Baking in a Solar Oven

This article is taken from the booklet: Solar Cooking by Angela ‘ARNie’ Grabowski order your copy here- http://chezcrochet.com/page92.html

AN OVEN THERMOMETER IS A MUST. You will toss more attempts in the trash, if you try to bake with temperatures that are too low.

I don’t recommend putting an air-tight lid on baked goods, since the moisture escaping from the recipe really needs to move away from the batter, instead of being trapped on top of it.

For novice solar cooks, I recommend using quick bread recipes until you have a solid knowledge of how well your oven works. One step further, I recommend using quick bread recipes with either soured milk, buttermilk, yogurt, or acidic juices. These will inhibit bacterial growth at the lower temperatures. (See recipes at end of book)

Smaller recipes are better suited for solar cooking- no more than 2 cups of flour or dry ingredients for a coffee cake, ginger bread, brownie, or corn bread recipe.

Solar Cooking is well suited for Whole Wheat flours, since solar cooking requires longer cooking times, the flours get the toasting they need to taste wonderful.

After 1 hour in the solar oven, or when the quick bread is firm to the touch, you might want to put a Black Lid on your brownies to prevent over browning on top. The Black lid will help protect the top surface, but still delivers heat to the top of the recipe to help its continued cooking.

The Clean Knife/Toothpick trick simply hasn’t worked for me. I’ve had numerous recipes where the toothpick was clean, but the interior of the batter was still ‘gooey’ or doughy. Put your quick bread in the solar oven after it has reached 250F empty, then leave it for at least two hours.

For me, dried fruits have worked better, than fresh or frozen or canned. The added moisture from the fruit cannot evaporate at the lower temperatures, and makes for a gooey cake, no mater how long it cooks.

Finally, I have had much better luck with parchment paper, than cooking spray to prevent sticking. The bottom of the recipe won’t get quite as browned, but at least it won’t, stick to the pan.
Copyright Angela 'ARNie' Grabowski 2009

More Tips for Baking with a Solar Oven

From conversations and personal research, I’ve heard that 250F is the consistent, average temperature that most solar ovens reach and maintain. This is true of both home made and commercially produced ovens. I’ve heard and even experienced higher temperatures with solar ovens, but 250F is the one number I’ve heard the most.

This is adequate heat to bake with, but will at least double the required time to fully cook any batter type of recipe.

Most 'cake' batters require 1 hour of cooking at 350F or higher. With a Solar Oven, you should probably leave that recipe in the oven at least 3 hours (at 250F) and possibly longer.

Unfortunately, if you leave a cake in the sun that long...the top can scorch, but tightly covering a batter won’t allow the steam to escape and will result in gooey, soggy cakes.

Consequentially, I have had better results with pastry baking, when I use Quick Bread recipes such as Coffee Cakes (US term), Biscuits (the fluffy breakfast roll- not the sweet treat eaten at tea time), muffins, ginger bread, brownies or corn bread.

Quick breads usually need only 20-30 minutes of baking time in a traditional oven at 350-400F. In a Solar Oven at 250F, my best results have been to cook Quick Bread recipes 2 hours, not the 3-4 hours that a thin, runny cake batter would need.

Thin, runny batters have a higher water content, and will create steam inside a Solar Oven, that fogs up the glazing glass... which will reduce the temperature inside the oven. In Summer time with intense solar radiation... foggy glazers isn't such a bad thing, since it helps to prevent the tops of cakes from scorching... but it does lengthen the cooking time.

If experience shows that your favorite recipe needs 3 or more hours to fully cook, you will need to cover the top of the recipe about half way through the cook time. I recommend a Black Camping plate, since it will fit loosely over the recipe, and allow the steam to escape; as well as, the black surface radiating IR heat back onto the top of the cake, continuing the cooking process.

All experienced Solar Cooks recommend using shallow tins when you bake. This allows the Conductive Heat to reach the center of the cake quicker, so your cook times are reduced.

Also, elevating your cake tin just a little bit off the floor of the solar oven will allow the Convection heat to reach the bottom of the pan- cooking the bottom of the batter at the same time as the top.

Baking is tricky business in a traditional oven, so don’t feel badly if your first efforts with a solar oven do not turn out perfectly. Experiment with several different types of batters to discover what works best for your area.

FoodNetwork.com has an extensive database of high quality recipes. Do a Search for Quick Bread Recipes, Muffins, Coffee Cakes, Ginger Bread, Muffins, Brownies and Biscuits to find new recipes to try in your solar oven.

ARNie's Equipment

I am in the process of compiling all of my favorite equipment into this post.

As soon as I locate various online dealers for the things I use, I'll post them here.

Anchor Hocking and Pyrex Mixing Bowls in various sizes for glazers.

Wear Ever or Baker's Secret annodized, non-stick Baking Pans, 9" round cake pan, 9" Round Pie Pan, 9" Square cake pan

Steel 'Granite' Black Roaster- as an oven- lined with foil or not

My shiny steel roaster with a domed glass lid... I cannot find online anywhere.

Tempered glass lids for Crock Pots, Skillets, and pyrex stove top pots, in various sizes that I find at thrift shops and flea markets.

