Emptied the ash out of our wood burner last week and sieved some of the ashes to use for cleaning our oven.
Whenever the glass front of our wood burner gets sooty, I scrub it with a dampened roll of newspaper dipped in ash and do the oven glass at the same time.
For a full clean of the oven, I make a paste of wood ash, apply to the racks and all surfaces and leave for a few hours.
Meanwhile, I twist two sheets of newspaper into a strip, tie the strip into a knot, dampen, dip in the ash and start scrubbing the glass.
A full clean needs more newspaper scrubbies than I've bothered counting. I find it easiest to prep more than I need and the extras get used as fire starters. The used ones go back into the woodburner too.
It takes a bit of elbow grease and best to wear gloves to protect your hands.
I use a metal scouring pad on the racks but the ash makes it easier to remove the burnt on grease.
Our oven is used at least twice a week for baking and roasting so gets pretty dirty, there's still burnt on grease around the edges but we can live with that!
Does anyone else use ashes to clean with?
