By Regina Kruse-Özçelik

Early Birds Istanbul Founder and Author

The earth oven that we, the EBI team and the children, built in autumn 2021 was a complete success. We were able to cook and bake many different dishes in it over the following year. We even created two cookbooks with our favorite earth oven recipes. All the children drew and wrote down their recipes, and we used them to design a cookbook.

So why should we dismantle our earth oven when it worked so well?

Quite simply: so that all of us—the children, families, and our employees—could experience the construction of an earth oven once again.

First, we had to dismantle the old oven. We cleaned the bricks used to build the oven, as these were to be reused. The groups got to work immediately after kindergarten started in September. They were highly motivated and worked their way stone by stone to the foundation of the oven. First, the outer layer of the clay-straw mixture was removed, which proved to be much more laborious than we had all expected. They scraped and tapped with small shovels until the clay slowly crumbled away. To make the work easier, we provided the children with water. Within a day, the outer layer had been removed and the fire-baked bricks were visible.

Now it was time to remove the bricks. Under the watchful eyes of the guides, the bricks were carefully uncovered one by one and set aside. Building something together is very exciting, but dismantling an existing oven is also very interesting! At the end of the demolition phase, all that remained was to tidy up the construction site, and then the construction of the new earth oven could begin.

How do we build a clay oven with children?

The bricks from the previous oven were reused and stacked with fireclay mortar. After the second row of bricks, the children added a layer of sand, followed by salt. Finally, the inside of the oven was paved with bricks. Then the oven dome was built until it was finally sealed with a closable oven pipe. After two days, the oven dome was ready for the final layer. The children mixed clay, earth, straw, and water and applied this to the oven dome. The second clay oven was finished!

Our first oven had only one door, and both the firewood and the dishes we prepared were pushed into the oven through this door. This was often very difficult, and we had trouble operating the oven. Therefore, it was decided that this new version of the oven should be equipped with two doors and a closable chimney. The advantage became apparent during the first oven test. The food could be easily pushed into the back of the oven, and we could easily add new wood to the firebox.

Photos and videos were taken during the construction and dismantling of the earth oven. The photos can be seen in each of our cookbooks. We edited the videos together for our EBI families, and the film celebrated its successful premiere at the harvest festival.

Sometimes it is worthwhile to take something that has already been built apart again. This allows us to experience the entire process once more and improve our techniques.

If you would like to implement this project, you can contact me HERE .