> Did you try the "design system" link? It doesn't give much detail but
> there is a bit on the principles involved.http://www.stovemaster.com/html_en/designsystem.html

http://www.stovemaster.com/html_en/c..._sequence.html also
gives me a bit better idea

do you mind me asking where you are? The company seems largely russian
- and although clearly a pretty radical design relates to the the
massive retained heat of the traditional russian stove I would guess
(the type that you sleep on)

since you say you only fire twice a day (whereas I run my wood burning
stove at home continously during winter) I guess it must be ultra
eifficent

> >Its placing directly above fire is curious, partly because
> > examples I have seen in old farmhouses normally have it to side and
> > also it implies even if this oven does need fire inside oven, it must
> > be very subject to how hot the fire underneath is running (so how do
> > you get really low heat in oven when you want that?)
>
> According to the instructions, we don't bake bread until the fire has gone
> out. There is supposed to be enough retained heat in the oven for baking
> then (which I find easy to believe considering how well it heats the
> house.) It is supposed to be too hot for bread while the fire is still
> going.
>

have to say I would find this rather awkward to work with I think.
Since many sourdough recipes (or rather methods) require one to start
making up dough between one day and three days in advance and the
final point at which bread is put in oven being fairly critical in its
process of rising (the time slot when a loaf is neither under-proofed
or over-proofed from its final make up is probably about half an hour
maximum) - most of us either switch our modern oven or light our oven
fire at the dictates of the dough - which you won't be a liberty to do
(assuming your priority is heating your house)

the answers for you I think will be various. Infa red thermometer is a
nice gadget, but as I wrote before simply reading exterior and
interior heat of your oven in this way isn't always that helpful
(exterior obviously tends to reflect the ambient heat rather than just
the internal retained heat). In your case the interior surface heat
may be more useful than typically since effectively it will only be
retained heat. If you have to choose (ie you can't get the model I
mentioned that does both probe and infa red) then I might go for the
probe type themometer, these can be very cheap as they are produced
for car mechanics also. Either way I would strongly suggest you
initally do graphs of the falling temperature of your oven to work out
typical times for when it will be at whatever temperature (and for how
long)

The second tactic (aside from rather long term pre-planning) in order
to get your dough to dance to the rythm of your daily firings is to
make or find already existing in your house what professional bakers
call 'proofing cabinet' and 'retarder'. A proofer will speed up dough
development, a retarder will do the opposite. Classic domestic ready
made proofer would be dough in a tupperware in an 'airing cabinet' if
you have such a thing (sadly few do nowadays - there's nothing like
putting on fresh clothes from an air cabinet on a cold morning) - if
you don't have in your case I am sure you can make a cabinet at some
appropriate distance from your fire ensemble - but the result must be
an even all round heat and dough sealed in soemthing so as not to dry
out. A fridge can do the job of retarding if a bit harshly

yours
andy forbes