How to Make a Homemade Oven? (3 Bonus Methods)

In this brief guide, we will answer the question, ‘how to make a Homemade Oven?’. We will look at a couple of methods to make a homemade oven by using the stovetop. We will also look at some creative methods where tin cans are recycled and used as ovens.

How to Make a Homemade Oven?

To make a homemade oven, elongate the distance from the flame to the food.  Use your stove or make an oven from scratch.

Can you turn your stove into an oven?

You can turn the stovetop into a makeshift oven. The oven uses convection as a heating source. Contrary to a stovetop, an oven, differs in the aspect that the heat source is away from the food. While a stove makes food cook quickly, the oven radiates heat slowly, which penetrates the entire surface of the food. Therefore, cooking in the oven ensures that food does not remain uncooked from the center.

The hot air from the flame can be conserved and used as convection similar to an oven. Layering up and creating a portion will make an effective makeshift oven. To make your own oven, you need either some pots and pan or some recyclable tin scrap and of course a fuel source such as charcoal or gas.

Basically, you increase the distance of the pizza from the flame to make the pizza cook slowly.

A general guide

Use a big pot with a tight cover. Place another cookware such as a pan inside or a baking tin and place the frozen pizza in.

The heat will trap inside the bigger pot and transfer to the other pot. Consequently, the convection current travels to the pizza and heats it.

You could use a pan or a griddle to work as a barrier to elongate the distance between the pizza and the hot flame.

Follow the steps below:

  1. Take a large pot or pan, big enough to fit your bake your cake, pizza, or whatever you want.
  2. Put an iron rack inside. Use iron, metal, or steel because they can resist high temperatures.
  3. Place the cooking utensil on the stovetop and turn it on.
  4. Put the lid on and let the pan heat for 5-10 minutes.
  5. Place the steel rack in the center of the pan and then place your dough or batter in. If you are baking pizza, you can place it directly onto the rack or use a metal-based mold. For bread, cake or cookies use a mold of a good heat conductor. 
  6. Cover with a tight-fitting lid. If you don’t have a lid that fits quite well, use something dense to apply pressure. A large stone, a hammer, or anything which is heavy enough to press down the lid.
  1. Now let your premade baked good cook for 5-10 minutes on a medium flame. 
  1. You need to turn down the stove and cook on low flame. 

On medium flame, you are speeding up the heat to make it reach your batter or mold quickly but when it does you need to diminish the heat to allow baking to occur. If you bake on medium or high heat, the food may not bake all the way through. Cook patiently on low unless you want a crispy, overdone bottom and undercooked top.

Other FAQs about Ovens which you may be interested in.

How does an oven cleaner work?

How to clean a very dirty oven?

Let us discuss a few innovative and creative methods to make an oven at home. These methods use scrap and a source of energy:

1.Use a tin sheet

Tin sheet from an old can or canister will be of use here. You need to cut it up and transform it into an oven casing. You need two or three steps to place the food at the top and light a flame at the bottom. You can make the removable case to access inside the oven and place or remove the food which needs to be baked. Also, the case must have maximum coverage to ensure all of the heat remains inside the container.

2.Soil Oven using charcoal

Here you need a similar improvised large, tin can. You can cut some slits to create a door and levels while the soil oven burns with charcoal

3.Improvised Oven De Uling

An oven de uling has an enclosed space for cooking while charcoal is placed both at the bottom and top. Use a large empty canister and place the to be baked item inside. Place the can over a heat source and also place lit-up charcoal at the top.

The above methods should preferably be recreated outdoors. As charcoal or other fumes are burned it could be dangerous to inhale. Also, while you bake, keep close supervision and a fire extinguisher at hand. 

In this brief guide, we answered the question, ‘how to make a Homemade Oven?’. We looked at a couple of methods to make a homemade oven by using the stovetop. We also looked at some creative methods where tin cans are recycled and used as ovens.

Citations

https://www.instructables.com/Homemade-Oven-for-Pizza-and-Cakes/

https://www.mamasguiderecipes.com/2018/10/16/top-10-pinoy-improvised-oven-for-baking/

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