Hacker News Reader

Comment by 0xdeadbeefbabe | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to say DIY ovens are hard; don't even attempt it :) but if you are interested in really good pizza, pita, bagels, and ciabatta all you need is a conventional oven modded basically like this[0]. Also a baking stone is required. SV takes too long, is it worth it?

[0] http://www.instructables.com/id/Hack-a-Toaster-Oven-for-Refl...

View on HN

Try 1/2 inch sheet steel instead of a baking stone. More thermal mass, better conduction and more wear-resistant (won't crack from thermal stress). Cast iron is a cheaper alternative.

Hey that probably has less asbestos than my fibrament baking stone, and maybe it doesn't smell as bad when you heat it up the first time.

Hmmm. Never thought of that. If it's cool enough tonight I'll try an experiment with a cast iron skillet and a small boule.

SV meaning "sous vide"? Worth it? Very yes.

Sous-vide won't work for breads. The best bread is going to come from an oven that's using heavy convection current to crisp up the outside. A brick oven does this, as do the more modern convection units.

If you want to see what's new in convection cooking, check out the Turbo Chef Fire. This is a commercial piece of equipment, but could eventually be adapted for home use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkFrsUP9QUU

Oh, sorry, I missed that he was talking about bread. Making bread seems a little bit similar to cooking bricks. :)

Also similar to reflow soldering.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com