Masonry oven these primitive-looking ovens were still being produced in Barnstaple potteries as late as 1890". A cloche or cooking bell is like an upside-down, fired ceramic bowl with a handle on top. It is heated in the fire along with a flat rock or open spot on the hearth. The prepared dough is placed on the hot rock or hearth floor, and then covered with the cloche, and perhaps hot coals or ashes for additional heat. The method goes back to ancient Egypt and Greece, and was probably the first form of masonry oven. It is possible to get some of
Masonry heater day and night. Because the radiant heat is given off at a low level a masonry heater is not likely to overheat a home the way a metal stove might in warmer parts of the year like fall or spring. The kachelofen design, a relatively large home heater surrounded with ceramic tile, has existed for at least five centuries. During the Renaissance period, the builders of kachelofens were part of a distinct trade and were called "hafnermeister". A kachelofen uses a maze-like passage created out of firebrick to release gases and smoke from the wood fire slowly, allowing the firebrick