Oven Door

New oven door

It's amazing how much effort we put into building our ovens, and yet we tend to neglect constructing a decent oven door. I take responsibility for being one of the worst offenders. Finally, I think I've built a door that should help to contain oven heat and not burn up. The door is wood, but it has a steel backing with a 1/2" air space between the wood and the steel.

Wooden door with steel backing in profile

Without the air space, the intense oven heat could conduct right through the steel and turn my proud. new oven door into charcoal. The wooden door is the door I use for bread baking.

All steel door

When starting my fires up I use an all steel door that I prop slightly open. This restricts the flow of oxygen, creating a vortex effect, making it easier for the fire to burn.