The Baker's Best Friend

Lee2

I just pulled a sausage/potato pie out of the BGE, and I've got to say, what that green monster will do for a pie crust is out of this world! I had 3 full firebricks on the cooking grate and pre-heated to 400°. The pie was in a fired clay pie plate and I baked it @ 400° for approximately 50 minutes. The crust was a beautiful gold and reminded me of a wheat field just before harvest. It was also the flakiest and most tender curst I've ever baked. [p]Prior to baking the pie I baked a loaf of buttermilk/egg bread on the same three firebriks. It was interesting to see the difference between the Egg baked loaf and an oven baked loaf that was baked on a stone. No comparison. I'm giving the oven baked loaf away and have probably baked my last loaf of bread and my last pie in the oven.

Char-Woody

Lee2, thats a wonderful post..and welcome to the ever growing breads and Pizza crowd. It gets better and better. There was a Friar Tuck (kidding on the name) website posting yesterday or so..and interesting sourdough and a wheat bread recipe. Also a Walnut bread. Never ending supply of "Too Doo" stuff. Keep em coming..
C~W[p]

Mary

Char-Woody,
I've gone away from baking my breads in the egg most of the time. I get a lot better crust in the oven with the bricks and stone I've got in there. Unfortunately, the egg seems to have a little too much airflow to get a really good crust - tho I'm still wanting to try Eponda's idea of heating the egg up hot and shutting it down completly to bake the bread. I still put a finished loaf in the egg for a bit of that smokey flavor and pizza still can't be beat in it.[p]Mary

Char-Woody

Mary, I am curious about the air flow thing. If one has a problem there then getting the egg stable at your desired temp with the firebricks preheated also you should get what your looking for even shut down. What you might try is to use the solid cap on top, and leave the bottom vent wide open for maximum air to the coals..yet the top dome area will remain relatively draft free. I have held steady temps this way in the past.
Cheers..C~W[p]

Mary

Char-Woody,
Steady temps is not the problem - I can hold temps steady at any temp I want - getting the the crust to brown and blister properly is quite difficult in the egg. Perfection in French bread requires a thin crisp crust with a good 3 colors of brown in it and blisters. I usually can't even get a little browning in the egg, but I get perfection in my oven.[p]Mary

Char-Woody

Mary, e.mail me the recipe you use for French Bread. I might try a experiment here. How much room is required for a full loaf?
C~W[p]