Oven Self Cleaning Cycle good for Pizza?

[ojuice]

Hi,

I turned on my oven self cleaning cycle the other day and noticed it got extremely hot (it literally radiated heat into the kitchen which doesnt happen on the thermostats maximum of 550f) and was wondering if any of you had tried to use this to bake their pizza?  I guess the only catch would be that the oven door locks, but it's an interesting idea none the less (or atleast to me).

 - Ojuice

[canadave]

This is a GREAT question.  Anyone???

I suppose there's only one way to find out

Dave

[stock]

i have to agree--this does seem like a great idea.  according to http://home.howstuffworks.com/question559.htm, when an oven goes into self cleaning mode, it heats to approximately 900 degrees F / 482 C.  i'd love to test this out, but the oven here at my apartment looks like it was made circa 1902, and thus lacks a self-cleaning feature.  if nobody else tries it (and nobody comes up with a (sound) reason why it would be bad to do), i'll give it a shot over spring break.  of course, there is that pesky lock situation with which to deal..
-scott

[Steve]

Unfortunately, on the "self clean" cycle you usually have to latch the oven door shut with a lever. This lever gets locked into position when the temperature exceeds 500°F and will not unlock until the temperature drops below that mark.

So, unless you defeat the safety interlock, you'll end up with incinerated pizza!  

[Foccaciaman]

Since I do not have a self cleaning oven either I am wondering about this lock.
Could you not just turn on the self cleaning cycle to preheat, turn it off to disengage the lock put in the pizza and turn it back on the cleaning cycle again to maintain the temp.
It seems unlikely to me that the oven would be forced to continue the self cleaning cycle and you would be able to open it somehow in case of and emergency.

[Steve]

Here's my experience with two self-cleaning ovens:

Self-clean cycle will not engage until latch/lock is secure.

Once secure (door cannot be opened), the oven starts to heat.

Once the temperature of the oven reaches 500°F, a solenoid engages which locks the latch into place (i.e., you cannot unlatch the oven at this point).

The oven continues to heat to some very high temperature (unknown to me) which "cooks" off all the crud in the oven.

When the self-clean cycle is over, the oven stops heating and starts to cool down. Once the temperature reaches 500°F again, the solenoid disengages which allows you to unlatch the door.

Preheating the oven using the self-clean cycle is a moot point since you won't be able to get the door open until the temperature drops to 500°F again.

The only way to use the self-clean cycle to cook a pizza is to somehow circumvent the safety solenoid so that you can open the oven door whenever you like.  

[Foccaciaman]

Ahh now that makes sense to me. I thought perhaps that the lock was perhaps just a child saftey feature of some kind that could be manually unlocked.
But if it is just a solenoid  that locks it when it surpasses a given temp then it seems well worth bypassing the solenoid.
Especially if it results in better pizza. Then again it might be more work than its worth depending on where it is located.

[Pierre]

I don't have a self cleaning oven and in Germany they are not very common. Here is a link that I found for Do it Yourselfer's:

http://web.appliance411.com/faq/cleanlock.shtml

I don't know exactly how the counterpart looks like in the oven door, but if it is just a hole or a hole with a latch bar or some sort...

maybe it would suffice to just block the hole where the latch or solenoid pin would lock in or enter when the solenoid coil is activated, thereby preventing the pin from blocking the door.

To understand what I mean look at the animated picture of the solenoid pin in the above mentioned webpage.

It could also be though that there is some sort of microswitch in the hole that is pressed in when the solenoid pin enters the hole. In this case you would also need to put a foreign object in there to activate the switch.

For heat sensitve recoiling mechanism's I would think there are also some sort of holes or latches on the door itself that could be blocked also, so that the lock could not grasp.

If your household does not have any children, then I would think that bypassing this safety feature would NOT be a safety problem.....


Pierre
 

[Steve]

I fired up my oven on the self-clean cycle last night with oven thermometer inside. The thermometer tops out at 600°F... the needle passed that mark and kept on going... and going... and going... I'd guess that it was close to 800°F by the time I ended the experiement (no sense in continuing since I could not reliably read the temperature).

Sooooo.... I ordered myself a new IR (infrared) non-contact thermometer that goes all the way up to 1000°F ($79). I should be able to get temperature readings through the oven window with this gizmo!

Anyway, I'll report back with my findings as soon as my new toy shows up. Then it's off to devise a way to circumvent the self-clean safety interlock!

[Foccaciaman]

I can't wait to hear the results of the temp. I am very interested to know how high it will get.
If you can disable the lock on the oven you may need to get a heat resistant face mask for the blast that comes when opening the door.

[Pierre]

Something like a welder's Mask and then some asbestos sleeve protectors as well....

[Foccaciaman]

     News Flash        News Flash         News Flash
Man reaches unheard of Temperatures with home oven, burns down neighborhood.
Man quoted as saying " in my defense it was one hell of a pizza!"After trying the pizza, neighbors quickly forgive man for property destruction and ask to join Pizza Making Forum.

[DKM]

LMAOROTF

[Pierre]

"Man burns down Neighborhood"    


I read that 10 minutes ago and I'm still laughing!


Hope Steve has a good insurance....

Does eating Pizza maybe have a positive influence on humor?