Barrel Ovens are very practical and wood efficient ovens, ideal for daily cooking activities and you can easily cook for larger groups. The oven allows for spontaneous use – in comparison to the heat retaining, dome shaped, cob ovens – since it heats up in 15 to 20 minutes using very little wood. Barrel ovens are ideal for pizzas and bread, as well as for roasting vegetables, making quiches, cakes and many other things. The oven can be built entirely out of recycled and natural materials at a very low cost.

Juan and Francisco bringing up the barrel!

we built the ash drawer out of firebricks for more heat resistance. the stove body is made of the last -and mainly broken- adobe bricks we had

david is tamping the gravel

to create a capillary break, we dug down 20cm, filled with gravel and put a layer of gravel filled bags on top to distribute the weight of the oven evenly.

taking measurements for the corners in the combustion chamber

the combustion chamber

firedoor is in, so are the rebars, where the barrel is going to rest on.

a second barrel is used to create a 5cm wide gap around the baking barrel.

Barrel Oven, Guatemala 2013