Ancient Israelite cuisine aside, and the loaves were baked on the heated surface. People also began placing a convex dome, initially earthenware and later metal, over the pit-oven and cooking the flatbreads on the dome instead of on the ash-covered surface; this type of oven is probably what was meant by the biblical "machabat", often translated as “griddle”. The Persians introduced a clay oven called a tanur (similar to the Indian tandoor), which had an opening at the bottom for the fire, and through which the bread was placed to be baked on the inner wall of the upper chamber from the heat
The Big Oven The Big Oven The Big Oven is an 1899 Russian short story attributed to Leo Tolstoy about a man (in other tellings of the tale, a couple) whose house has a malfunctioning oven. Thinking his neighbour to be jealous of his large house, the character ignores out of hand his suggestion to have the oven repaired. But even taking into account the ensuing Russian winter, he finds that the oven requires a disproportionately large amount of firewood to maintain a livable minimum temperature in the house...and ends up having to tear down his fences, outbuildings, and outer rooms for fuel