Horno

Well, I was afraid that school starting up would make it difficult to blog regularly, and boy was I right!  If blogging is tough, getting time to paint is worse.  Hopefully, today will be a painting day if I can get my tomatoes put up and out of the way.  My heart is heavy today, being 9/11.  So much has changed and I miss more carefree days.  But, this blog is not about that.  I have written about that day elsewhere and here I will stick to the subject of creativity.

Lately, many people have expressed interest in my horno.  If you are not familiar with the baking customs of Native American cultures, an horno is an oven made of adobe bricks.  I thought maybe it would be interesting to show you mine, and the baked goods that I make in it.  If you are interested in more information about it, I would be happy to share what we have learned with you.  Just shoot me an email to ajowebb@gmail.com with questions.

My husband and sons made all the bricks and the base to lay them on.  The floor is brick, within cinder block walls.  The adobes are laid up on that.  So.. my oven:

This is my first horno, the one I learned on.

Burning takes 3 hours and I use mesquite and oak for my fire.  

After the burn, I shovel the coals out and put the plug into the smoke-hole. The oven is nearly 1,000 degrees at this point inside. Not hot on the outside, though.

The plug.

A small baking.  Now that our 6 kids are gone from home, baking for two is a snap! This baking will last us for several weeks.  I just freeze it as soon as it cools.

Pizza is SO good baked in this thing.  Crisp, snapping crust.

The oven is packed with the loaves.  In about 17 minutes they'll be done.

Bread coming out of the oven.  Bread baked in the house oven is good, bread baked in this heat is fantastic.