Hawaii Portuguese Stone Oven

Big Island's Kona Historical Society has a brief history and info about the weekly Portuguese Sweet Bread Baking get togethers.

What is also interesting is their Portuguese oven construction:

And then the baking(!):

This particular stone oven is a massive heat sink that takes FOUR HOURS (according to the website) to come to proper temperature of 400 deg F.

There appears to be no thermal insulation at all around the outside of the oven or below the deck of the oven (notice the horizontal cement line).

If you have wood to spare and freely available, I suppose it doesn't matter about the insulation. As a side note, the Breadmans'  backyard oven takes EIGHT HOURS to come up to temperature.

For most backyard oven builders, I think it best you insulate both the outside of your oven as well as below your oven's hearth deck. This will allow your oven to not only retain heat longer but also possible come up to temperature sooner thus using less wood (or propane) in the process.

Dragon Mastery aka Heat/Temperature Management

I've already baked several sourdough breads and even a pizza or two in the oven. However the finished baked goods are not something I'm proud of (yet) and my electric oven has baked them a whole lot better.

So I'm experimenting with various heat management techniques ...still!

Once I've conquered "The Dragon" to my satisfaction, I'll post my techniques and also the finished baked goods.