Oven

Oven. The kind of oven which is still mainly used by bakers is it low reverberatory chamber with an arched roof. The sole or floor of the oven is commonly of stone. The dough is inserted through a door in the face with a long wooden spade, termed a "peel." Such an oven may be heated either externally by means of a furnace at the front corners - the products of combustion passing through an opening into the oven - or internally, a fire being- lighted within it, or a "chaffer" being moved about in the inside. In the latter case wood is the best fuel, but when the furnace is heated from without it is usual to employ coal. Many improvements have recently been introduced in the construction of ovens. Thus it is common now to have a furnace underneath the sole, with flues arranged round the oven, into which the gases from the furnace enter. If it is desired to heat the oven internally as well as external}', the gases can be admitted into it through openings worked with Valves or dampers.