Wood-burning baking stoves made of fireclay - planning & construction
Homemade food is simply incomparably delicious and is rightly being increasingly appreciated again.
The pandemic has boosted this trend. In particular, the demand for wood-burning baking stoves made of fireclay is higher than it has been for a long time.
For you as a stove fitter, baking stoves made of fireclay offer an additional area of business with many advantages: you can demonstrate your expertise as a craftsman, stand out from the competition, make yourself known to potential customers in your region and thus raise your profile.
Would you like to benefit from this niche? Here we tell you what you need to consider when planning and installing a baking stove:
The planning phase & customer requirements
Depending on how the baking stove will be used later, certain designs are more or less suitable. It is therefore advisable to ask the future users right at the beginning how often and for how long they would like to use the baking stove and what food they would like to prepare in it. This is because every dish has its own requirements in terms of temperature, time and baking stove climate, which a suitable baking stove design can fulfill.
The design: "heat saving baking stove" vs. "constantly fired" baking stove
There are basically two types of baking stove: “heat saving baking stoves” and “constantly fired” baking stoves.
In a “heat saving baking stove”, the energy is stored for a long time in the fireclay bricks of the baking chamber, so that food can be prepared for several hours (with slightly decreasing temperature). This design is perfect for baking bread.
For preparing pizzas and tarte flambée, on the other hand, “constantly fired” baking stoves are ideal. Here, the baking stove continues to be heated after a large quantity of firewood has burned down by the permanent addition of small quantities of firewood (usually in the rear or edge area of the baking chamber). These baking stoves reach high temperatures of 300 – 350°C over a long period of time.
The geometry: rectangular, tunnel, dome or pear
There are many possibilities in terms of geometry: the simplest baking chamber shape is the rectangle. If high-quality fireclay plates are used, baking chamber spans of up to approx. 75 cm are possible. The most complex form is the pear shape, which is often found in Franconia and Austria. It poses the greatest challenge to the stove fitter in terms of craftsmanship, as there are no prefabricated shaped bricks for this. However, this form is very flexible in its use.
If the baking stove is to be used for baking bread, the classic heat saving baking stove with a tunnel vault (roller shape) is the right choice. This is realized with vault or normal format bricks with baking chamber widths of 75 cm – 250 cm. In order to achieve low fuel consumption and optimized heat transfer to the baked goods, very shallow baking chambers with a height of only approx. 25 cm can be achieved with this vault shape.
The dome vault is best suited for continuously fired pizza baking stoves. The special feature of this design is that the opening is used for both the combustion air and the flue gas.
Community baking stoves: on the rise again and financially supported
In addition to private households and restaurant owners, village communities and clubs are also showing increasing interest in baking stoves. After all, baking is particularly fun in a community – and a so-called “community baking stove” creates the necessary infrastructure for this.
They also receive financial support from the EU: as part of the LEADER program, the EU promotes sustainable rural regional development. This also includes small projects that support civic engagement – such as community baking stoves. Anyone who would like to try to benefit from such funding should contact the respective local action groups (LAGs).
Further information: We are happy to give advice!
Are you more interested in the topic “baking stoves made of fireclay”?
We offer training courses and online seminars on this topic and are also happy to advise you in person.
We also offer a versatile range of baking stove sets and planning aids from small to large baking stoves for various applications.
Please contact us at: info@wolfshoehe.de.
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