woodstove oven

[clr8ter]

Does anyone have an oven to go on top of their wood stove? I was thinking of building one, it'd be cool to cook bread, cakes, pizza, ect., since it's already making heat anyway, and even better in a power outage. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with it as far as temp control goes....or any other thoughts....

 

[BrowningBAR]

Do you mean something like this:

 

[clr8ter]

No, what I mean is I have an Oslo, and I work at a sheetmetal shop. I'd make an aluminum box with a door in front and set it on top of the stove when I wanted to bake something.

 

[branchburner]

I'd make an aluminum box with a door in front and set it on top of the stove when I wanted to bake something.

I'm planning on doing something like this. My idea was a soapstone base and instead of a door, you would lift the whole aluminum box right off the base. But maybe also have a small "window" door, so you could see how badly things were burning. The window could also be cracked to provide a steam vent.

I was thinking two layers of aluminum might be good, with a bit of airspace between for insulation. When it gets too hot, you have a pizza oven; when too cool, a drying oven.

 

[branchburner]

I had something like this when I was a kid, which I suppose would work:

http://www.campmor.com/wcsstore/Campmor/static/images/stoves/80016.jpg

 

[clr8ter]

Ideally, I'd like a front door oven swing open down, with a window, like a regular oven. soapstone would be cool, though. My other idea was to put slots in the top, with a slider to cover or uncover the slots, depending on the needed temp, and a small hole with a thermometer poking thru. not sure I'd want to double wall it, it would already take about 1/2 sheet of aluminum, not cheap........

 

[KeepItNatural]

Can you make something like that yourself?
That'd be an awesome project to see- you'd need to be a little creative with metalworking and some welding- but it sounds like a pretty sweet idea. From what I'm hearing you're talking about something that's not permanent but removable.
But if i can throw my two cents in, don't put soapstone on the bottom, put something that transfers heat really easily since it will be on top of the stove- put the soapstone on the sides and the top to retain the heat a bit better if anything.

 

[begreen]

Yes you can. Mother Earth News had an article about this. A fellow took a vegetable oil can, cut off the end and put a spring-loaded hinge on it, and reattached it to the can. Then he insulated the outside of the can. Voila, stovetop oven.

Or:
http://www.wisementrading.com/outdoorcooking/outdoorbaking.htm
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Portable-Camp-Oven/895626

stove top pizza oven?
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/japanese-stovetop-pizza-oven.html

 

[BrowningBAR]

Yes you can. Mother Earth News had an article about this. A fellow took a vegetable oil can, cut off the end and put a spring-loaded hinge on it, and reattached it to the can. Then he insulated the outside of the can. Voila, stovetop oven.

Or:
http://www.wisementrading.com/outdoorcooking/outdoorbaking.htm
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Portable-Camp-Oven/895626

stove top pizza oven?
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/japanese-stovetop-pizza-oven.html

Something like that would come in handy for one of the many power outages we get here in the winter.

 

[soupy1957]

I realize you are asking about an add on to your existing wood stove. WE chose to go another route however............

We have not done the work yet to prep the part of the kitchen that the stove sits in yet, but will be doing so, so that it can be used. Like removing the window, putting up brick work around it, and running the piping.

The stove itself however, has been totally refurbished, and is ready to function.


-Soupy1957

 

[daleeper]

If you are a metal fabricator, you should be able to build one with no problem. I found one at an antique store for $10. that fits my stove just right, but have not tried it out yet. It looks a little rough, but if it works well, I'll spruce it up a bit. I have seen several of them similar to the one that branchburner posted, but usually too small to really do anything with. The one I found is about twice the size. I also got a ceramic bean pot, and am looking forward to slow cooked beans this winter.

