Choosing the right HearthKit
Measure your oven from the Oven Rack Support that best matches those found in your oven. (See detail A, B, or C). Use a measuring tape to measure the width between the supports as show in the oven to the right.
*It is important to measure between the rack supports, and not between the oven walls.
Hearth Cooking
Whether you have a gas or electric home oven, HearthKit will help you to improve the quality of all foods you bake and roast. With HearthKit in your oven, you can:
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ROAST MEATS, Poultry, Vegetables, and Casseroles at higher temperatures for succulence of taste, color, and texture. |
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BAKE European Style Artisan Breads with chewy, crisp crusts and deep color like those found in commercial bakeries. |
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BAKE Professional Style Pizza at Home as if it came from a brick beehive oven. |
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SLOW COOK Stews and Baked Beans to add a rich depth and fullness to your dinner menu. |
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BAKE Pan Breads, Muffins, Cookies, and Pies, like those you've found in the best bakeries. |
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LONG SIMMER Dishes
for maximum flavor release. |
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The key to a hearth oven’s great results is its unique ability to absorb heat and redistribute it evenly. Pressed at over 175 tons from cordierite, a sturdy, specialized blend of earthen materials, HearthKit is fired at over 2,300°F and has excellent conductive properties. HearthKit features two slightly curved sidepieces and a thick, tapered base designed to form a chamber much like that of a wood burning beehive or brick pizza oven. This balances the heat in the oven and releases it relentlessly back into the food, making it possible to safely bake or roast at higher temperatures without burning, or to slow cook more gently and evenly at lower temperatures.
Once HearthKit is heated to the desired temperature, it tends to remain at that level creating a highly stable heat platform. Thus, three types of heat — conductive, radiant and ambient — work together allowing you to cook your usual dishes with superior results; meats and poultry cook evenly and quickly, retaining their juiciness while breads with fabulous crusts rise to their fullest volume.
Why HearthKit
Hearth ovens have more mass so they maintain a steady even heat that is released into all foods baked on the hearth. When baking in a hearth oven, three heat principles are at work: conductive, radiant, and ambient. The three work together to form a hearth environment. Conductive heat is cooking in direct contact with the heat source; the heat moves vertically through the food. Radiant heat emanates from the roof and sides of the oven, while ambient heat fills the oven cavity and determines the length of the baking cycle.
Conventional modern day ovens use only ambient and minimal radiant heat. Some ovens have been improved by circulating hot air with a fan inside, also known as convection. However, without conductive, radiant, and ambient working together, it is impossible to achieve a hearth environment. Conventional ovens have very little mass and cool rapidly, causing them to continuously cycle on and off in an attempt to maintain a steady temperature. As a result, oven temperatures can swing up to 75°F and subject food to frequent high blasts of uneven heat.
This is where the hearth oven outperforms a conventional oven. In short, HearthKit solves the challenges of the modern oven with eons-old, time proven methods.
History of Hearth Cooking
Over 7,000 years old, the hearth oven was the oven in which all baking was traditionally done throughout the world. Made entirely from stone, brick, and/or clay, their original design featured a flat baking surface, curved sidewalls, and a beehive shaped domed roof. To heat the hearth oven, a wood fire was built in the baking chamber and left to burn for several hours. After the wood had burned down to ashes, the ashes were removed and the oven was ready for use.
During this heating process, the hearth absorbed the heat from the wood, essentially becoming "charged" with heat. The hearth slowly released this heat and evenly distributed it throughout the baking period. This slow and steady process produced incredible baked goods, better breads, and roasted foods. In fact, the hearth retained heat so well, two or three batches of bread could be baked before the temperature fell too low. At that stage, the oven chamber could be loaded with crocks of stews or beans that benefited from an extended period of cooking at lower temperatures.
Often permanently constructed in a fireplace, the hearth oven was not portable. With urbanization and the industrial revolution in Europe, space and wood became scarce and coal became the fuel of choice. Smaller portable ovens were needed. In the 19th century, access to less expensive metals and industrial production techniques led to the invention of the metal cookers — the first modern home oven. Portability, price, and relative lightness made such metal cookers the norm.