Reflector Supplies for Cookers

http://www.interstateplastics.com/materials/detail.aspx?ID=acrylicmirror-SCl013
Mirrorized Plastic sheets for making panel cookers or reflectors for ovens

http://www.mirrorsheeting.com/
Sheets and rolls of various thickness and reflectivity

Solar Cooking Nut- My Mentor

SCN has dozens of videos showing her techniques and methods for Solar Cooking. Her knowledge was invaluable for helping me to fine tune my own cookers and cooking methods.

http://www.youtube.com/user/solarcookingnut

Solar Cookers & Ovens- Links & Plans

http://www.sungravity.com/index.html

http://solarcooking.org/plans/

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooking/cooking.htm

Solar Cooking Links- Mega Lists

http://www.knowledgehound.com/topics/solarcoo.htm

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooking/cooking.htm

http://www.she-inc.org/index.php

Experiments & Simple cookers for Kids or Classes

http://davidmdelaney.com/solar-cooking.html
David Delaney's improved soda 2 liter bottle water pasturizer

http://solarcooking.org/soda-bottle-pasteurizer.htm
Original Soda Bottle pasturizer

http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/handouts/solarbake.html
Super easy cooker for baking apple slices

How Solar Cooking Works- MUST READS

http://mickiesplace.com/solarcooking.htm
This is an excellent overview of Solar Cooking principles and methods

http://davidmdelaney.com/solar-cooking.html
Several experitments and articles on improving Solar Cooking pots, glazers, and methods for creating the greenhouse effect.

Solar Cookers, not ovens

http://www.outdoorcook.com/article1051.php
Modified Funnel Cooker

http://ecobites.com/component/content/815?task=view
Unique Parabola Cooker

http://www.sunspot.org.uk/Solar1000/solar1000.htm
using Satelite dish for a cooker, and wonderful explanations of how it works

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeeka5a/earthboundtek/index.html
Plans for making your own parabola/parvati style cookers

http://solarcooking.org/plans/
This has numerous plans for Funnel and Prabola style cookers.

Solar Oven Plans & Articles

http://www.re-energy.ca/t-i_solarheatbuild-1.shtml
Interesting Box Oven made from an aluminum roasting pan

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/radabaugh30.html
An awesome article on building and usind a Box Oven with flared reflectors

http://www.ethicurean.com/2007/08/14/solar-oven-1/
Basic Box oven, but larger than most

http://www.uberpest.com/cooker.html
another Box Oven, but uses freezer bags for glazer

Misc. Solar Energy Links

http://www.builditsolar.com/
Build It Solar-All things Solar Energy

http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html
Optimum orientation for Solar Panels

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/At_what_angle_should_a_solar_panel_pool_heater_be_set
Angle of Solar Panels equals your Latitude

http://www.youtube.com/user/GREENPOWERSCIENCE?ob=1
Green Power Science at YouTube

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/2006-02-01/Do-It-Yourself-Solar-Heat-Collectors.aspx

Chili cooked on Hazy Day- Recipe included!

Earlier this week I cooked 1 pound of Red Beans in two different pots with my panel and steel bowl cookers.

Yesterday, I wanted to make chili with part of those beans, but the day was really hazy. UV predictions were 9-10, but I'm guessing it was more like an 8.

So I put the beans straight from the fridge into the oblong granite pot, room temperature canned tomatoes, seasonings and a couple of beef bullion cubes. As I stepped outside to set up the panel cooker, I realized just how hazy it was. So, I thought I would experiment with the reduced UV.

I set the pot down on the ground to finesse the panel cooker, and in only a couple of minutes the lid was hot to the touch! I knew I could still cook.

I waited until the ingredients were 150F before adding the beef. I cubed it really small so that it would cook faster at the lower temps. I stirred the beef in making certain that all the meat had been nestled into the hot broth... again... Safe Food Handling Tyrant wanted to make certain that the beef got to 150 immediately.

I repositioned the cooker (as best as I could without much shadow), and at the end of 3.5 hours, I brought the pot in. It was still at 150F, which is 10 degrees above safe food holding temperature, but not hot enough to melt cheese. So, I set the pot on a burner for 5-7 minutes to come to boiling temp.

Added a handful of corn tortilla chips, cheese on top- Yummmy dinner!

Chili Recipe:

2 cups of beans in their own broth (this time I used Red beans, normally I use Pintos)

2 pounds (2 cups) of beef- cubed stew meat or ground beef

1 14oz can of HEB Chipoltle seasoned Tomatoes, about 1/4 cup of water to rinse can into pot.

2 teaspoons of dried onion flakes & cumin

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder & dried cilantro

2 beef bullion cubes

General Notes:

Normally, I would use store bought beef broth, but with the reduced sun and lower temps, this would not be loosing any moisture to steam, and I didn't want this too soupy.

I did NOT salt this, nor did I add any pepper. The tomatoes were pretty spicy, and the chipoltle seasoning on the bacon inside the beans added some spice. The bullion cubes and the salted beans added enough sodium to this dish.

Set pot of veges out in sun until they are 150F, then add meat.

Cook for 3+ hours to blend the seasonings and cook the meat.

3 pots in one day

Tuesday this week, I cooked three different things with three different cookers.
Ham and Taters
Navy & Vege soup
Lemon Blueberry (Whole Wheat) coffee cake

Steel Bowl Cooker

I took 2 steel mixing bowls, added a car reflector and created a solar cooker similar to a Parvati or a Parabolic cooker.

ARNie's Roaster Solar Oven- details

I bought my stainless steel roaster at my local Target, and here it is listed at the Target Website... unfortunately... it is out of stock. I fear it may be discontinued. You might try writing to the company to find out who makes the roaster, and order it from them directly. The Roaster was in a clearance section with no box, and if it had any other packaging information, I threw it away long ago.

Stainless Steel Dome Roaster