All Things Geek: A solar oven experiment

The garden is going strong right now, and I decided to bake some rhubarb bread. Our meals tend to revolve around rhubarb and squash all summer, so I thought I would change it up a bit and bake my regular rhubarb bread in a solar oven. Conveniently, I had one lying around.

I used the Cook-it from Solar Cookers International. It's a panel cooker that folds up small from a company that promotes solar cooking in Kenya to decrease issues associated with deforestation and personal safety. The black pan helps to absorb heat. It's cover and oven safe bag help to retain heat. And, obviously, the reflective surface helps to collect and condense sunlight.

I cut some rhubarb, mixed my usual recipe, and set the cooker out for the day. The cooker was set at 9:20 a.m. I chose to put it on top of our popup camper to decreases any possible issues with shading. It was a really sunny and hot day with a high of 88 degrees.

I checked on the bread around 2:30 p.m., but the center appeared to be pretty moist, so I returned the cooker to its place. Around 4:30 p.m., the clouds began to roll in and my experiment had to end. The outside of the bread was thoroughly cooked, but the center still needed some work. With 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, the bread was cooked.

I have two general observations. First of all, the bread itself still appears doughy, even though the toothpick came out clean and it appears to be cooked. I am thinking that the baking soda is the issue. I am guessing that the bread couldn't rise properly because it cooked at a low heat for a long time. I probably should include an oven thermometer, next time. I might also research some slow cooker bad recipes. Secondly, the bread has a strange sweet smell. It is a sweet bread, but the sugar smell is really pungent and a little irritating. The flavor is different, too. The sugar taste is almost stale. I have successfully cooked many chocolate chip cookies, but this bread is nauseating. I am glad that I didn't try making my coconut sweet bread or walnut maple syrup bread, because rhubarb is cheap and plentiful.