The Horno

The horno used wood fires. There is no "pit" like you would think there would be, but the fire is built right where you put the bread. After the oven was hot enough, the cook would sweep out all of the fire, coal and ashes, and place the bread in the oven. Because of all the masonry surrounding it, the oven will stay warm enough.

Of course, there is no thermometer to tell the cook how hot the oven is... the cook just has to know by the feel of the outside of the horno. (Each cook usually knew of a specific spot they would feel on the horno that would let them know it was hot enough!) The cook also had a fail-safe for determining if the horno had reached the correct temperature. They would take dried corn husks and toss them into the oven (after they swept the fire out). If the corn husks burnt up really fast, they knew the oven was too hot. If it turned a nice golden brown, then they knew that it is just right! A large wooden paddle would be used to place the bread in the very hot oven. (The paddle is very similar to paddles used to place pizzas in ovens at the pizzarias today!)

Of course, the horno had a wooden door which was placed in front of the oven to keep the heat in. To keep it from burning, the cook had to soak it overnight (or at least several hours) before starting the fire. It helped if it was wrapped in burlap which has also been soaking for several hours!

Although a wood fire was used in the horno, most of the fires at the mission were not wood, but instead were charcoal. Of course, the charcoal was not purchased, but was made right at the mission. To make charcoal, a pit is dug in which a small fire is built. Small logs are placed on top, and then the whole is covered with earth so that there is very little air, so that the fire will smolder, but not burn. This way, instead of having only fine ash…. one gets the big chunks of charcoal.