I thought I would share the newest solar cooking adventure we've embarked on. It's been really crazy. We've converted a used oak clothing dresser into a solar baker with the capacity of baking 12 loaves of standard bread at a time. It started out like this...
I liked the idea of having wheels, but this one had really been used a lot to move around. So we took them off.
Using the wood from the dresser drawers, we went about breaking them apart and using the high quality wood for the sides of the cooker.
The advantage of using the dresser was that it already had the sections divided and supported by the wood slates. It was just a matter of adding the insulation and building the inner walls of the cooker. Oh...and putting a bottom on the thing.
Insulating we went with rolled fabric, the same height and width of the panel sections.
Sliding the fabric into the sections, we then covered them with another layer of wood.
This is what it looked like when it was all sealed up. Tight seams if any at all. Insulation encapsulated inside the walls to hold the heat in the baker.
Painted black with high temperature oven paint 5$ a can,(safe up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit), available at any hardware store.New wheels...2$ each.
Nice handle for easy lifting. 2.50$
Fully painted and drying, it is now awaiting the oven gaskets, glass cover and metal reflective panels. So far we've only spent about 20$.
I'm getting really excited. Can you tell? When we get it finished and bake some bread, y'all will be the first to know. In the meantime, we are having fun.That's all I have to say about that.
8 comments:
Wow Chef Tess! This is awesome! Are you going to be baking this way all the time? How do it work? Does it only work with bread? Sounds like a wonderfully frugal and neat idea! :)
I've been solar baking for years and I love it! The first few years I used an oven made out of cardboard, newspaper and glass. My husband bought me a Global sun oven and I've used that ever since. It just fits 2 loaves at a time so I have to bake my bread separate from casseroles or anything else, but it saves a ton of money on cooling our house in the summer and uses clean free energy. This new cooker is a big step.
I thought an oven needed to be fire resistant. Mine for sure should be. How hot does it get?
Now I'm wondering, if I paint my Ford Festiva black...that might be as much fun as a pit bbq!
Ford Festiva...that's funny! I thought they needed to be fire resistant too, but that would only be if they got hot enough to start a fire, as this one only will get to about 375 degrees, we are okay. Even my global doesn't get past 400. I'm not worried about it catching fire, since the one I cooked with for years was made of cardboard and rolled newspaper covered with foil, and it cooked wonderfully.
I can't wait to see the finished product.
Very innovative. I love it!
I love it! We got a solar oven for Christmas and was finally able to use it for the first time last Saturday. It seems that every Saturday it was cloudy! I am excited to see the finished product AND to have my husband look at it! 12 loaves of bread! Amazing!
I love this solar oven. I am a big advocate of solar cooking. People are always amazed at what can be done in a solar oven, but it just seems so logical and perfect to me.
Txaxlady
The Solar Cooker
www.txazlady.wordpress.co,
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