Allan Adler > writes:

>Newsgroups: rec.food.baking
>Subject: ad hoc oven
>From: Allan Adler >
>Date: 27 Apr 2004 08:16:27 -0400
>
>N.Thornton described a way to make your own stove top oven and answered
>some of my questions about it, but I am still confused about it.
>
>I was contemplating an arrangement of the following sort:
>Take a large, deep cast iron sauce pan, put a wok base inside it,
>set a small cookie sheet (I've never actually seen them so smalll)
>or aluminum pie plate on the wok base, cover it and heat it on the
>stove to preheat. Then put dough in the cookie sheet or pie plate,
>cover and heat it.

People seem to forget that prior to the vast middle-class expansion
following World War II, many people lived in places where the only
cooking appliance was a gas "hot plate" burner. Here is an
example of one of these devices:

http://www.griswoldcastiron.com/item....asp?ItemID=88

Anyway, in the 1950s, even in homes which had modern gas or electric
ranges, the small stove-top oven -- often called a "potato baker"
-- was not uncommon. It was more economical to use than heating
a large oven just to bake a couple of potatoes. Also, in summer,
the kitchen was a little bit cooler if one did not have to use the
big oven on in the stove.

The stove top oven consisted of a shallow metal pan with a
perferated disk which was placed inside and which held the food
about 3/4 inch above the bottom of the pan. There was a domed
metal lid which was then placed over the top. Fancy models
even had an oven thermometer built into the domed top so that
one could regulate the temperature by adjusting the gas flame
beneath.

----

Wow! I just did a search for "potato baker" on Google and immediately
came up with a contemporary version for sale by the catalog merchant
Walter Drake Co. for about $10. Go to http://www.wdrake.com and
search for item number 1003023

"Stove Top Potato Baker saves money -- no need to turn
on the oven to bake a couple of potatoes! Enjoy crisp
and crunchy outsides with light and fluffy middles.
Warms bread, biscuits or muffins. Base provides
scorchless "double boiler" cooking. Nonstick stainless
steel; 8-5/8" diameter, 4-3/4" tall."

I'm amazed that this product still exists.

As you can see, the concept is to provide an enclosure with some
form of double bottom so that whatever you're cooking does not sit
on the metal surface in contact with the stove burner. Air must be
able to circulate.

You mentioned muffins. The "Potato Baker" description above says
it can be used for warming muffins, but nothing about using it to
bake them. However, muffins and quick breads are very forgiving
and likely could be baked in a stove-top oven provided that the
oven were large enough to accommodate whatever you're using as a
muffin tin or baking pan. (If your objective is to bake only a
couple of muffins, maybe you could use Pyrex custard cups or small
ramekins. You'd need to experiment.)

Hope this is of some help. Thanks for asking the question because
I really enjoyed thinking about -- and finding -- the potato
baker.

Cheers,
The Old Bear