It so great to get to the point where you first fire up your oven and roll out the first few pizzas. I've fired my oven about 10 times now, mainly for pizza but I've also cooked meatballs, calzone, roasted almonds, toasted marshmallows (for the kids) and a couple other concoctions.
The more I make pizza the more I want to cook other stuff after it to utilise the heat in the oven. So with a few mates coming over for pizza on Sat. I set out doing the bread dough on Friday night (as I was doing the pizza dough anyway). I used the "No Knead" bread recipe from the FB bread book. The plan was to put one loaf in an open bread tin (rectangular one) and the other in my dutch oven(round one with lid). So with the dough in a warm spot overnight it was up the next morning to put together a fairly simple door to help hold some heat in. I then stuck the door in a bucket of water for a few hours thinking this will help it to stop burning.
So oven was fired, guests arrived and then it all happened.... and after about 9 pizzas we all headed inside for some coffee.
I stuck the dutch oven in to preheat it for about 30mins. Then I loaded the dough into the tin and dutch oven (lid on and lined with baking paper). I had forgot one minor detail - I haven't built my ash rake and the shovel was a bit tricky to get the coals out. Well the coals were barely embers and my door has a few "natural" holes in it so I just left the coals there and put the bread to the back and put the door on (coals were mainly off to the side).
Inside I went for a chat.....then about 25mins later I realised the bread was still in there. I tested both with a skewer and it came out clean. The rectangular one was quite browned but the dutch oven one (round one) was so close to golden I didn't bother putting it back in.
We cut them both up to check and all seemed good. My mates jumped in as I cut and buttered slices of fresh warm bread, they reckoned it was pretty good first effort. The next day it all got eaten with the pumpkin soup my wife made for lunch (its winter here).
So there you go.....its given me the confidence to have another shot.....I'd be intersted in your feedback on the bread.....sure its not ground breaking but I can't wait until the next shot.
The more I make pizza the more I want to cook other stuff after it to utilise the heat in the oven. So with a few mates coming over for pizza on Sat. I set out doing the bread dough on Friday night (as I was doing the pizza dough anyway). I used the "No Knead" bread recipe from the FB bread book. The plan was to put one loaf in an open bread tin (rectangular one) and the other in my dutch oven(round one with lid). So with the dough in a warm spot overnight it was up the next morning to put together a fairly simple door to help hold some heat in. I then stuck the door in a bucket of water for a few hours thinking this will help it to stop burning.
So oven was fired, guests arrived and then it all happened.... and after about 9 pizzas we all headed inside for some coffee.
I stuck the dutch oven in to preheat it for about 30mins. Then I loaded the dough into the tin and dutch oven (lid on and lined with baking paper). I had forgot one minor detail - I haven't built my ash rake and the shovel was a bit tricky to get the coals out. Well the coals were barely embers and my door has a few "natural" holes in it so I just left the coals there and put the bread to the back and put the door on (coals were mainly off to the side).
Inside I went for a chat.....then about 25mins later I realised the bread was still in there. I tested both with a skewer and it came out clean. The rectangular one was quite browned but the dutch oven one (round one) was so close to golden I didn't bother putting it back in.
We cut them both up to check and all seemed good. My mates jumped in as I cut and buttered slices of fresh warm bread, they reckoned it was pretty good first effort. The next day it all got eaten with the pumpkin soup my wife made for lunch (its winter here).
So there you go.....its given me the confidence to have another shot.....I'd be intersted in your feedback on the bread.....sure its not ground breaking but I can't wait until the next shot.
Comment