1. It was my first step by step recipe
2. I posted pictures of my oven and every other reader of this blog immediately had a gazillion questions about it!
Ok, I tend to exaggerate a bit but in this case, its only a teeny bit. True story.
Considering all the emails I have replied (happily, may I add) on the subject, this post is terribly late. But then, here it is, finally, after a break of 9 days, my longest in a while.
This, is my oven.
And this here, is the list of FAQs. Go crazy folks!
Q. Where did you buy the oven? What's the price?
Amma got this for me from Shah Enterprises in Kottayam, Kerala (that's my hometown). The brand name is OK. I am positive you'd get this in most home appliances stores in Kerala although I am not sure of other places. If anyone has seen or heard of this, please leave a comment.
The price is about Rs. 1200. No, I am not going to convert that into USD for you. Sorry, too lazy.
Q. How big is it?
Hmm.. not that big. Its the size of.. hmm.. ok let me put it this way. An 8x8 tray will fit into it just right. Anything bigger, you will have to maneuver it by tilting the sides, etc. Amma has a bigger one so this is available in various sizes, I am sure.
Q. What's the maximum temperature? Can it bake everything from cakes to bread to cookies?
The max temperature is 220C. Usually, cakes and cookies are backed at 180C. For bread, you need a slightly higher temperature but I have baked plain white bread with very good results. In fact, all the baked good in this site are made in this oven (Update: I upgraded to a Delonghi 26L table-top oven mid 2011).
Q. Does the oven come with a warranty? Is it worth carrying all the way from India to somewhere abroad?
The answer to this really depends on how bad you want that oven. I wanted it real bad because the prices in Singapore for ovens is atrocious. I am used to this since amma has had it for over 20 years. Having said that, this thing works on a filament coil heating system so if the filament gets rusted or broken, it will result in a loose contact which is frustrating, especially while baking. So it depends on your luck on the most part. Some may last only a year but most will go on and on forever.
Good luck and if you have more questions, leave a comment and I will answer them 🙂
Disclaimer: I am not recommending this oven to anyone. This post is more informational since a lot of you had questions about the oven when I put up pics in the butterscotch blondies step by step recipe page. The oven is very basic, quite small and may not work well for all recipes that need to be baked. However, the ones you see on this blog have all been tried and tested in it so you can safely go ahead!
Mea Culpa
Never saw a round oven like this before! Its what they say about products that our parents use; it lasts longer and tastes like home 🙂
Jaya
Nags,
this is the same oven my ma bakes cakes still and sometimes roast vegetables also..last time when I went bcak home for holidays ,even i baked an apple cake in that, it really came out nice ..
Bong Mom
My Mom has something like this, but not as shiny
Vidyullata
My mom bought the same type of oven from Nagpur, Maharashtra. So I guess this is available readily in India.
Pravs
My mom has same oven. It's nice to discuss gadgets we use.
Sharmila
Nothing can beat a good, ole conventional oven. I prefer my OTG to MW anyday for good baking and grilling. Your posts are like Santa Nags .. bringing little surprises out. 🙂
roma
This is the exact same oven my mom used to bake cakes in. I am delighted like a kid to see it 🙂
Nags
So nice to hear from a fellow Kottayam-ite Twinsy 😀 Sounds like your oven is a bit smaller than mine although mine is quite tiny too. I can bake up to 8 cookies at a time though 🙂
Rohini
Such a cute oven!! I would definitely buy it when I come back.. We are lucky, because we have in-built oven here along with the stove 🙂
Twinsy Rachel
Hi Nags:
I have been following u n ur sis for some time now (so happy to see kottayam gals in blogosphere as I hail from aymanam). My mom had a big round oven until a few years back which she gave to her bro n still in good working condition despite 30 plus years of baking (every Christmas mom used to bake 15 to 17 cakes in that). Now I bake in the smallest version of that which belongs to my MIL.. though it takes forever to bake cookies as I cant put more than 4, cakes work well.... cant bake bread as itz so small, so my bread ends up more or less like buns... Also mine doesnt have temp settings too...
Oh btw, Shah is my fav shop n I swear by it (see traits of kottayam blood is showing up 🙂 )
Rgds
Twinsy