hearth bread in the BGE

Unknown · June 2005

I have always wanted to have a wood fired oven in my backyard for baking European-style hearth bread. It requires a high initial temperature and lots of moisture to get the crackly crust. When I saw a description of the Big Green Egg, I thought it might serve the purpose of the oven without having to build one myself and hope I get the thermodynamics right. Has anyone tried this?[p]Any information would be appreciated.

thirdeye · June 2005

VHamilton,[p]Check out some of Old Dave's handy work in the link below. [p]~thirdeye~[p]

[ul][li]http://www.biggreenegg.com/archives/2005/messages/198918.htm[/ul]

tn slagamater · June 2005

VHamilton, YEAH, THAT is exactly why I bought an Egg... a wood fired oven for bread and pizza and.... this thing is SOOOO MUCH better than a wood, brick oven... exact, total temperature control, more moisture retention, MUCH less fuel required, and the food taste and ability to cook other ways and other foods.....NO COMPARISION....get an EGG !!

Chubby · June 2005

VHamilton,[p]Pizzas...bread.....Oh yea!![p]As Old Dave mentions...with the right setup and some basic knowledge...this might be your best yet!! [p]He posesses a wealth of BGE baking knowledge!![p]Here's pics of pizza and bread using the GrateMates Deluxe setup for baking on the Small!![p][p]
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You bet you can bake!![p]Chubby

Prof Dan · June 2005

VHamilton,[p]There are two kinds of hearth bread -- one where the fire is out when you start baking, and one where the fire is not out. You need a LOT of thermal mass to do it the first way -- like a huge concrete beehive, all heated up, and then you sweep out the hot ashes and toss in your dough. I don't think the Egg can do that.[p]But regular baking, where you pre-heat the Egg and your fire keeps the Egg at 400? You bet. Amazing crust. Not much smoke taste, unless you add a lot of wood to the fire.

Unknown · June 2005

VHamilton,[p]The large Egg with the platesetter and the 14" BGE pizza stone will do a great job with most breads. I do have a wood fired oven and haven't used it for about 5 years as I feel that the Egg does most breads as well and just so much easier than the wood fired oven. While it doesn't have the capacity of my oven, it will bake all day, one loaf after the other and every one will come out the same. [p]It is dirt simple to use and if you have any experience at all, your first try will be perfect. I bake on this cooker at least once a week all year and really love it. I will be baking 24 bread bowls today for an upcoming event in Iowa. [p]It is very easy to compare this cooker with a wood fired bread oven but would need to know the type of oven you are considering. If you want something with both a baking and fire chamber, anything even half good will set you back about 5-7K and in my opinion, won't do a much better job and to just bake one loaf will take about 6 hours to get the oven ready to bake. The BGE will take about one hour to get it ready. If you are looking at an old fashioned wood fired oven with just the one chamber, and assuming that you build it right as it needs a ton of mass, you are also in for a ton of work operating this oven as well. Depending on the size, will probably take about 5-7 hours to get a wood fire started and then get the oven up to temp and let it set for about one more hour and then you pull the coals out of the oven and load your bread. This is kinda messy and the oven is a little more difficult to use especially in the Winter where it will cool down very quickly. I can only get about 2 loads before I have to fire it up again. Again, the Egg will bake all day although you will need to add more charcoal at some point but every loaf will take the same time and come out very good. [p]I would recommend that you find someone with an outside wood oven and ask to visit when they are doing bread to see how difficult it is to operate before you sink a bunch of money in this project. Sure, it is neat to do it the old fashioned way but this will get old very fast and you will find that it is too much trouble to use and you may get to a place where you won't use it at all. Been there, done that! [p]The Egg on the other hand is just dirt simple to operate for baking and you will find that you will want to use it often and it is very nice because it will set at any baking temp you want all afternoon and you will love about anything that comes off the cooker.[p]If you need more information, just send me a note.[p]Dave[p][p]

Michael L · June 2005

Chubby,
Dang Chubby, that stuff looks great. The GrateMates are the greatest. . .
Mike

Prof Dan · June 2005

Old Dave,[p]It sounds like you are really serious about this wood fired baking thing![p]Perhaps you are the right person to ask, then, about adding water to the baking chamber. I once spent the day with a professional "artisanal" baker with a big gas oven, and he used to take a garden hose and spray the inside of the oven just before he put the loaves in. He said that the steam led to a better crust.[p]Does this make sense to you? Would you include a can of water on the coals, for instance, to make steam during the bake?[p]Thanks for your tips on this!

Bobby-Q · June 2005

Prof Dan,
Old Dave is definitely the resident bread baking expert. If you search some of the earlier posts you can see some where he posts about a dozen different shots of every type of bread.[p]You should try the bread in the Egg first without adding any water and see what you get. You might be surprised at how the crust turns out. You can then later experiment with adding a steam cup, or even spraying in from the chimney, which is what I do occassionaly, but it is a very small difference.[p]Experiment and have fun, it will taste great regardless, that is the beauty of the Egg.

Chubby · June 2005

Michael L,[p]Dang Michael...I'm embarrassed!![p]
Seriously, what have you cooked with them....thoughts?[p]
Evans

Unknown · June 2005

Prof Dan,[p]You ask a very good question and all I can give you is just one fellows opinion and you know what they say about opinions. [p]Most commercial ovens do have one of two systems for introducing moisture to their baking. Probably the most popular is a misting system that is run by a timer. In the larger ovens, it is just a couple of pipes that run across the top of the oven and a small amount of water is fed thru some misting heads a couple of times during the bake. The better ovens use steam that is supplied from a steam unit on the side of the oven. Again, this is done with a timer. In the real world, if the oven is tight, it takes very little moisture to improve your baking. [p]As for moisture leading to a better crust in your baking, I am sure it does but I really doubt in most cases that most folks could tell the difference in a loaf of hearth bread done with a little water vs a loaf done without moisture in the oven. The Egg is a very dry oven to start with as it is much different than a wood fired oven. A wood oven doesn't need any additional water as the dry wood you are burning still has about 25-30% moisture and the ambient air used for combustion is also usually around 30-60% moisture content so your oven is just loaded with moisture to begin with when you pull the fire and load your bread and put the end plug into the front of the oven. [p]The Egg on the other hand really has no way of having much moisture unless you do something to introduce it to your baking. Lump charcoal is usually down to about 1-3% moisture content and you really don't draw much ambient air thru the cooker to add any more moisture to the baking environment. [p]The Egg with it's small baking chamber really doesn't need much additional moisture but I feel it does need a little extra moisture for a better bake. There are many methods for adding some moisture to your bakes on the Egg. My favorite method is just making my dough with a little more moisture in the first place. In other words, just leave it a little more sticky and not dry when you make it. Another method I use is to just sprinkle on a little water before you load the bread. I usually just fill a cup with water and dip my fingers in it and sprinkle a little on top of the bread before I load it. You can also brush on a layer of water on some loaves as well if you aren't using some other type of glaze. You can also use a spray bottle of water and hit the bread at the start and maybe one more time thru the bake. And last but not least, I guess you could place a can of water on the coals but I really don't think this is necessary as you only need a very small amount of additional moisture in this small oven for good baking. [p]Anyway, that is the way I see it and I am sure not an expert but do get good results using the Egg for my baking. [p]Dave[p][p][p]

Unknown · June 2005

Old Dave,
old dave-my method for adding moisture for hearth bread is- a have a small cast iron skillet in which i put water and leave in the egg when i finish the skillet is dry.

hearth bread in the BGE

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