When we moved into this “new old house” in January 2013, it meant we didn’t have a real kitchen and had no idea it would take almost 4 years before we would For all this time I have managed to create some pretty amazing dishes thanks to the little 19 litre capacity $80 or so Sunbeam Pizza Bank N Grill Oven which I affectionately have referred to in my posts as my ‘Toy Oven’.I decided to buy this just in case it took a little longer than anticipated to do our renovations, I would have been burnt at the stake as a witch in mediaeval times, it took so much longer than anticipated. This little oven along with 2 butane gas camping stoves, our hooded BBQ (Sunbeam as well as it turns out), a larger gas ring for big jobs like preserving and tomato passata, 2 slow cookers and we haven’t missed out on anything, even making our own sourdough bread very week.
Well, now that I have my beautiful new Falcon double oven with 5 gas burners, I can bid my ‘Toy Oven’ a fond farewell. I haven’t yet decided whether or not to keep it to take when we go camping (if there is power supply) or to piff it but that seems wasteful when it still works (and oh so well!). Unfortunately the poor thing is in such a preloved state that it isn’t up to scratch to offer to someone or donate to charity. It may even become the mud pie oven for when kids are in the back yard.
I cannot believe how well this little oven has performed over these few years, my only negative comment is that I could only make a couple of things at a time, so large quantities when required of biscuits, muffins, party foods like sausage rolls and mini quiche had to be made at my daughters place or at work. Luckily those times were few and far apart so not too much of an issue.
Thought I’d honour this little ‘Toy Oven’ recapping and revisiting some of the food it has churned out for us over the last few years.
My first bake in the oven was spinach and ricotta muffins, tick.Some mini pavlovas served with brandy snaps and fruit. See, only 6 at a time can be cooked.
Many small roasts and meals where the meat was cooked in the slow cooker and the veggies roasted in the little oven have been made. This was Dorper lamb we bought in South Australia cooked in the slow cooker and veg in the ‘toy oven’. I even sterilised some jars prior to preserving food. These were used for bottling some Christmas Puddings, very successful!Many batches of potato, kale and feta rolls.The most amazing slow cooked quince I have ever tasted, this was delicious! Sometimes fitting cookware in was a challenge. This slice tin was made to fit with the aid of a spanner or such.and you couldn’t quite fit the Dutch Oven in with the lid on.Sometimes I had to split cooking methods, like here where the meat was done in the ‘Toy oven’ and the veg in the BBQ.Some more meringues but I was getting better at fitting in more than 6 in a muffin tray. I got 7 in by using the pizza tray.I still managed to bake the pieces that I use to assemble my Christmas gingerbread house in. Many different varieties of foccacia.Tarts, this is a blood plum tart.and my all time favourite, lemon tart. Pies or in this case, piesties.and of course my passion, sourdough bread.Even with only having had this little ‘toy oven’ I managed to turn out 2-3 loaves, sometimes more, of sourdough bread every week. I would not have believed this unit was capable of being such a great unit until I tried it. There has been white, wholemeal, rye, fruit, grainy, pumpernickel, hot cross buns, baguette, pizzas, bread sticks, flat breads and more. The only way I could bake in this toy oven was to use a Dutch Oven, this reduced the exposure of the dough to the heating elements thus reducing the likelihood of it becoming toast before it was even cooked. I also faced the challenge that the lid didn’t fit in because the handle/knob just made the unit too large for the baking chamber. I remedied this by removing the knob and filling the hole with some bread dough. Every now and again I would replace the dough and it worked extremely well.
There are so many more great things that have been churned out by this little oven and I have really enjoyed revisiting the relevant posts. I am so appreciative of the beautiful space and equipment I have now, it is hard to understand how I managed to create anything really.
