I'm Dreaming of a Bread Oven

We saw this awesome bread oven in use at Fort Ouiatenon this year.   Those girls were leaning against it because it was warm.

They were indeed baking bread inside it.

Awesome.

As in, inspiring awe and wonder and a deep recognition that This Is The One.

I love this bread oven.  

I LOVE it, I tell you!

Here's the front. It was about 4' wide.  

They built a fire in the right chamber [You can see the smoke marks, above] and let it heat up good, then they moved the coals to the left chamber and let them burn out. 

The left chamber is wide enough to use one of those fireplace shovels, with an extra long handle,  to move the coals from the right to the left. 

Once the right chamber is good and hot and then emptied out, they baked bread in it.    It was hard to get a pic of the inside, but this will give you the idea.   They were taking one loaf out and you can just see two more inside.  

The whole thing was probably 6' long.  It had a chimney at the back, that came up to about 5' tall.  They said it was made of fire brick covered with concrete.   It had a crack over the left chamber, but still heated fine.   They made a lot of bread that day with it.

We don't need one this big, but this is the way we want it to look.    I'm thinking we only need it around 4' deep, with a narrower chimney on the back.   I love the hearth and the double chamber.   Ours will be built right next to a firepit, and we won't be baking all day long, so in theory, we won't need the left chamber, we can just pull the coals and light a fire in the firepit with them.   That way we get to enjoy the oven and watch a fire.