Beginning Baker - Hearth Kit
I’ve got a great oven/range. It’s a 36″ Dacor propane cooktop with an electric oven with convection, bake and combination settings. It heats up to 600 degrees if I want it to, and really is nice.
So how do I improve it for baking bread? I’ve already cracked the window, so I have to stop that. The one tool that I’ve read about that I wanted to try was a Hearth Kit (www.hearthkitchen.com). It’s basically a baking stone with curved baking stone sides and a wire rack. The idea is that the stone heats up to the desired temperature and radiates heat to the middle of the oven. This supposedly eliminates the fluctuation (or at least reduces it) from the oven warming up and cooling down to keep its temperature.
The Hearth Kit comes with the bottom stone, 2 side stones, a rack that can used for broiling or allowing more food to be places in the Heart Kit, an instructional/recipe booklet, a thermometer so you know when the stone is heated up to the right temp and a cd.
My CD didn’t work, but I didn’t complain at all. Why not? Well, because I was at the Frontgate (from Skymall if you’ve flown and seen the catalog) outlet, and they had a couple of 22″ Hearth Kits for a good price. Regular price for the Hearth Kit is $199, including shipping; Frontgate had it for $25!!!
So it was an easy decision to get a Hearth Kit to try out. I’m going to be baking on it as soon as my oven is fixed (I still don’t have the glass replaced!). I’ll report back on how bread does using this instead of just a baking stone.
A great deal for $25. I can’t remember what I paid for mine. Some deal on ebay but a lot more than $25. $199 is a rip.
Two professional grade heavy duty rectangular Fibrament baking stones run about $60 each. Place one on the bottom rack and one on the highest rack and you have a set up comparable to a commercial baking oven for much less than the retail Hearth Kit.