My new baby, patiently waiting for me.
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My baby is a replica of a5th century pnigeus, a portable earthenware oven. Its name comes from the verb πνίγω, to choke, strangle.
Hippo, a presocratic Greek philosopher, said that the heavens were like the dome of an oven ( πνιγεύς) covering the Earth. In Clouds, Aristophanes illustrated the cosmos of the school of Socrates as a domed pnigeus: “There is a Thinkery of wise minds. There dwell men who argue and persuade that the
sky is an oven-lid which is above us and that we are the coals.”
The pnigeus is heated by hot coals put on the floor; when it is hot enough, the coals are moved and the dough loaves are placed on the warm floor. After they have been covered with the dome-shaped lid, the coals are gathered on its side.
Oh yes, I can’t wait to try it.
Ahh, I am looking forward to using it! :-)In North Africa and the Middle East, metal dome is used for baking flatbreads. Where is your mother from?
i'm looking forward to hearing about the bread you make using this method..my mother in law used a similar method but she had a metal dome that was attached to a chain on the roof (of the donkey shed) that she lowered over her tapsi after she swept the hot coals aside..
Maria, the pnigeus is the result of my collaboration with an excellent ceramist, Vaggelio Nanadaki.
Wonderful to see this and learn about it! Who built this amazing oven?