There were a few times when I was taking bread to a party or we were entertaining here that I needed to resort to using the Sunbeam barbecue for baking bread. I got the method pretty well down pat after a few attempts and would happily bake this way again if necessary. I will admit though, it has knocked the poor old barbecue hot plates and grill around. I might end up keeping this unit just for bread. We’ll see. Well, the poor little old ‘toy oven’ is nowhere near as pretty as she was a few years ago but by goodness, what a run she has had! I don’t think these units were designed to get quite the workout that this one has had. I think the price is now up around the $120.00 mark but if you need a unit that is versatile, reliable and fun to use I can’t recommend this highly enough. Thanks, my little ‘toy oven’, it been fun.
Maree, I have the exact same oven and I cooked toasted cheese in mine 😀
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You make me giggle!
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Maree. you must keep this oven for camping. Last march I found a Sunbeam Bake and Grill oven sitting next to the rubbish bins at our camp down on the Peninsula. I immediately grabbed it, thinking ‘Maree’s Toy Oven’. It became a very welcome addition to the camp kitchen. The only thing is that the door doesn’t close, but we rectified that by propping it closed with a few things. If you have a power source at the camp, you can relive your toy oven memories.
Loved the rerun of all you delicious baked goodies. Was admiring that idea of baking mini pavs in a muffin mould.
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I remember you telling me about that spectacular hard rubbish find. Door not closing, not an issue at all. Always something a bit weighty around somewhere, even if its a rock! The little pavs have turned into a regular item, I just use the bigger tins now!
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You certainly have done some amazing things with it, but then I think you could do amazing things on a camp fire! I would love one but don’t know where I would put it. Bench space seems to be in short supply here. Still, I will take a look at one, the size and the price and give it some thought. If my present oven ever conked, I would take it out and put a toy oven in its space.
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Hi Bev, I LOVE cooking on a camp fire. I sometimes now think I might get another one for small things rather than heating up the larger oven.
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Maree, yours is a testimony to the ol’ adage: “Make do or do without.” What a brave lil’ oven… and creative cookery. Tickled that you now have an oven worthy of your baking aspirations, but I enjoyed your re-cap nonetheless. Well done! xo
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Thanks Kim. Wishing you a lovely holiday season, stay safe. Xx
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You, too, Maree! I missed the IMK deadline this month (music, music, music) and see we’re taking a hiatus until February — I can live with that! In the meantime, it’ll be fun to poke around in everybody’s kitchens (I’m just getting started) and I’m looking forward to a holiday season filled with good ideas, wonderful writing (and photos!), cooking inspired by all of the above, and some much needed R & R. Take care, xo.
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Your ‘toy’ oven has a mighty heart! It’s turned out some wonderful things and the bread is especially impressive. If nothing else I think it would be worth letting Sunbeam know what that little oven was capable of – I bet they would find it interesting.
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Thanks Jan, I did indeed let Sunbeam know but they didn’t seem that fussed!
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Such a fun recap of all the fantastic things you managed to bake in your beloved toy oven. It seems to have filled your needs for a long “temporary” time.
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Certainly did and I enjoyed looking back at what it has churned out albeit in small lots!
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Oh my – you also have a falcon? Mine is languishing in our UK home and I now get to cook with it only a few times of year. However, it will be waiting for me when we eventually return. And, the next move, it moves with us! These quinces ARE fabulous and we have a stash of them in the freezer. I still cannot believe you produced such wonderful food out of a “toy” oven (plus all those other creative ways of cooking/baking) for such a long period of time. I can see why getting rid of the sunbeam would be a wrench. I’m sure you can find some use for it.
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Thanks Debi, bit of a learning curve with the Falcon I must admit. Runs about 20degrees hotter than selected temp but I’m getting there with it. It is really even heat throughout and having 2 ovens is really handy. Have a fabulous Christmas! Cheers, Maree.
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that is absolutely amazing maree that you cooked all those fab things in that little oven. good on you! you will so enjoy a proper oven now. have a great xmas. x
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Thanks Sherry and merry Christmas to you.
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Update #1 on my toy oven…roast veggies….excellent 10/10. Heats up in 5 mins (wall oven takes 15). V. pleased so far. More to come!
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Excellent!
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