So I set up the cooker in the backyard and at around 11.30am loaded it up with a tray of bread rolls:
After about an hour it began to generate some steam inside which after a while started condensing on the inside of the glass lid (see below). The instructions said this was pretty normal (which makes sense), but had the table the cooker was sitting on not have happened to have been on a very slight lean, the water would have dripped straight back onto the bread rolls - not an ideal situation.
I was busy inside decluttering, so after a few initial checks on the cooker and adjustments for the sun, I didn't get back out again to look at the rolls until about 2.30pm, when they looked like this:
Interesting! They didn't rise as much as they usually do, they were more like hamburger buns than crusty rolls? They are very moist inside, and very edible, although to my mind they have a very slight "tinny" taste? Possibly from the enamel coating inside the oven as it's is the first time it has been used (I did have them on an oven tray, not straight in the oven)? DH couldn't taste anything different and declared them "beautiful" and he and the kids scoffed them, so maybe it's just me? Regardless, I would rate it as a 6/10, not bad.Anyway, I might give bread a miss for a while and concentrate on other stuff, and come back to it later to see if it still tastes a bit funny. Next time I'll have go at a vegetable casserole, or possibly zucchini slice. The forecast is for scattered storms tomorrow, so I might have to wait another day or so.
Decluttering: The walk-in-robe and the study! Argh, what a disaster they are, full of detritus that has no other permanent home - you know the sorts of things. Between us, I think we've just made a bigger mess than we started with, LOL, because now the hallway is chock-a-block full of things that need to go to St Vinnies or be Freecycled! And I still have a towering pile of filing to do tonight - oh what a fun-filled life I lead ;-) What does everyone do with their kids' school books? Are they ever likely to need that stuff again? I suppose I'll store it all for a year and toss/recycle/reuse the blank pages if it isn't referred back to again?
Picking: Cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries.
Dinner: Zucchini fitters and home grown salad.
Contemplating: Why the bread rolls sank a bit and flattened out in the solar cooker. Too humid?
11 comments:
If you mean the exercise books your kids write in, my vote is to find space in a cupboard somewhere and keep them like a time capsule. My mother kept ours and it's such a wonderful trip down memory lane to see what we were doing at different ages. I'd put highest priority on keeping anything creative e.g. stories or writing books with what they did on the weekend. But it was also fantastic a year or so ago to look back at the graphs and calculations in my science book when we kept chickens in class and took detailed measurements on the whole experience
PS Congratulations on your first attempt with the solar cooker. I'm looking forward to hearing the results as you learn more
I struggle with the school artwork, so hard to determine what to throw out or not.
I donate the txt books back to the school, they have a program for cheap books for those that struggle to buy new. The books the kids use for writing I keep any blank pages for notes, shopping lists etc.
The school work is always a hard one, I kept one book only from each year, now my daughter is in uni I don't keep anything, my son in year 10 I only keep awards, certificates etc.
Loved the article on the solar over, purchasing one of those is one of my goals for the year.
cheers
I.m enjoying your blog.
Never heard of a solar oven before - looking forward to seeing more results.
Love Leanne NZ
Could it be that the oven wasn't hot enough when you put the rolls into it or it lost too much heat when you opened it?
I hope suz comes along soon and gives us the opinion of someone with experience.
I guess what really matters is that they tasted good and no one refused to eat them. Well, tasted good to everyone but you anyway :-)
I was thinking the same thing as polly - you don't put bread into a cold conventional oven after all. But then, I haven't read the instructions, and I assume you have.
to me the rolls look great!!
It's funny how the decluttering causes a temporary larger mess, lol :)
Hi Zie, Yep, I'm talking about my daughter's exercise books. I will definitely keep small samples to look back on, but with three kids I can see that I'll have to be pretty ruthless with what I keep otherwise I'll have cupboards overflowing with books before they even start high school, LOL.
Hi goingferal(ish) - yes I have to be pretty ruthless as they generate so much artwork! I'd love to keep it all but I've already got numerous folders jammed with just the really good stuff, LOL.
Hi Molly, fortunately she doesn't have any textbooks yet (not looking forward to adding those to our fees, LOL), but I think I will follow your lead of keeping just one book from each year plus certificates etc. That seems quite sensible :-)
Hi Leanne, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment :-) I'll definitely post more about the solar cooker when I get to have another go - it's raining here today.
Polly and Kate - I think on reflection that you are both right, the oven wasn't hot enough when I put the rolls in, and that probably also accounted for the odd taste. It was a really hot day but I had only preheated it for a bit under an hour, so perhaps it needs more time to get up to temperature (I wasn't measuring it, perhaps I need to in future). And I most definitely would have let a lot of heat escape when I opened the lid - how you get around that though, I've no idea. Not an issue for casseroles of course, but I really want to do bread in it as it uses a lot of electricity in my conventional fan-forced oven. Thanks for your input :-)
Cheers, Julie
I am trying to think what would cause the bread to sink. Preheating for 'just under an hour' should do the trick. Was the reflection of the mirror aimed as directly as possible onto the cooking area of the oven? When putting things in you need to be pretty quick too. The steam and condensation are pretty normal for such humid weather. This means that you don't get a crunchy crust, more like a bagel finish.
The taste you describe is mainly to do with the unit being new. It improves with use and a bit of cleaning over time. Like you, I was the only one who complained of it! Good luck with the casserole.
Hi Suz. Aah, so it is the new unit that is responsible for the odd taste. I might do casseroles etc then for a while until it has been heated up several times and (hopefully) the smell will have gone. Yes, the mirror was shining right on the oven, so perhaps I need to open the lid much more quickly next time? *Shrugs* Apart from the odd taste the texture was nice, so it wasn't a total disaster, they just weren't very pretty :-) Thanks for the info, it's great to have feedback from somone in the know.
Cheers, Julie
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