 

[clr8ter]

Well, I am a sheet metal mechanic, (precision), and I TIG weld, so yeah, I could make something like that pretty easily. It's just investing the $ into the 1/2 sheet I'd need. I would make the whole thing out of single wall alum, (I don't care if it looses heat, since the stove will always make more), and the bottom would actually be a pan, so in case of any spills, it wouldn't get crap on my stove. I would also try to size it so you could get a 12" pizza pan or 2 12" long bread pans into it. Unfortunately, on the Jotul Oslo, this would mean it would have to hang out a little bit since the top is 22 x 11, give or take.......

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'd make an aluminum box with a door in front and set it on top of the stove when I wanted to bake something.

I'm planning on doing something like this. My idea was a soapstone base and instead of a door, you would lift the whole aluminum box right off the base. But maybe also have a small "window" door, so you could see how badly things were burning. The window could also be cracked to provide a steam vent.

I was thinking two layers of aluminum might be good, with a bit of airspace between for insulation. When it gets too hot, you have a pizza oven; when too cool, a drying oven.

I think the aluminum would be good but doubt the soapstone would work that well. The reason for that is by placing the soapstone on top of the stove, you will lose too much heat. Better the heat goes directly from the stove top to the oven, so maybe the aluminum might work and just do not have a bottom to the oven?

 

[daleeper]

The old ones, and I believe the new coleman ovens do not have a bottom, only a small pan or flat sheet with a gap of at least 1" around the outside edge at the bottom to catch spills.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Nice stove Soup... I see them sometimes at auction in varying condidtion and think one day...

I'm planning on making some pizza dough today and just trying to figure out a sweet spot near the stove for it to rise where's it's not too warm and the dogs can't get at it. I love the oven idea.

 

[andybaker]

hey Kathleen, a good place at home to get your dough to rise is in the dishwasher. Put a pot of boiling water in the bottom and have the dough at the top. Close it and let it age.

 

[SteveKG]

It should work fine. People have been using Dutch ovens for centuries for this very thing, though you won't be getting a big pizza pan or cooky sheet in one. But you can experiment with one and see how you like using it and how it does atop your particular stove. Dutch ovens are used for baking biscuits, for certain.

You would use a flat-bottomed Dutch oven, not the style with legs.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

I like the dishwasher idea but I don't own one. Dough is happily rising on mantle.

 

[clr8ter]

Backwoods Savage, I think it needs a bottom, with a lip turned up at least 1", and the corners should be welded watertight. I'd hate to have something nasty spill on top of my Oslo, and mess up the finish & get in the gap where the top plate is. That would be impossible to clean until the stove was cool, and by then it would be a caked on mess.......

 

[Dune]

I don't see any reason to use aluminum. Steel would be cheaper and better.

 

[Dune]

I don't see any reason to use aluminum. Steel would be cheaper and better.

Don't forget, aluminm is the second best conducter of heat, only copper is better.

 

[tickbitty]

I have seen those in antique stores, it's intriguing! They are kinda like the Coleman ones in begreen's link, but they have a window.
I can't find one exactly right, but this is a similar one:

 

[pen]

I have one almost identical to the one tickbitty shows at my cabin. We place it on top of our griddle.

pen

 

[branchburner]

Well, I went out the other day and got a $2.99 Hefty aluminum turkey roasting pan, the kind with the wire handles. I bent the handles back to reverse them so I could lift the pan when upside down. I added a layer of heavy duty foil over the thing and placed the inverted pan on the 3/4" soapstone slab I put on my stove top.

It felt pretty warm under there, so I whipped up a quick batch of biscuits and dropped them right onto the soapstone - covered 'em up, baked for 15min, and they came out great. Tried an apple crisp yesterday, good but the apples burned just a little. So today I made another one, but this time elevated 1/2" on a rack, and it came out great.

This turns out to be pretty easy.

 

[tfdchief]

[quote author="BrowningBAR" date="1289719522"]Do you mean something like this:

BrowningBAR, can you tell me the brand of the bakers ovens pictured in your post? I found one of them but can't find the others. I am really interested in putting one of these in the kitchen. Thanks, Steve