Delivery of the Rofco B40 Oven
I just realised that I actually hadn't posted a blog about the delivery of the Rofco oven, so I'll post some quick pics here.
The oven was purchased from an auction house in Sydney, it was brand new, tested by an electrician as working, although it did not come with the stone decks. I think that they had probably smashed to bits during transport and the delivery was rejected by whomever had ordered it so it was an insurance second, even though it was brand new.
The oven cost me AUD$700 (instead of whatever the brand new cost would have been - probably 10 times that amount if one were to include shipping and insurance from Belgium to Australia). Anyway, after an awful time with a national courier company that charged me twice for picking the item up even though they hadn't, I had another courier pick it up and deliver it to me in Brisbane which is over 1,000kms north Sydney!!
We ere actually on our way to baking college when the delivery arrived so had to have the oven left outside our rear entrance next to our garbage bins until we returned home in anticipation of getting it out of the packaging.
That's my partner inspecting the inside of the oven after the cardboard and bubble wrapping were removed.
You'll notice there are no baking stones, yet the remnants of stone dust and grit everywhere inside the oven.
You can see the stone debris in that last picture!
Comments
...mason to cut you some slabs? Sandstone or granite are the best. Avoid marble-it fractures too easily. Or maybe getting some 4-6mm sheet steel cut to replace the racks? They make a huge difference.
Btw, have you read all the Rofco baking tips at The Weekend Bakery. They're very experienced users with lots of good advice. They're also very friendly and will respond to any questions you have.
Happy baking.
Hi thanks for the comment, yes I have read The Weekend Bakeries site a few times. It is my intention to start an organic sourdough microbakery.
Anyway, I contacted Rofco about replacement stones, they asked me politely to contact their distributor in the UK which was fine although I realised that if I bought the original stones it would cost a fortune for shipping.
Then the research began, I attempted to get prices for slabs of granite, soapstone and whatever else I uncovered that would do as a baking deck with the appropriate thermal characteristics I thought necessary and would be as close as possible to the original stones from Rofco. I got quotes for sheets of 1/4 inch steel also.
All of these options were quiet expensive, although I found a supplier of a thwermalite pizza oven baking deck that I could get cut down to size and nearly went with that option but was uncomfortable that it was only 1/2 inch thick and wouldn't be able to retain enough heat.
Ultimately, I contacted a clay brick manufacturer, ClayPave, as they make refractory bricks which are used in furnaces and as the base for wood fired pizza ovens. Their refractory 'splits' were 1 inch thick and had perfect thermal and chemical characteristics although they were not large enough to use as a base as they were either 300mmx150mm or 300mmx300mm yet the oven is 480mmx480mm.
After all this effort I had to have those refractory splits, so I though if I put two 2mmx10mm stainless steel struts across the oven I could get the tiles cut to fit, which with the struts would be 240mmx120mm, requiring 8 tiles to make the baking surface.
Altogether the cost of the steel, the tiles (I purchased extra in case of breakage) and getting them cut to size cost about AUD$250 and a couple of hours running around to organise.
So here's another pic I just took of the oven with it's baking surfaces.
Then there we needed to get an 25 amp circuit and plug installed in the kitchen which took another couple of weeks to arrange and organise, that cost AUD$500.
But it's working beautifully.
Tonight's bake is malted wholemeal with buckwheat and chia :)
Hi just found your thread re your rofco40 oven, I am currently looking into purchasing one & also live in Australia just north of Sydney. I am interested to know if you are happy with your oven & whether or not you would recommend it. I am also wanting to create a micro sourdough bakery, currently I sell about 18 1000g loaves & about 16 600g gourmet loaves blue cheese & figs etc at a little stall at the front of our property along with other baked goods, fresh eggs etc each Friday. Baking 30 odd loaves of bread in a domestic oven is not that much fun. I look forward to hearing if this has improved your baking experience.
Many Thanks Vicki
it is great you have managed to find effective replacement tiles. well done & Good luck with your baking.
Leslie
That is a great story. You "stole" that oven - what a bargain you have!! Well done! Bake happy.. !! ..bread1965
Good afternoon. Have you been able to use the oven? How has it performed? I am looking at purchasing one.