River Cottage

I can also recommend "Building with Cob" by Weismann and Bryce...good instructions for an oven as part of a generally fascinating and inspiring book.  I built one in August - see my wife's comments and pictures of the process on her blog at http//mopsa.blogspot.com/  .  I'm still drying it out with a succession of small fires, but hoping to actually cook something soon !  Any suggestions as to the best fuel to use would be welcome - due to the design it's quite hard to get the wood to burn fast enough to generate much heat.

Try faggots. They were used in traditional bakers ovens. You may be able to buy pimps, faggots or other firelighting bundles locally. I know someone in West Sussex who does them.

Alternatively, take a bundle of dry twigs, a mixture of very fine twigs and some up to 1/2" diameter is best. Tie them into a bundle very tightly. Length will be according to size of oven. Best to leave them to dry again before use. Light with a match, or bit of paper if you need to.

Otherwise, use kindling to get a good hot fire. 

When I prune my apple trees, the better prunings will go into the greenhouse to store until next summer. I intend making a small bread oven up near where our bbq is.

Knowing me, I'll have a pile of very dry twigs next autumn and no oven, but the idea is there

I see Hugh was using his lovely oven to bake bread on the TV program last night.   Very smart.  I made one and you can learn how to build it on my blog here:

http://clayoven.wordpress.com

Have fun - they are awesome!

Simon