George's Pompeii progress

[CanuckJim]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

George,

Well done. There's no looking back. Okay, so you had a few glitches, but we all do. Just a bit more heat next time, a bit of steam, and you'll get the volume and crumb you're after.

Jim

[Acoma]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

George, remember to mist the oven with water just before putting bread in to create the steam. Jim, doesn't he do it during mid bread rising too, or just before bread goes in?

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Thanks Jim and Robert. The recipe worked well, though I'm a not good enough to handle the dough at the hydration I ended up with. I added another oz. or so of flour. Perhaps it's the wet weather affected it. It's always 100% humidity around here these days.

Rob, I think that The Baker's Apprentice calls for steaming a second time, 30 seconds after loading the oven. I didn't read Jim's entire e-book on baking bread, just the Ciabatta, so I don't know if he does it a second time or not. My ignorance is boundless!

I did the misting of the oven, 10 minutes prior and just before loading, but all I've got a lousy little plastic bottle. Anyone have suggestions for something better? I'm thinking a garden sprayer (minus the Round-Up) would work well. Something with a bit of length between the spray tip and the handle.

Thanks
G.

[sarah h]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

... and all hell breaks loose in the house. Kids going berzerk, the wife leaves for school and spills my yeast/oil/milk mix, dog runs away....

Gee, that sounds like my place! (Hope the dog came back.)

Your bread looks really good and you're well ahead of me now - all I've been able to do in the last while is practice my bread skills in the regular oven. I haven't attempted anything like a biga yet - I tried to make a sourdough starter last year and the experience sort of scared me off anything but regular yeast recipes.

Anyway, congratulations on your first WFO bread - if your wife at a loaf and a half, I'd call it total success!

I'll look forward to hearing about the steaming as I've been wondering about that too.

Sarah

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Thanks Sarah,
There's nothing difficult about a pre-ferment. You just need to plan a day ahead.....OK, that's difficult if your not into baking daily, but if you know you're planning on baking, give it a try. It only takes a few minutes to put the pre-ferment together, then you just ignore it overnight. If you're planning on a weekend bake, you can make it on Wednesday and retard it in the 'fridge till you're ready to use it on the weekend.

Jim could add volumes on this topic.

G.

[dusty]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Congrads on the first bake Doc. Looks like a tremendous success to me.
Glad to hear that the door worked as planned also. That tilt-back-vent idea made a lot of sense to me.

dusty

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Thanks Dusty. I'm back to finish work. No more baking for awhile. Doing a balancing act on the oven landing while hoisting 8 feet of Duravent chimney up and down from the top of the dome is something you don't want to do too many times.
G.

[asudavew]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Great looking bread my friend!

You have inspired me.
I must try that recipe over the weekend!

Congrats George.
I'll have to catch up on your thread soon!

Dave

[Acoma]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

I wonder if Dave has been quiet lately due to tax time? So close to 1000 post, may not happen until April 16th.

[asudavew]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Nah.. I don't do taxes... (except my own)
LOL

But my boss moved up the food chain.... so I'm doing his work and mine these days...

Hopefully, I will fill my position soon, and have some help!

Ill catch up this weekend on posts!

Take care

Dave

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Ahhh, the Peter Priciple is alive and well......

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

It's cold and rainy outside - a great day to post a few pics, for lack of anything better to do ( I guess I could help clean the house, organize the garage, etc...)

My base coat of stucco is in place. I put scratch marks over most of it to help the finish coat adhear. I wonder if Lowes will ever get that delivery??

I did another bread bake early last week. I think there's still some moisture in the oven 'cause it cools down way to fast after the dome clears and I rake out the coals. Also, as you can see, I have way too much smoke coming out the front. I did a bit of grinding inside the vent to widen it. It still seems to be too narrow to capture all the smoke when I throw on a new log. Perhaps the firewood is still too wet?

I haven't yet replaced the kaowool insulation in the door with the ceramic board that Robert (Acoma) sent me. I've decided to wait on that until I finish my work with a wet grinder on the landing, as the door's insulation is getting soaked. Anyway, you can see the fire burning under the base of the door when I tip it back.

After my sad attempt at Pain a l'Ancienne (oven too cold), I refired the oven agian and made toast out of my ciabatta.

After a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir the other night, I went on a shopping spree at the FB Store. I bought a laser probe thermometer (should help with my bread), the five-piece oven tool set, a case of San Marzano Tomatoes, and a couple of those beautiful terra cotta bakeware dishes. My wife's just shaking her head in disbelief.

[thebadger]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

George,

Your oven looks great. Question - how tall is your chimney? I might be doing something similiar because my chimney is next to my pergola so it needs to go 2 feet taller. I might have an 8-9 foot worth of chimney.

Would I need to reinforce my arch (I know Ken was concenred about his)?

I'm no engineer so I don't know the weight relative to what a "typical" arch can support.

Thanks
Dick

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Dick,
My chimney's 8 feet tall (and very expensive!). I took the advice from others and reinforced the vent walls with concrete. This pic is from page 15 and shows the make-shift forms I used to do that pour.

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/atta...gress-fb54.jpg

[RCLake]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

After a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir the other night, I went on a shopping spree at the FB Store. I bought a laser probe thermometer (should help with my bread), the five-piece oven tool set, a case of San Marzano Tomatoes, and a couple of those beautiful terra cotta bakeware dishes. My wife's just shaking her head in disbelief.

The next thing you are going to get in trouble for is not taking her out for dinner because you want to cook for her in that gorgeous oven. Oh the sacrifices we make