Heating oven for Bread only

[TLK]

for cooking bread in WFO - is it necessary to fully heat (white dome) and let it cool down before baking bread or can I just burn [say] two logs to get around 450-500 and start baking?

will the creosote on the dome impart any flavors on the bread if I don't fully heat?

[TLK]

Re: Heating oven for Bread only

i think after reading more posts I am going to fully charge the oven - especially since it will be my first attempt in WFO. Probably best to take out one of the variables.

[SableSprings]

Re: Heating oven for Bread only

I'm glad you decided to fully charge the oven for your bread "experiment". If you only used a small amount of wood to fire, you get surface temps of the firebrick at baking temp but the main mass of the brick will still be too cool. As soon as the fire is removed/dies, the bricks will equalize with the cooler inner layer and temps drop pretty fast. Plan some other items to utilize the full loaded oven after your bread bake...beer can chicken, meatloaf, roasted veggies, etc.

Although the black dome creosote/soot may not give off flavors, it has a tendency to fall off onto food. My experience with bread is that any smoky fire in the oven with the bread will impart a lot of off flavors...especially bad (imho) the next day if you toast a slice.

After clearing the dome, your oven will be too hot for bread. I usually clear the dome, pull out the ash/coals, and partially close with the door until the temp drops into the 600F range. Then I close the door completely to let the oven equalize. I like to bake my baguettes and wetter artisan breads in the 575F range. Remember that your oven & temps vary from most home ovens, so you need to develop your own sense of timing on the bake. I bake at a bit higher temps than many folks, so my load of 5-6 baguettes are done in about 15 minutes. Until you get a feel for when a loaf is done, use a probe to check for the 204F-206F internal temp and note your hearth/dome temps as well as the time.

Hope this helps...remember to relax and that successful bakes are more an art form than a procedural recipe.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Heating oven for Bread only

It is almost impossible to use a WFO on the up side of heating. It will rapidly cool as the heat migrates outward through the mass of the oven. You have to heat it to saturation, then ride the heat curve down.

[david s]

Re: Heating oven for Bread only

Sorry Tom, i disagree. I guess every oven is different, but I only partially heat my oven for cooking bread and have been using this method for years. My oven is small and we can't eat a mountain of bread so I usually only cook a couple of baguettes and a batard at one time.
This is what I do, I throw a batch of dough (one kilo) into the bread maker on dough setting, then light the fire. After one hour from striking the match I have had time to remove the dough shape the loaves, place them on greased stainless trays. I wait for the flame to die after the one hour of firing, when the oven is at around 250C. At this point the crown of the oven has cleared down to about half way. I push aside the few coals that are there, place the bread and door it. After the 30 min cooking time the temp has dropped to around 200C.

I should add that my oven is only 21", not brick, but cast with 2" walls and floor. Obviously more suitable for this type of cooking than a thick brick oven. This method saves time and fuel and does not require cleaning the coals out of the oven. When the door is placed the coals extinguish leaving dead, but unburnt coals when the bread is removed.
Firing the oven right up means having to wait many hours for the temperature to drop to bread cooking range. I don't have half a day spare to do it this way.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Heating oven for Bread only

So long as it works for you who could argue?