Scheduling your time for bread baking.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

We cook eggplants a lot because they grow so well in our climate. I grow the white variety which I find superior because they are not bitter if picked before they turn yellow. I only have one plant but it is about four years old and usually always has fruit bearing year round. They neve seem to suffer from any kind of insect attack.We often roast them in the WFO to make Babaganoush, but beware that they can explode if placed into the oven if it's too hot. Better to slow roast them at around 200 C. It is such a versatile fruit, I often peel and dice a couple then cook the hell out of them in the microwave and add them to a curry base. It thickens the curry and gives it excellent flavours and texture. Sliced and covered in a 50/50 egg and olive oil then BBQ'd is also really nice or just char grilled also great. We also pickle them.

Nice suggestion's my friend, i will try them next time for sure!

[david s]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

We cook eggplants a lot because they grow so well in our climate. I grow the white variety which I find superior because they are not bitter if picked before they turn yellow. I only have one plant but it is about four years old and usually always has fruit bearing year round. They neve seem to suffer from any kind of insect attack.We often roast them in the WFO to make Babaganoush, but beware that they can explode if placed into the oven if it's too hot. Better to slow roast them at around 200 C. It is such a versatile fruit, I often peel and dice a couple then cook the hell out of them in the microwave and add them to a curry base. It thickens the curry and gives it excellent flavours and texture. Sliced and covered in a 50/50 egg and olive oil then BBQ'd is also really nice or just char grilled also great. We also pickle them.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Dimitris, Thank you for the Papoutsakia recipe. I have seen eggplant being roasted in coals and your recipe is perfect for a wood fired oven!

Ευχαριστούμε!

Chris

PS I hope I have the translation correct..

Just don't fOrget to put the eggplants to saltwater for half hour so the bitterness goes out!
Παρακαλώ!
Translation was spot on!

[SCChris]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Dimitris, Thank you for the Papoutsakia recipe. I have seen eggplant being roasted in coals and your recipe is perfect for a wood fired oven!

Ευχαριστούμε!

Chris

PS I hope I have the translation correct..

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Still could use some tweaking...But that bread looks much improved from your first bread pictures. You will get to know your oven the more you use it. That Papoutsakia looks great. Could you give me the procedure for making that? Yumm!

Faith you where helped me alot with all that mess i had in my head.
I DO need ALOT of tweaking but i'm happy that i got to this point.
So the problem was me!I was impatient, i messed up with underfiring the oven, and not waiting for the oven to saturate and the heat to drop naturally.
I Overproofed the dough because i did put it to the fridge.
Anyway...

To the Papoutsakia.
Cook the mince(with the preferent meat, i was 50/50 pork and beef) with tomato sauce, onion and peppers.
Broil the eggplants on the oven in a pan and covered so it will be half cooked.
Cut in half and remove most of the interior.
Stuff the eggplants with the mince sauce and on top put any cheese you like.

It's simple but God it tastes heavenly!

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Still could use some tweaking...But that bread looks much improved from your first bread pictures. You will get to know your oven the more you use it. That Papoutsakia looks great. Could you give me the procedure for making that? Yumm!

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Dimitris, The bread looks great even if it's not what exactly what you wish. You'll learn how your oven behaves, what it's personality is, and how to manage it to get the results you're thinking about..

Great job!

Now, what is the "papoutsakia" it looks like a stuffed pepper. It looks delicious!

Chris

You are right, you got to know your oven and only experience will make the difference.
Papoutsakia is eggplants stuffed with mince with tomato sauce and topped with chease.

[SCChris]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Dimitris, The bread looks great even if it's not what exactly what you wish. You'll learn how your oven behaves, what it's personality is, and how to manage it to get the results you're thinking about..

Great job!

Now, what is the "papoutsakia" it looks like a stuffed pepper. It looks delicious!

