On 12/21/04 2:39 PM, "danube" > wrote:

>
>
>> For years, I had a piece of soap stone that rested in the bottom of my
>> oven. It was about 2" thick, weighed nearly 100 pounds, and worked
>> wonderfully for my baking (though admittedly, it was a bear to remove
>> <g>.) I used to measure its temperature with a contact thermometer of the
>> sort used for fireplace chimneys. Another virtue of the very heavy stone
>> is that it allowed me to bake at temperatures far higher than the nominal
>> maximum of my oven.
>>
> How can this be achieved, a stone in an oven at a temperature higher than
> the oven temperature?
>
> JB

JB,

The oven burner might be 20,000 BTU's. What you commit those BTU's to makes
a big difference. A thin piece of porcelain covered steel surrounded by
refractory glass fiber (your typical oven) is not the same as a big hunk of
stone. At 500 degrees or so, most basic kitchen ovens are at, or over, their
threshold of efficient storage. And so that becomes their ceiling.

The wood fired ovens get to 700-800 degrees, not because the wood fire is
hotter, but because the thermal capacity of the oven brick is higher, you
can store more BTU's in it.

Kenneth altered the capacity of his oven to retain heat by adding the stone.

You can do it to, but I would not recommend soapstone. It has a very slow
acquisition and release "curve", Which makes it great for a woodstove but
not so great for baking, unless you have extended baking sessions (which I
suspect Kenneth used).

Look into refractory cement stones:

http://www.bakingstone.com/

They will have the better acquisition/release characteristics i.e.: less
time to preheat, with retention corresponding to a more typical bake
session, say 25 to 40 minutes.

Will


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