Building a bread oven

There are many different ways to build a bread oven. Firstly, you can use various materials that each mason uses in a different way according to his preferences. Then there is the clients wishlist to be taken into account. Lastly, there are no detailed instructions to be found in manuals and as far as shape and building styles go, there are no rules.

The MOT created this manual to help out people who want to build their own bread oven. Although our method serves as a guideline, we offer you a choice between different solutions whenever possible. You'll find a list of materials together with the quantities that you will need to build this type of oven. In terms of construction, we prefer to follow the most authentic building method, unless we think there are better and easier solutions at hand. You can find more information in the chapter additional information.

We collected the information for this manual using books (see bibliography) and records of oven builders or companies that offer off the shelf construction packages. Several people have offered us pictures of their self-built oven. This proves again that there are different approaches. If while building your oven you see something that fits our description or contradicts it, please let us know on info@mot.be.

The Museum would like to thank everybody that contributed to this project, especially the oven builders Jozef Dockx and Gerrit Van den Dries.