Chris

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Update...
So this morning at 8:00 i started a fire, at 09:00 the fire war pretty much coals, then i though 2 more woods and when those woods became coals i spread all the coals through out the ovens floor and closed the door.
The door temp showed 300C, that means that actual temp in the oven was 320-330.
I left the door on about 2 hours, then i made some papoutsakia with the coals in.This took about 50 minutes to be ready.
My mother in law was not patient enough and put her bread in too.
At 290 C, i guess it was saturated temp because this reading was after an hour with the door closed, her bread was burned on the side that the coals where.
Anyway.
After i removed the coals and mop the floor.
Shaped the bread and after an hour i checked the bread and the oven.
The bread has ready to be baked, the oven was at 280 c
The floor was at 290 c surface temp so i moped some more, i did want to wait more.

The results was alot better then before but is was a bit puffy!

Now i'm still making some cherry pie and cheese pie...

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Nice door!! My door doesn't quite seal but it does hold the heat. After I wrote the previous message I realized that I arrange the coals before placing the door, but there is a lot of live coals still glowing in the morning..

Chris

Now you made me wondering if the airtight door is actually a Con.
Tomorrow i will leave the door little open to see if this makes a different.

[SCChris]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Nice door!! My door doesn't quite seal but it does hold the heat. After I wrote the previous message I realized that I arrange the coals before placing the door, but there is a lot of live coals still glowing in the morning..

Chris

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

...then build the fire for 30 minutes before putting the door on the oven. The next day I rake the still live coals into an even layer on the floor and replace the door. A couple of hours before I bake I remove the coals and mop out the oven and replace the door. At every one of these oven openings I'm checking the temperature of the oven to see what I need to do to make the oven ready.
Chris

...You put the door and you still have live coals next morning?
If i put my door on after an hour the coals are extinguish do to lack of oxygen!

[SCChris]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Oh, i get it.
Why i can't light small batches of fire with time intervals?
Offcourse if we can find a good time so the oven captures heat than loses some.
I am thinking of an arch lowering kinda door for when the fire is small or only embers is on the oven, with this less heat will escape from the chimney.

I suppose you could heat your oven this way.. I find it works best for me and my family, to run a hard fire for an hour or two, use this heat to cook dinner, and then build the fire for 30 minutes before putting the door on the oven. On review I edited the following stated procedure to correctly reflect what I do. I arrange the coals before closing the oven not in the morning. Better for charging the floor evenly. A couple of hours before I bake I remove the coals and mop out the oven and replace the door. At every one of these oven openings I'm checking the temperature of the oven to see what I need to do to make the oven ready.

Chris

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

The oven structure can only transfer the heat into the brick so fast and by Pre-heating the oven and then burning again on the day of the bake the oven has more heat in store and so will hold the temperatures in the oven more stable. This stability helps because it increases the amount of time the oven is in the right temperature zone to bake or cook. Additionally it also gives you more time to adjust the temperature to up, by burning more, or down by mopping the oven floor with a wet mop. Pre-heating just gives you more opportunity to get the bake right.
Chris

Oh, i get it.
Why i can't light small batches of fire with time intervals?
Offcourse if we can find a good time so the oven captures heat than loses some.
I am thinking of an arch lowering kinda door for when the fire is small or only embers is on the oven, with this less heat will escape from the chimney.
Also some older people i know, they put some embers in front of the door like a heat curtain and the kept bigger heat inside.

[SCChris]

Re: Scheduling your time for bread baking.

Preheat like an hour?
Isn't the same thing to burn those wood you would burn the day before at the same day?

The oven structure can only transfer the heat into the brick so fast and by Pre-heating the oven and then burning again on the day of the bake the oven has more heat in store and so will hold the temperatures in the oven more stable. This stability helps because it increases the amount of time the oven is in the right temperature zone to bake or cook. Additionally it also gives you more time to adjust the temperature to up, by burning more, or down by mopping the oven floor with a wet mop. Pre-heating just gives you more opportunity to get the bake right.

Chris