In 2600 BC the Egyptians developed the first ovens. The earliest known examples are cylindrical vessels made of baked Nile clay, tapered at the top to give a cone shape and divided inside by a horizontal shelf-like partition.
In the medieval world, bread was made in tall ovens shaped like beehives, and roasts were carried to the table and served on the spit, each guest carving off his own portion. During the Medieval period those who could afford wood-burning stoves baked bread. The ability to produce high-quality bread helped people climb higher up the social ladder.
In 1604, baking was brought to America by the Jamestown colonists. Construction of ovens and mixing troughs was much improved. A variety of baked products came out. Other baked products such as cakes and pies, biscuits, crackers, and cookies were introduced.
In 1620s, Cornelis Drebbel (1572-1633) from Holland built an oven with a simple thermostat, one of the first man-made feedback mechanisms in history.
His oven is one of the earliest devices that gave human control away to a machine and thus can be seen as a forerunner of the smart machine, the self-deciding automaton, the thinking robot.
The development of oven technology meant that more people could have ovens in their homes, which then meant they could bake. This all came together at the same time along with the increase in sugar in the 18th century.
In the 19th Century people start to mass produce all sorts of sugary conveniences. It was also when cast iron ovens became more popular for manufacturing.
One of the most recent developments is the electronic oven, which cooks by a complicated process of microwaves. In this oven, which produces heat only in the food, not in the container, a cake can be baked in three minutes, and roast beef requires only six minutes of roasting per pound.
History of modern oven
