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Perhaps this post should be under Heat Management but anyway ?
I decided to do bread today from the Bread Baker?s Apprentice book that I had picked up a few weeks ago ? multigrain extaordinaire, it?s called. I doubled the recipe and allowed one loaf to rise freeform and put the other in the banneton I picked up recently on a visit to Kingston. Then I started the fire.
First problem - the banneton dough outgrew the banneton
.
Second problem ? the oven was too hot once the loaves were ready to go in (well over 400F while I needed 350F). I pulled out the logs and coals and put them into a coal scuttle, where they carried on a rather alarming (and smokey) fire in the scuttle
.
Third problem ? once the oven cooled enough, the dough was way too soft and the loaves collapsed a bit upon oven entry.
Fourth problem ? I?m guessing that I had not saturated the oven?s thermal mass with enough heat to retain it well and it cooled quickly, so while the loaves did cook OK, the tops did not caramelize as they should have done. Maybe it?s the fact too that my oven door is still not insulated
?
Despite all problems, I actually ended up with some very tasty loaves of bread ? even if they were a bit misshapen and pale (amazing, too, the difference in colour between the two - both of which look darker in the photos than they really are).
Not knowing when to quit, I then decided to try to get a bit more out of the firing so I threw some apples and cranberries into the oven along with some brown sugar and butter as an accompaniment to the pork roast that was cooking on the BBQ rotisserie - I know, it should have been cooking in the oven but it?s going to take some work to wean my husband away from the ?Q. I think it could have been problematic anyway, trying to do the pork and the bread in the oven at the same time (pork-flavoured bread does not appeal to me). A short while later, however, the oven had already cooled too much and the apples were just half cooked. Had to finish them on the BBQ
.
So, overall, a success but more practice definitely needed!
(I did pizza two weeks ago, though, and they worked beautifully ? especially the one with balsamic-caramelized onions, fresh figs, brie and basil ? no pics of that though.)
I decided to do bread today from the Bread Baker?s Apprentice book that I had picked up a few weeks ago ? multigrain extaordinaire, it?s called. I doubled the recipe and allowed one loaf to rise freeform and put the other in the banneton I picked up recently on a visit to Kingston. Then I started the fire.
First problem - the banneton dough outgrew the banneton
. Second problem ? the oven was too hot once the loaves were ready to go in (well over 400F while I needed 350F). I pulled out the logs and coals and put them into a coal scuttle, where they carried on a rather alarming (and smokey) fire in the scuttle
. Third problem ? once the oven cooled enough, the dough was way too soft and the loaves collapsed a bit upon oven entry.
Fourth problem ? I?m guessing that I had not saturated the oven?s thermal mass with enough heat to retain it well and it cooled quickly, so while the loaves did cook OK, the tops did not caramelize as they should have done. Maybe it?s the fact too that my oven door is still not insulated
?Despite all problems, I actually ended up with some very tasty loaves of bread ? even if they were a bit misshapen and pale (amazing, too, the difference in colour between the two - both of which look darker in the photos than they really are).
Not knowing when to quit, I then decided to try to get a bit more out of the firing so I threw some apples and cranberries into the oven along with some brown sugar and butter as an accompaniment to the pork roast that was cooking on the BBQ rotisserie - I know, it should have been cooking in the oven but it?s going to take some work to wean my husband away from the ?Q. I think it could have been problematic anyway, trying to do the pork and the bread in the oven at the same time (pork-flavoured bread does not appeal to me). A short while later, however, the oven had already cooled too much and the apples were just half cooked. Had to finish them on the BBQ
.So, overall, a success but more practice definitely needed!
(I did pizza two weeks ago, though, and they worked beautifully ? especially the one with balsamic-caramelized onions, fresh figs, brie and basil ? no pics of that though.)
.
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