Best Fire Bricks For Pizza Oven

Professionals like fire bricks because they are more “traditional,”, especially for pizza ovens. You’d be hard pushed to find an Italian – or any other country – brick oven aficionado who would recommend anything other than fire bricks for the ovens inside!

Keep reading!

How Do Fire Bricks Work And Why Do We Use Them in Pizza Ovens?

The bricks originally intended for use as building materials were designed to replace the common clay brick. Depending on the application, they can be made from clay, shale, fire clay, or other types of refractory material that can withstand temperature extremes.

Brick pizza ovens are a great alternative to gas or electric ovens. You can use them to cook pizza, bread, pies, seafood, poultry, and roast meats.

For pizza oven fire bricks, what material is used?

They are made of various materials, including

Clinkers- There are many types of clinker bricks, and the most common include ceramic refractory bricks made primarily of clay and silica sand.

Lava- In addition to pipe flues, furnace linings, kiln partitions, and ovens, lava firebricks can also be used in high-temperature insulation projects.

Flux (silica) – This common type is composed of sands or rocks lacking fluxing elements such as feldspar. There is also very little alumina present in it.

Slag- Blaster furnace slag is added to clinker mix to create slag firebricks. This gives it a dark gray tone rather than the tan of regular clinkers

How do I choose the best pizza oven fire bricks?

Fire bricks are ideal for pizza ovens, so you want to avoid using concrete for them. Use kiln-fired clay bricks instead. It is possible to use clay bricks in pizza ovens, but concrete bricks cannot be used. 

It is a walk in the park for fire bricks to reach temperatures as high as 500oC in pizza ovens. These can reach temperatures up to 955oC even in low-performance models. To make delicious Italian dishes, invest in fire bricks as they are good at retaining heat. Long term, this will also mean you will need less wood.

These work best with dense foods

Your pizza will have a nice thick crust if you use bricks! You can bake your food in clay until all moisture has been removed even without adding cheese.

Smokeless

As some foods are less porous than others, you will produce less smoke when cooking with them. The bricks may not be doing their job well, so a heat deflector may be able to help.

This does not only apply to ovens

Used for pizzas or other business purposes! Any blocks or anything else that requires high temperatures can be used around the starter forge. Over time, they tend to loosen due to pressure, but you can just apply some more mortar!

FAQ

Do I need fire bricks to build a pizza oven?

As a result, ovens and smokers need them because they retain heat, resulting in faster and more even cooking. The blocks might warp after a few years, but you can always use mortar to fix them again.

Which is the best material?

The types of bricks used in fires vary, so there is no such thing as ‘the best. However, their most efficient materials tend to be silica, alumina, and ferric oxide.

Are they useful for outdoor ovens?

Yes, however, depending on the material used, they may become damaged over time, so please take care of them! Keep them dry and protected from corrosion.

What is the ideal number of fire bricks for a pizza oven?

It doesn’t matter how many you use since most ovens are different, but they’ll heal faster when there are more of them! Rather than setting them flat, the blocks should be set at an angle instead of touching. Add enough water to let your food cook properly.

Additionally, some people like to add insulation, which is fine if it doesn’t obstruct any airflow. You will then risk having an inefficient oven that won’t produce great results when you use it.