However, when buying these bricks, it’s important to consider certain things that can affect the quality of your pizza oven. Here’s what to look for.
Thermal Properties
Quality fire bricks can withstand high temperatures without cracking or breaking. This is a crucial consideration when choosing a brick for your pizza oven because you’ll be subjecting your brick to high heat on a regular basis.
Strength and Durability
Fire bricks need to be able to withstand repeated use and exposure to heat for years at a time. If your brick begins cracking, this can lead to all sorts of problems that will require costly repairs or early replacement. Make sure the fire brick you choose is strong enough to last for many years without developing cracks or other damage.
Density
Fire bricks are typically made from clay and water, so their density matters quite a bit in terms of quality. The higher the density of the firebrick, the better its potential strength and durability will be. As such, when shopping for a firebrick, make sure you look at the density rating of each one before making a purchase decision.
Different Types of Fire Bricks for Pizza Oven
Take your pizza oven to the next level with fire bricks.
Brick is a popular choice of material when building a pizza oven because it’s durable and provides excellent insulation.
However, not all bricks are created equal. Fire bricks can withstand temperatures up to 2,000 degrees F, while regular clay bricks can only handle around 1,000 degrees F.
There are two types of firebricks: hard and soft. Hard bricks are high quality and long-lasting, but hard to cut. Soft bricks are easier to cut and cost less than hard bricks but don’t last as long. Both types of firebricks are sold at most home improvement stores.
If you’re using firebrick for your oven’s dome, be sure to use at least three layers of brick for every inch of thickness. If you want a sturdier dome that will last longer, go with four or five layers per inch.
Fire Bricks for Pizza Oven You Should Choose
Medium duty firebrick
This is the brick we propose for the Pompeii brick oven’s cooking floor and dome. Medium duty firebricks are composed of around 35% alumina and 50% silica, heat up rapidly, can endure the 900F heat of your oven, and are built for the rapid heat-up and cool-down (thermal cycling) that your oven will encounter. Firebrick will also reach the proper temperature for pizza faster than clay brick since it is more effective at transmitting heat.
Furthermore, because firebrick is engineered to survive thermal cycling, your oven will last longer; nevertheless, for most home ovens, this is not a concern, and your brick pizza oven will probably outlast you, regardless of the brick you pick.
Look for a firebrick with straight edges for your cooking floor when selecting your firebrick. It is critical that the floor bricks fit snugly against each other, and a curved edge will result in a gap between the bricks and your cooking floor.
Red clay brick:
This is the standard red clay brick available at Lowe’s, Home Depot, and masonry supply retailers. Clay bricks are constructed of clay and baked in a kiln. They are often produced from local clay since transportation is too costly, and burned to temperatures ranging from 2000F to 3000F. (high enough to fuse the minerals). Although clay bricks can be used in the oven dome, we do not advocate putting them on the oven floor. There are trade-offs to think about.
The use of clay brick in your oven dome has two drawbacks.
- For starters, heat cycling will cause clay brick to spall, in which little bits of the brick flake off, and may cause individual clay bricks to shatter. It has occurred to us.
- Second, because clay brick is not as effective a conductor as firebrick, it takes longer to heat up.
Fire Bricks for Pizza Oven You Should Avoid
Concrete brick:
While you may not have extra clay bricks laying around, you may have concrete blocks. Unfortunately, they will not suffice.
Because they haven’t been fired, they haven’t toughened. They’re extremely fragile and would quickly fracture in the heat.
Not only that but there is a chance they will detonate. We can’t picture concrete being an excellent pizza topping.
Insulating firebrick:
Because these lightweight refractory bricks are intended to block heat, they have minimal conduction and heating holding capability. They are frequently used to insulate industrial machinery. A basic insulating firebrick weighs around 2 lbs, but a standard duty firebrick weighs 8 lbs.
Heavy-duty firebrick:
These bricks have a high alumina content, can reach high temperatures (1500F and more), and are intended for continuous high-heat applications such as furnaces. They are costly, and they will become too hot for certain of your oven’s functions, such as baking bread and roasting.
In general, pizza prefers temperatures ranging from 750F to 900F, whereas bread and roasts like temperatures ranging from 500F to 600F. (Because of the wet heat within the oven and quicker cooking periods, brick ovens may cook at greater degrees without burning.)
How To Build Wood-Fired Pizza Oven From Bricks?
Making a wood-fired pizza oven can be a very rewarding project. It’s fun, relaxing and it gives you a wonderful sense of accomplishment. You can also make money by selling pizzas or breads at local markets and events.
A pizza oven is basically an oven that uses wood or charcoal as its primary fuel source. When a pizza is cooked in this type of oven, the heat radiates from the firebox into the dome of the oven, where it becomes trapped and slowly cooks the pizza over time.
Building your own wood-fired pizza oven from bricks is not only affordable but also easy to do if you have basic carpentry skills. Once it’s built, all you have to do is add fuel and wait for it to heat up before throwing in your dough!
How Do You Cook Pizza In A Firebrick Oven?
Pizza can be made in a number of ways and one of the best ways to make pizzas is in a firebrick oven. This type of oven is designed for cooking, baking, and grilling purposes.