The HearthKit has been receiving rave reviews all over the country.
The Boston Globe: "The HearthKit has been getting a lot of press these days, and for good reason:...I don't have space to describe each of the dishes I tested, but the effect of the HearthKit was immediate and striking."
The Today Show: "One of the hottest products of this year's Gourmet Product Show has got to be the HearthKit Oven insert."
Bon Appetit Magazine: "The HearthKit is simplicity itself... wait until you see what it does for the likes of bread, pizza, roasts, potatoes, and plain old chicken."
*Order your HearthKit today and start experiencing the joy of cooking like the professionals with professional tastes and results.
Other HearthKit Testimonials
"I find that the HearthKit can turn any home oven into an excellent roasting machine because it retains heat so efficiently."
Bruce Aidells
Author- The Complete Meat Cookbook
"It gives me confidence. The precise heat ensures superb baking results every time. It's the brick oven I've always wanted - the oven that every cook deserves. …it is the most important piece of new kitchen equipment since the Cuisinart."
Rose Levy Beranbaum
Author- The Cake Bible
"Baking with the HearthKit Oven Insert fulfills all the potential you put into your bread. It consistently gives me loaves with the same color, texture and flavor as my $60,000 steam-injected professional oven. Not to mention perfect chickens and roasts."
Peter Reinhart
Author- The Bread Baker's Apprentice
"…the pizzas from the HearthKit are excellent. The dough sprang up perfectly and had a bumpy, blistered surface from the fast rising steam."
Michele and Charles Scicolone
Authors- Pizza, Any Way You Slice It
"Over the years, I've tried various recipes for baking nans none of them satisfying, until the HearthKit came along. The heated ceramic base becomes part of the authentic flavor and texture of the nan, distributing a mellow fragrance that permeates the soft, moist, puffy nan, just as it should be. Furthermore, you can taste the sear and sizzle in every bite of tandoori chicken and tandoori leg of lamb. I highly recommend the Hearthkit for my native tandoori-style cooking."
Laxmi Hiremath
Author - Laxmi's Vegetarian Kitchen; Classic Indian (2004 John Wiley & Sons)
"I've been baking for three decades, and first baked in a wood-fired brick oven more than twenty years ago. For all this time, I've been searching for a way to replicate the effects of a brick oven in my home kitchen. With the HearthKit, I can bake bread at home that's as good as from any traditional hearth oven."
Thom Leonard
Nationally Recognized Artisan Baker
"I have had the opportunity to use most of the best ovens designed for hearth-baking. The HearthKit removes all of the baking limitations that home-bakers once had. Many comment when visiting an excellent bakery or pizzeria, that you become forever spoiled after eating there. Well, spoil yourself at home and use a HearthKit."
Ian Duffy, Artisan Baker
Cook Natural Products
"Even though I am a professional baker, I do not have the capability of producing the kind of baked goods at home that I do in my bakery. However, on Father's Day, I made bread in my home oven in the HearthKit. The crust was wonderful and thick, and to my surprise, the bread was as good as if it were baked in my professional deck oven!"
Jean-Yves Le Bris
La Gourmandise Bakery, New York City
HearthKit FAQ's
Q: What is HearthKit?
A: HearthKit is a revolutionary new product that faithfully converts most home ovens into a Brick oven, allowing the home cook to experience the exceptional benefits of hearth oven baking and cooking.
Q: What is HearthKit made of?
A: HearthKit is manufactured from a blend of cordierite, a specialized blend of earthen materials, bonded to create a ceramic material.
Q: How is HearthKit manufactured?
A: HearthKit is pressed at over 175 tons of pressure and then heated to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, after which it is allowed to cool and cure.
Q: How is hearth-oven baking or cooking different from using a regular modern electric or gas oven?
A: A modern oven utilizes only ambient and minimal radiant heat. When baking in a hearth oven, three principles are at work: conductive, radiant, and ambient. When designed properly, these three heat types work together to form a hearth environment. This creates a highly stable environment allowing for greater control and a more evenly cooked product.
