Door for bread baking - what works best?

[Daniel-J]

They're just planning to install a furnace. Thought about making a few doors too, light and heavy. Install them both on hinges and with a metal hinge, but I don't know if I'll get what I want or not in practice. As a last resort, I will ask you to make several doors, which I will insert into the furnace myself, as many people do. I wonder if some people use several doors for their oven.

[CoastalPizza]

...the other is a very light cooking door. It fits just inside the oven opening instead of closing against the reveal. I can lift and move it away easily with one hand and the handle doesn't get too hot--so I don't need to use a hot pad....A pic of both doors and then several of the cooking door are attached.

Looks like I'll be building a lighter door. You are right, a door with minimal insulation is fine for a 20-30 minutes bread bake.

Looking at your door it seems you have quite a bit of mass with the big rectangular part that might not be required to keep heat in the oven...

Both parts serve a purpose. My insulating door is based on a design proposed by Chip (mrchipster). The two parts of expanded metal are connected with stainless steel bolts that thread into tee-nuts welded to the part below. Since there is minimal contact between the metal parts, heat lose via conduction is minimized. The arched inner part insets into my oven’s outer arch and the rectangular part covers the oven face around the arch which has less insulation than the rest of the oven.

Chip's design: https://community.fornobravo.com/for.../page2?t=17110

[JRPizza]

Looking at your door it seems you have quite a bit of mass with the big rectangular part that might not be required to keep heat in the oven - you might be able to take a third to half of the weight just by making a hemispherical door that will butt against your reveal and fill the inner arch opening. My door weighs in at 10lb 9oz and is 4" thick. Other than needing two hands because of handle placement neither my wife or I have any trouble moving it in and out.

[SableSprings]

I had the same issue for my baking. I ended up with two doors, one is my heavy, insulated firing/retain heat door and the other is a very light cooking door. It fits just inside the oven opening instead of closing against the reveal. I can lift and move it away easily with one hand and the handle doesn't get too hot--so I don't need to use a hot pad. My breads are usually baked at 575F for 15-20 minutes and even though the cooking door is not a tight fit, I don't lose enough steam or heat to make a difference (IMHO). A pic of both doors and then several of the cooking door are attached. I also use the door when I want a more controlled fire during breaks of pizza action (last pic).

I still use the heavy door when I'm putting in a roast or some other longer term baking...I consider the bread to be too quick a bake with too many times I need move the door one handed while loading to make it worthwhile to work with the firing door. Hope that helps.

[CoastalPizza]

I have a big beast of a door (see photos) for maintaining oven temperature overnight but it is just too heavy and unwieldy for use while baking bread. What kind of door do people use when baking bread at temperatures in the vicinity of 500-600°F?