First bread in the new oven. Baguettes!!

[Patrick.S]

For a first bake in this oven I couldn’t be more pleased. I fired for 2hrs and then left it for about 1.5 without coals. The recipe is poolish baguettes from Martin Philip’s book Breaking Bread. First time with the recipe but it turned out great. Plenty hydrated but not too hard to work with. Really didn’t know what to expect from the oven but so far it’s been outstanding.

[rwiegand]

Beautiful! Congratulations.

Did you have a source of steam?

[Patrick.S]

I mopped out the oven a second time a few minutes before baking and then put on my door which I wrapped in an old wet T-shirt. Then I loaded the loaves and gave it a few squirts from a spray bottle. I then closed the door again with the wet shirt and left it for 12 minutes. After steaming I replaced the wooden door with a piece of sheet metal to let the steam out and help the crust. I think doing a good sized batch also helped add some steam to the oven.