Q: Why is hearth-oven cooking better?
A: The key to a hearth oven is its unique ability to cook foods from the inside out, not just the outside in! Typically, roasted products may be baked at higher temperatures, allowing the food to sear on the outside and maintain juiciness inside. The incredible benefits to hearth-baked products are well documented and unchallenged.
Q: Is HearthKit designed only for baking breads, pizzas, pastries, etc.?
A: No. HearthKit enhances baking, cooking, and roasting of meats, poultry, vegetables, and casseroles, as well as slow-cooked stews.
Q: Is HearthKit difficult to assemble?
A: No, HearthKit typically takes less than 60 seconds to install.
Q: Where should HearthKit be positioned in the oven?
A: HearthKit is designed to create a cavity 7.5" to 9.5" high from the ceiling of your oven
Q: How long will HearthKit last?
A: HearthKit is a ceramic product designed to absorb heat. It has no moving parts with the exception of the replaceable custom HearthKit Thermometer and multi-purpose cooling, baking and broiling rack. The ceramic material is breakable if misused (See Use & Care Guide). HearthKit will last for many, many years and may be transferred to a same size oven in the event the homeowner replaces their current oven or moves.
Q: Does HearthKit carry a manufacturers warranty?
A: HearthKit carries a 10-year limited manufacturers warranty.
Q: Does HearthKit come in several oven sizes?
A: Yes. It is currently available in three sizes--17", 19" and 20.5" widths--to fit most 30" and 27" (exterior contractor dimensions) conventional home ovens. Although Hearth Kitchen Company currently satisfies the 36" ovens by installing the 20.5" HearthKit oven insert, Hearth Kitchen expects to have a unit available for 36" Professional ovens in 2003.
Q: Is there a different price for different sized ovens?
A: No, currently the HearthKit 17", 19" and 20.5" Oven Inserts are priced the same, but the new unit for 36" ovens will command a slightly higher price.
Q: How do I know which HearthKit will fit in my oven?
A. The best way to select the HearthKit that is right for your oven is to measure the interior width of your oven between the oven rack supports. For more details, click How to Choose Your HearthKit.
Q: Is it necessary to preheat the HearthKit before use?
A: Yes, HearthKit typically requires a few more minutes to preheat and charge its mass of cordierite. Setting the oven to a higher temperature during the preheating phase and then backing it down to the desired temperature will reduce this time. Also, if your oven has a convection feature, using it will also shorten the preheating time. Just remember to turn the convection feature off once your oven has preheated and you begin baking.
Q: Is there any danger in using the HearthKit?
A: No, with the exception that HearthKit maintains heat over a very long period of time. The user should be cautioned that after bringing the temperature up to 400 or 500 degrees Fahrenheit, HearthKit will maintain a significant amount of heat well after the oven has been turned off.
Q: How do I accommodate baking/cooking/roasting different items sequentially?
A: We suggest you cook the lowest temperature item first and then raise the temperature of the HearthKit to meet the requirements of the second or third item being cooked.
Q: How do I clean HearthKit?
A: Most modern ovens have a self-cleaning feature and it is recommended that you leave HearthKit in place during the self-cleaning cycle. This will restore the color to "like new" and can be repeated as often as is necessary. Please read the cleaning segment of the Use & Care guide. It is important to understand that there are some self-cleaning ovens that require the removal of the oven racks from the oven prior to the start of self-cleaning. If that is the case, it will be necessary to carefully remove the sides and then remove HearthKit base from the oven. Cleaning instructions for the removed HearthKit are detailed in the Use & Care guide. CAUTION: Be sure and remove the Custom HearthKit Thermometer and multi-purpose rack prior to the start of any self-cleaning process. See Use & Care Guide for details.
Q: Are there any similar devices available?
A: No. HearthKit is unique. Multiple patents in the United States, 10 countries in Europe, Mexico, Canada, Japan and Australia, protect it.
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