Oven

Pies in an oven.

Ovens are closed, heated containers which are used for heating, baking, and drying. It is used the most often in cooking and pottery. They provide even, dry heat to all surfaces of food inside them. An indoor oven can have an electric heating element, or be fired by natural gas or coal. Outdoor ovens are often made of brick or clay and are buried in hot coals. An oven which is used for making pottery is called a kiln. An oven used for heating or industrial processes is called a furnace. They are hot inside, and often things come out of them hot.

History

Ancient Greek portable oven

The people in the settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization were the first to have an oven inside of their mud-brick houses by 3200 B.C. People who study the history of food give credit to the Greeks for making the baking of bread into an art. A type of oven called Front-loaded bread ovens were created in ancient Greece.

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Oven Media

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  A stove bench in the living room of a German farmhouse

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  A wood-fired pizza oven, a type of masonry oven

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  臺灣Panasonic NN-S215微波爐

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  Interior of a modern home oven

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  Zojirushi toaster oven ET-TB15

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  Oven depicted in Jean-François Millet's painting, Woman Baking Bread (1854)

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  Traditional clay stove from Serbia (Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade)