MY newly built Mattone Grande is cured and we have begun using it for baking. However we are in North Dakota and winter approaches [I’m talking real winter not those cold snaps some of you refer to as winter ;-)] So the question arises as to whether there are any risks to using the oven in colder temperatures. If so, any ideas as to what temperature should signal that I should stop.
Hi Ken,
If you are keeping your oven dry between firings, and you aren’t knee deep in snow, and you’re not battling howling winter gales…
The biggest hazard would be going from 10 below to 800 above too quickly. At those ambient temperatures I’d consider taking extra time to start your fire gradually. Think of your curing fires, and take a similar approach to pre-warm your oven.
Moisture will turn into steam and hurt your oven, so if snow and ice get inside, you should shut it down until you can do real curing fires again.
You might consider taking a break from using it once you hit 25 below, but that’s more of a concern for you of course! (Where I grew up temperatures sometimes hovered in that range for days at a time in late kanoand February.)
Glad to hear you’re baking, and good luck!
Thanks for your answer. Now that winter is here I somehow fell less keen to use the oven 
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