new primavero 60 owner

[papparoni]

hi there...i just got a primavero 60....loving it.....we did our first firing sat. night....about 20 pizzas.....great success...the next morning we made bread and then beer can chicken...everything came out great....we were real impressed with the oven and our goodies that came out of it..2 questions for you veterans please..first....at what temp is ideal for bread baking the next day? my oven gauge was reading about 400, but the dome and floor was in the 500's....it worked, but i was wondering why the discrepancy in temps?...also steam or no steam in the oven?...everything i'm reading is saying steam, but water can also crack the cement,no?....thanks..

[banhxeo76]

Re: new primavero 60 owner

2 questions for you veterans please..first....at what temp is ideal for bread baking the next day? my oven gauge was reading about 400, but the dome and floor was in the 500's....it worked, but i was wondering why the discrepancy in temps?...also steam or no steam in the oven?...everything i'm reading is saying steam, but water can also crack the cement,no?....thanks..

I am assuming that your oven gauge is attach to your WFO door which is reading the air temp. The air temp inside of your WFO should be lower than the floor/dome. After your WFO has been saturated with heat, the floor/dome is heating the air temp inside of your WFO chamber. However, the gap between your air temp and your floor/dome is rather a big gap. When my air temp. is about 500 F, the dome/floor is usually about 560 F. You might want to check on your gauge to see if it is correct. I think 500 degree F from the dome/floor is a very good temp. for bread baking. However, it also depends upon the type of bread and hydration level of your dough. You will have a better feel of your WFO over time.

As far as steaming is concern, you only need to steam in the beginning of your bake so that your dough can have a chance to rise before the hard crust is form on the dough. The rising of the loave usually occurs during the first 15 to 20 minutes of the bake. You don't need any steam if you are baking with at 8 to 12 lbs of dough on your cooking surface because the dough will release more than enough steam for rise of the loaves.

If you are using something like a garden sprayer, the water will turn into steam before it will contact the surface of the wall or floor as long as your WFO is hot. Mist from graden sprayer into a hot WFO is not the reason for crack in the WFO. However, cracking will surely happen as much as death and tax will surely happen. However, you do want to keep the crack on the WFO as mininum as possible. Make sure your WFO is well cured and always build a smaller fire first before a big fire to let your WFO warm up.

[papparoni]

Re: new primavero 60 owner

thanks for the heads up..much appreciated...I really only have enough room for a couple of loaves anyway with a 24" base...., so i assume that there's no to steam that lil bit..

[Brad English]

Re: new primavero 60 owner

I've had my P-60 for about 4 months now. Loving every minute of it!

[SableSprings]

Re: new primavero 60 owner

2 questions for you veterans please..first....at what temp is ideal for bread baking the next day? my oven gauge was reading about 400, but the dome and floor was in the 500's....it worked, but i was wondering why the discrepancy in temps?...also steam or no steam in the oven?...everything i'm reading is saying steam, but water can also crack the cement,no?....thanks..

Everything Banhxeo76 noted is good info...as he said, the heat of the oven isn't going to be allowing steam into the masonry and--as long as you don't throw a bucket of water into a hot oven--there won't be any cracking. If you can't get much dough into your oven, use a plant mister (get the gallon, pump style) and mist the oven chamber when you load the bread. That little help from a mister will delay the setting of the crust and you'll get a better oven spring, grin (from slashes), & crust.

I bake mostly baguettes and prefer the 560-580F range. (Baguettes at those temps are done in 15 minutes or less.) I use a IR gun to get hearth temps which are what I refer to in baking temps. After the oven is heat saturated and you remove the ash/coals, it is important to close the oven door and let temperatures equalize for an hour or so.

If you do this equalizing step you'll find that the oven hearth and dome are pretty close in surface temps. Your experience with the air temp readings from the door mounted thermometer is normal...they really don't give you accurate readings on the surfaces where you really need to know. It sounds like you have an IR gun and I suggest you use it rather than the door mounted unit when baking. The door mount is a little too variable to be really useful (IMO ). Also, if you haven't, invest in a good thermometer for reading, accurate internal temps. Breads are done when you get an internal temp of 200-206F (dependent on the bread type and baker's opinion of course...)

No matter how you approach this, with a little practice your oven and methods will ultimately become a unique signature...and everything you bake will be superior to anything you can buy! Relax & enjoy the ride!