9 Tips for the perfect bake!

With a quote from Obadiah’s Wood Stoves–(one of J A Roby’s leading retailers in the U.S.)…”Yes it is true that the primary air function…”

I recently bought a J A Roby wood cook stove. The very first thing I attempted to bake was a skillet of cornbread. To my dismay, it just sat in the oven, pale and looking quite sad undercooked. After 2 hours, I decided pale or not, it HAD to be done!

When I flipped it out onto a plate, the underside, that should have been crusty and brown, was just as pale as the top. I wanted to cry! What was worse, leaving it in the oven that long had dried it out, and it was crumbly–and, well, I just threw it into the garbage can! I NEVER throw anything away! My dog even looked at me like, Granny, you don’t really expect me to eat that, do you?

I tried a batch of cookies next–same problem! Same disappointing results. With a huge frown, I shoved the second cookie sheet straight into my electric range.

And then, my husband found a post where a lady had just given up on a stove exactly like ours and moved it into the basement because she could not get it to bake! Bought a different wood stove that was supposed to bake better. Panic time! I don’t even have a basement, and I cannot afford to buy a second wood cook stove!

So, what can I do differently? We have heated with wood for the past 25 years. I know a lot about wood stoves! Just not about wood cook stoves. It can’t be that much different, can it? I have to be able to make this beast bake!

And YES! Don’t panic! If you follow these 9 simple tips, she will bake like a dream! In the amount of time your recipe calls for!

• Tip 1…Your firewood has to be really dry. Ours has been cut and dried for about four months. A year is better. But I made it work with wood cured just 4 months. Green, freshly cut wood, will NOT get hot enough.
• Tip 2…Your sticks of firewood need to be really small. You should be able to reach around it with your hand–say a diameter of about 2-3 inches. This will make a much hotter fire.
• Tip 3…You need a big bed of red hot coals built up before you start to bake.
• Tip 4…You need to keep adding wood throughout the baking process. As soon as you can add another stick, add it!
• Tip 5…You should leave your air admissions lever completely open throughout the baking process if necessary. Keep the leaver in the horizontal position. This is for a J A Roby cook stove. Those of you with a damper, leave it open if your oven is not getting hot enough. The owner’s manual that came with your J A Roby warns against leaving this primary air admissions on for extended lengths of time–see the quote from Obadiah’s Wood Stoves concerning this at the bottom of this post!”

• Tip 6…The deviation selector needs to be pushed all the way to the LEFT to bake. This allows the heat and smoke from the firebox to circulate around your oven. This lever is on J A Roby stoves, and is located right above cooktop near the stovepipe.

• Tip 7…Raise your oven rack to very top slot.
• Tip 8…Place your skillet, cake pan, or cookie sheet in the very back, left corner. That is your baking sweet spot–the hottest spot in your oven. If baking in 2 or 3 cake pans, you will need to rotate when they are almost done. I pulled out the first back pan when done and slid the front cake pan into the sweet spot for 5 more minutes. Brown as a biscuit! Not only brown, but done in 35 minutes just as recipe called for! You may need to turn pan about halfway through baking to get an even brown top. I did NOT turn mine and it was fine.
• Tip 9…Consider layer cakes. Bundt cakes are thicker and may not bake quite as well. My husband came up with this idea. He said there was probably a REASON old fashioned cakes were all layer cakes! To be honest, I have not yet tried a bundt cake since implementing these tips! As soon as I do, I will update this post!

A word of caution! Ignoring any ONE of these tips can cause your oven to under-perform! But if you follow these steps, your oven should bake like a dream! Mine did! I am so excited with my J A Roby cookstove now! I have wanted one for years.

My little 11 year old granddaughter, Bella, is having the time of her life baking. I hope this short post will help those of you having trouble getting your wood cook stove oven to bake properly!

A quote from Obadiah’s Wood Stoves–“Yes, it is true that the primary air function does need to be wide open (horizontal) to be able to get the baking oven up to temperature. This will not damage your stove and there is no harm in doing so. Please keep in mind that these are sold as “cook stoves” not heating stoves, and therefore in the literature the manufacturer has to list verbiage like that to ensure they are covering themselves properly so that it can’t be twisted into being sold as a heating unit, where its meant to be ran full blast all the time. I’ve had many customers using the stove on high for many years with no problems.”

Thank you, Obadiah’s Wood Stove for your prompt answer to this question!

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