Build a small scale hearth oven

If you like baking crusty pizzas and breads then you need to bake on stone and you need to steam the oven for nice crusty breads. It can be kind of a hassle to use a regular oven what with shuffling the baking stone in and out between uses and pouring hot water into an even hotter preheated cast iron skillet to steam the oven. And during the summer wouldn't it be nice to bake your bread outside the house? So let's make our own dedicated small scale hearth oven!

Step 1: Materials

Materials list:

- toaster oven
- pizza stone
- about 12 inches of 1/4 inch copper tubing
- about 12 inches 3/8 plastic tubing
- steamer
- lid for steamer

I recommend choosing a toaster oven that is fairly tall so that your nice boules don't rise up and burn on top when they touch the upper heating element. Or to be on the safe side, you may just want to remove the upper element as I did.

Make sure to use an oven thermometer for the first several times so that you know how close the thermostat is. The thermostat on my old thrift store oven is off by about 75 degrees! ;(

Comments

[Ronyon]

I would have never thought to pump water , even in the form of steam, into an electrical appliance!
Not really an issue, just a visceral reaction.
Very inspirational, could it be applied to a full size oven?
I also love the idea of adding something to the outside of the oven for insulation.

[godbacon]

insulate it. it'll get hotter and you'll use less energy. silicon cock can withstand high temperatures stick some "stuff" on the outside and hold in that heat.
Do you think electricity grows on trees?


I like your use of Thrift store Items. keep it out of the landfill and make it work for a living.

but I would caution you on your use of VINAL, especially with steam. VINAL is not food grade and leaches Hormone disruptors into water. Thats why waste lines are PVC and not supply lines. (note: exception, CPVC). The V in PVC: VINAL.

Hope I've been Helpful and "Nice" (note: there is a "be nice" policy. if your not nice you will be tortured till you become so.)

[dbell]

Very nice 'ible!! I'll definitely try this.
What hearth temps can you reach?

Dave

[SteveGerber]

I haven't used it for a while but I think the temperatures got up to 450 or 500. The biggest problem was that it took a long time to preheat. I think this was largely caused by my removal of the upper heating element. Also the single pane loose fitting door leaked a lot of heat. I still bake often but I use my regular full size oven and just spritz the bread with water before putting it in the oven. Sometimes I've preheated a cast iron skillet in the bottom of the oven and then poured water into it as I put the bread in to bake, but that sudden billow of steam really makes me nervous... :(

[lucek]

I love making bread and pizza ever scene I got my bread machine ($3 dollars at a yard sale with original recipe book). this could be a great addition to the dough setting.

[patrick6611447]

THANK YOU SO MUCH...I WENT SHOPPING TODAY FOR A SMALL BREAD OVEN....2,500.00 DOLLARS...WAS THE BEST PRICE....I AM JUST NOVICE BREAD MAKER FOR MYSELF IN THE WEEK-END...I WILL BUILT THIS FANTASTIC (CHEAP $$$)THIS WEEK-END AND WILL TELL YOU ABOUT IT AN OTHER DAY. THANK-YOU AGAIN, PATRICK FROM CANADA.

[Big Ugly Mich]

I wonder if you couldn't put, say, some dill or garlic in the water in your steamer like you would while steaming vegetables. Also, there's no law that says you MUST plug the oven in the same outlet as the steamer to keep your circuit breakers from tripping.

[Calorie]

This is really neat. I always wondered about the best way to introduce steam. Job well done!

[whytwulf35]

A pizza stone is just terra cotta or ceramic. You could just buy some tiles (unglazed). Might be cheaper, and can be fitted to size without using a saw.

[SteveGerber]

Actually, I've tried using the cheap unglazed tiles and have had them break. They especially seemed to break easily when I tried using them close to the heating element as is necessary in a toaster oven.

[LuminousObject]

So baking on a stone is the secret? I never knew that!

[Lftndbt]

Very interesting my friend!! I have always wanted to have an effected economical way to do this.. I believe you have just set me on the right path. Thank you. Great effort by the way!!