Esse Bake Heart--anyone have one or any ideas?

[Prof]

So I have a small office (400 sq ft) on the side of my garage. I don't rely on this space on a daily basis. A little background--I cook with wood throughout the heating season, both in my masonry heater and on my PE summit in my basement--probably equally provided between the two. I'm a bit addicted to cooking over wood heat. When I use the grill or the electric stove, I feel like I'm giving in in some fashion. So, I'm planning on putting a wood stove in the office. I was initially thinking of something like a PE Vista--smallish stove that won't overwhelm the space. Then I came across the Esse Bakeheart and started thinking about putting one in and using it as a summer kitchen. I want to know if anyone has one or has any ideas. Thanks.

Bakeheart - ESSE

Bakeheart Wood fired cook stove The Bakeheart is an elegantly proportioned wood-fired cooking stove that provides room-filling radiant heat, a graduated temperature cooking hob and a generous baking oven. While its rugged cast-iron design and simple styling may give the impression that the...

www.esse.com

 

[jetsam]

I would put solar panels on the roof and forget the summer kitchen, but we can probably help you with the original idea too.

I've never seen a bakeheart thread here, but we do have some cookstove enthusiasts such as @SpaceBus, who will no doubt be along shortly. He has a great setup that does all his cooking and preheats his DHW.

 

[Prof]

I would put solar panels on the roof and forget the summer kitchen, but we can probably help you with the original idea too.

I've never seen a bakeheart thread here, but we do have some cookstove enthusiasts such as @SpaceBus, who will no doubt be along shortly. He has a great setup that does all his cooking and preheats his DHW.

Solar panels are on the short list of house improvements, though I'm on the wrong side of the mountain to have a good payback period. For me it will likely be more a matter of personal values in going solar.

 

[SpaceBus]

So I have a small office (400 sq ft) on the side of my garage. I don't rely on this space on a daily basis. A little background--I cook with wood throughout the heating season, both in my masonry heater and on my PE summit in my basement--probably equally provided between the two. I'm a bit addicted to cooking over wood heat. When I use the grill or the electric stove, I feel like I'm giving in in some fashion. So, I'm planning on putting a wood stove in the office. I was initially thinking of something like a PE Vista--smallish stove that won't overwhelm the space. Then I came across the Esse Bakeheart and started thinking about putting one in and using it as a summer kitchen. I want to know if anyone has one or has any ideas. Thanks.

Bakeheart - ESSE

Bakeheart Wood fired cook stove The Bakeheart is an elegantly proportioned wood-fired cooking stove that provides room-filling radiant heat, a graduated temperature cooking hob and a generous baking oven. While its rugged cast-iron design and simple styling may give the impression that the...

www.esse.com

It depends on what kind of cooking you want to do. The size is a bit on the small size for me, but for your goals it might be perfect.

 

[Prof]

It depends on what kind of cooking you want to do. The size is a bit on the small size for me, but for your goals it might be perfect.
[/QUOTE

I've got the big ticket holiday cooking covered because it falls during the heating season. I know I'm not roasting a turkey in the Esse, but during the summer we tend to have smaller meals. I've really gotten into roasting vegetables, chicken, steak, etc. in the oven. Also, we regularly fry eggs on the wood stove and I miss that in the summer. Using propane and electric in the house/on the grill just doesn't work for me as well. I had a cob oven outside at my old house, and have been kicking around building another one to do the wood fired pizza and bread thing during the summer.

 

[jetsam]

I made a rocket stove out of a few cinder blocks and a few shovelfuls of dirt a few summers ago. I was amazed at how good it was for cooking things in pots and pans, and it ran on sticks!

Took it apart because it was in the middle of my firepit and we wanted an open fire one night, but it was a pretty great cooking appliance for $5.

I think the best thing about it is that it was flat on top... when you're used to cooking on an open fire that is a big step up.

 

[SpaceBus]

If you think the Esse is large enough, check out the Vermont Bun Baker. It's a rebrand of an Australian stove, but I can't recall the name. There are also some good Eastern European stoves in this size class that are well liked. I got mine through Obadiah's, but they might be the sole US distributor for a lot of the brands. Most of the Amish/North American made cookstoves are just going to be way too big for what you want. Maybe Drolet makes a smaller cookstove now? I think you can get it on Amazon.

I too would like to build a permanent outdoor pizza/bread oven, but I don't like a lot of smoke. Currently my plan is to continue baking bread in the summer by rising the dough overnight and baking in the early morning. If it's too hot I'll figure out how to do it outdoors, maybe one of those stovetop oven boxes on top of my solo stove firepit? I really don't want to go back to propane or electric cooking either.

 

[jetsam]

If you think the Esse is large enough, check out the Vermont Bun Baker. It's a rebrand of an Australian stove, but I can't recall the name. There are also some good Eastern European stoves in this size class that are well liked. I got mine through Obadiah's, but they might be the sole US distributor for a lot of the brands. Most of the Amish/North American made cookstoves are just going to be way too big for what you want. Maybe Drolet makes a smaller cookstove now? I think you can get it on Amazon.

I too would like to build a permanent outdoor pizza/bread oven, but I don't like a lot of smoke. Currently my plan is to continue baking bread in the summer by rising the dough overnight and baking in the early morning. If it's too hot I'll figure out how to do it outdoors, maybe one of those stovetop oven boxes on top of my solo stove firepit? I really don't want to go back to propane or electric cooking either.

Solar ovens can bake bread on sunny days . You can make one for $0-$100, depending how fancy you get and what bits you have sitting around in the shop. Lots of plans online.

It's basically an insulated black box with a glass top and reflectors to bounce more sun in.

 

[Prof]

I made a rocket stove out of a few cinder blocks and a few shovelfuls of dirt a few summers ago. I was amazed at how good it was for cooking things in pots and pans, and it ran on sticks!

Took it apart because it was in the middle of my firepit and we wanted an open fire one night, but it was a pretty great cooking appliance for $5.

I think the best thing about it is that it was flat on top... when you're used to cooking on an open fire that is a big step up.

I did the same thing about a year ago. I was amazed at how little wood I needed to boil a pot with 1/2 gal of water--literally just the sticks in the yard got the job done.