The Gathering
The round dome. Pompeii's shape, unchanged.
From $18,800 plus HST
Why this shape
The dome hasn't meaningfully changed in two thousand years because it was already right. Heat comes off the curve and back down onto the food from every direction at once, while the floor cooks from below. That is why a pizza is done in ninety seconds and comes out even, instead of charred on the side that faced the fire.
It isn't actually round
A Pompeii dome is not a half-sphere, whatever the pictures suggest. On a good one the radius across the floor is greater than the height at the centre. The dome is deliberately flattened.
That correction exists because of the floor. Nearly all the heat cooking the underside of a pizza has come down off the ceiling and gone into the brick beneath it. Build the dome to a true hemisphere and that heat has further to fall than it should — the chamber runs hot, the top chars, the base stays pale.
So we step the courses in as they rise, bringing the ceiling down closer to the floor. It is slower to lay and it is invisible once the render goes on. It is also the whole reason the base of your pizza comes out crisp.
What you get
- 34 inch interior diameter — 908 square inches of cooking floor
- Three 10-inch pizzas at once, or two dozen bagels in a single bake
- Past 900°F measured on the floor when fully fired
- Hand-laid firebrick dome, 4.5 inches thick
- 3 inches of ceramic fibre blanket
- 1.5 inches of perlite render, then the finish — 9.5 inches of wall in total
- Cast iron door
- Stainless or black flue
- Foundation poured below the frost line, base built
- Delivered, installed, and fired with you the first time
- 56" × 62" flat supported space · Approx 2450 lbs
What it cooks
- Past 900°Fon the floor
Pizza in ninety seconds.
- 700°Froasting
Lamb, a whole fish, peppers blackening in the corner.
- 500°Fbread & bagels
Two dozen bagels in one bake.
- 300°Fslow overnight
Beans, stock, something left in overnight.
Still significantly hot twelve hours after the fire goes out.
What it costs
From $18,800 plus HST. Counters, tile and cladding are priced by size and material. Lead times run from a few weeks in autumn and winter to several months through the spring and summer rush. Book early if you want it for the summer. The final number is confirmed at the site visit, which is free.
Bake more than you entertain? The Baker is a flat hearth built for the hours after the fire.