Pizzas that are baked in firebrick ovens are tastier and crispier. The taste of the pizza is affected by the heat of the oven wherein if it is too hot or too cold, the pizza will turn out to be burnt or undercooked respectively.
Anyone who has tried making a pizza before, they must have realized that it is not easy to get it right as there are many factors that come into play. Firstly, there must be enough heat in the oven and secondly, you need to know how long it should take for your pizza to cook.
The amount and temperature of heat required to cook the pizza depend on a number of factors like the size of the pizza and thickness of its crust etc. However, if you follow these simple steps you will be able to make a delicious pizza in no time at all.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). The pizza will cook quickly, so it’s important that the oven is heated thoroughly.
- Place pizza stone or tiles on the lowest rack of your oven (if you have one), or on a sturdy baking sheet. This allows the crust to cook while the toppings are heated through.
- Rub your crust with oil before placing it in the oven to keep it from sticking.
- Bake your pizza for 8-10 minutes, or until the crust is crispy, and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Remove from the oven with a long-handled spatula or pizza peel, slice, and serve immediately.
What Else Can I Cook With Firebrick Pizza Oven?
Firebrick Pizza Oven is a great addition to any home. Its versatility and quality make it a suitable choice for pizza lovers who always crave good pizzas, but it also has the potential to become a multi-purpose oven as well. The oven can cook a variety of foods. Besides pizzas, you can also cook bread, meats, vegetables, and other types of food in your brick oven.
There are so many things you can cook in your pizza oven other than pizza. Here are some examples:
Bread: The ideal temperature for bread is around 230-250C (450F), which is the same as high temperature for pizzas. A higher temperature will brown the bread faster, but keep cooking it at about 250C for about 20 minutes for great-tasting bread.
Meat: You can also roast meat in your outdoor oven. A whole leg of lamb takes about an hour to cook, and a beef rib takes about 50 minutes.
Seafood and vegetables: Fish, prawns, and vegetables can all be cooked in the oven on a cast-iron plancha, or directly onto the bricks with a little olive oil.
FAQs About Fire Bricks For Pizza Oven
Can I use fire bricks as a pizza stone?
Fire bricks are designed to stand up to sustained temperatures of over 2,000°F, but they don’t retain heat as a pizza stone does.
A fire brick absorbs heat and holds it as long as it’s above room temperature. Once the temperature drops below the ambient temperature (which is what happens when you stop cooking), then the fire brick itself cools down and stops retaining heat. A pizza stone, on the other hand, stays hot for hours after you’ve removed your foot from the oven.
It’s possible that a fire brick could be useful for something like making a cold smoker, where you want to generate smoke at low temperatures (100°F or less) without having to keep adding fuel to keep it going. But I wouldn’t use one for baking pizzas or anything else where I wanted a hot surface to cook on.
How many fire bricks do I need for a pizza oven?
Every brick is different, so it’s hard to give an exact number of bricks you need. We do know that the required volume of fire bricks that are sold will depend on the size of your oven and how much pizza you’re going to be baking at a time.
First, let’s determine the volume of your oven. This can be difficult to do without having a rough idea of the shape and size of your oven, but here are some general guidelines:
- If your oven has walls that are roughly 5 inches thick, then you need between 40 and 50 bricks.
- If your walls are 7 inches thick, you’ll need between 75 and 80 bricks.
- If your oven has walls that are roughly 10 inches thick, you’ll need between 100 and 110 bricks.
Good brands of firebricks can be purchased in 1- or 2-pound bags at many hardware stores or online retailers. It’s also possible to order custom-sized bricks from companies like Brixton Bricks, which will ship them directly to you free of charge.
Are fire bricks toxic?
Fire bricks are made from naturally occurring clay. They are resistant to high temperatures and are used for fireplaces and wood-fired ovens.
Because of their high density, fire bricks tend to be fairly non-toxic, but there is one key exception. Most fire brick manufacturers use a high amount of chrome oxide to help make their products more durable at high temperatures. This has the unfortunate side effect of creating trace amounts of hexavalent chromium, which can cause cancer in humans.
The good news is that most high-quality fire brick manufacturers use minimal amounts of chrome oxide, so you don’t need to worry about this issue. The worst-case scenario is that you would have to replace your fire bricks after 10 years or so anyway, so it’s not a huge risk.
If you’re still concerned about getting cancer from your fire brick or fireplace materials, there are a few things you can do. First, make sure that the bricks you use aren’t cracked or damaged in any way. Second, think about using a gas fireplace instead of one that uses wood or coal to help reduce the risk even further.
How long does it take to heat up a brick pizza oven?
Brick pizza ovens can be heated using wood, pellets, and/or natural gas to heat the dome, floor, and air. The dome temperature is what governs the temperature of your pizza and is typically between 700 F – 1300 F.
How long it takes to heat your brick pizza oven depends on a few factors:
The Oven Size:
A larger oven will take longer to heat up than a smaller one.
The Type of Fuel Your Brick Pizza Oven Uses:
Wood-fired brick pizza ovens typically take anywhere from 45 minutes – to 2 hours to heat up depending on the size of your oven.
Natural gas brick pizza ovens tend to take about 30 minutes or less to heat up depending on the size of your oven.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading our blog post about fire bricks for pizza oven. We hope you have found this information useful and informative. Be sure to check back soon for more great content from us!