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Jim (CanuckJim) asked me to copy his steam comments in the bread section since right now they are a tangent in another section discusiing fire building and heat management..
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James,
I have used two methods for generating steam in my oven. When the ash has been raked out, I leave my high mass oven to moderate for two hours, about the time I take my slow rise doughs out of the fridge. Then I brush and mop the hearth. At this point, I either put an old sheet pan loaded with damp rags into the oven, or give it a long spray with a cheapo garden sprayer. When the breads go in, there should be visible steam in the chamber. Once they're loaded, I give the oven another long spray, pointing the nozzle upwards, not at the breads. Again, there should be visible steam in the chamber. Once more, too, without steam, the crust will not develop properly and caramelization will be underdeveloped.
To retain the steam, it's important that the door seals the oven opening. Although I made my door quite carefully to ensure this, I still have to prop a brick against it to retain the steam, mostly because the metal part of the door has warped a bit from heat.
Simple, but effective.
Jim
follow up
James,
I guess it's easy to talk about the need for steam, but it's better to illustrate the result. Here's a close up of one of my breads that shows the grigne that opened so well because of oven spring, the caramelization of the interior and a bit of the crust.
These just won't happen without a wood fired oven and steam.
Hope that's of some help. Members might want to visit my web site, www.marygbread.com , for additional examples of what I mean.
Jim
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jengineer added these 2 photos cause he can't figure out how to get the photos already residing on this forum to show up, Guess he isn't as much of a computer geek as he thought he was.
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James,
I have used two methods for generating steam in my oven. When the ash has been raked out, I leave my high mass oven to moderate for two hours, about the time I take my slow rise doughs out of the fridge. Then I brush and mop the hearth. At this point, I either put an old sheet pan loaded with damp rags into the oven, or give it a long spray with a cheapo garden sprayer. When the breads go in, there should be visible steam in the chamber. Once they're loaded, I give the oven another long spray, pointing the nozzle upwards, not at the breads. Again, there should be visible steam in the chamber. Once more, too, without steam, the crust will not develop properly and caramelization will be underdeveloped.
To retain the steam, it's important that the door seals the oven opening. Although I made my door quite carefully to ensure this, I still have to prop a brick against it to retain the steam, mostly because the metal part of the door has warped a bit from heat.
Simple, but effective.
Jim
follow up
James,
I guess it's easy to talk about the need for steam, but it's better to illustrate the result. Here's a close up of one of my breads that shows the grigne that opened so well because of oven spring, the caramelization of the interior and a bit of the crust.
These just won't happen without a wood fired oven and steam.
Hope that's of some help. Members might want to visit my web site, www.marygbread.com , for additional examples of what I mean.
Jim
==================================================
jengineer added these 2 photos cause he can't figure out how to get the photos already residing on this forum to show up, Guess he isn't as much of a computer geek as he thought he was.
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