Sweedish Rye on the BGE

sprinter

Hey all,[p]Last night I made two loaves of Sweedish Rye on the egg, turned out pretty good. I love working with a mostly rye dough, real thick and dense, and pretty sticky. Then, all of a sudden during the kneading process it firms up, drys up, and becomes this wonderful texture that says "I'm going to be a great loaf of bread". And it was.[p]I cooked them on the egg indirect for about 30 minutes at 375 or so. Cooked two loaves, one at a time. Used some light cherry wood for smoke and it added a real nice flavor to the rye. Pretty good stuff. If you like to make bread, and have not tried to cook a loaf on the egg, its a definite must try.[p]Troy

Carl T

sprinter,[p]Ive had my large BGE for two weeks. I like to make bread every once in a while and decided to try it on the egg the other evening. I tried some basic white bread. Two loaves in glass bread pans, indirect at 400. I had one major problem. I did not have much lump in the egg and was at the end of my bag. I got the egg up to temp during the second rise, put the bread on (both loaves at same time) and everything was going great. My temp started to drop to three hundred and I could not get it to raise. I could not add any lump because I pitched the bag that only had dust and tiny pieces left. The bread had just started to brown, about 20 minutes before the temp dropped. Since this was the first time I made bread on the egg, I figured I just needed to cook it longer to get the tops to brown. Well, did I make a big mistake. The bread finally browned somewhat at about 60 minutes. It looked great and I could not wait to try it. The only problem was the top [p]crust would only yield to the blow of a large hammer. I'm sure the next attempt will be better if I am able to maintain proper temp. [p]Is there a reason you cook one loaf at a time? Is 375 ok if you are cooking two loaves? [p]Carl T

sprinter

Carl T,[p]I cook one leaf at a time due to:[p]1) the sizeof the loaf
2) I only have a medium egg[p]I would think that the temp is fine for two loaves. I've neverhad trouble with the real tough tops of the loaf, I can only think thatit must have been a very dense, moist loaf and the top hardened quickly as if you had misted it in an oven. The way to get a crisp crust on a bread is to add moisture to the oven during the cook. This causes the crust to become crispy. The dough may have been too moist and this caused the loaf to harden up. Maybe others can help out on this one.[p]Troy

Puj

Carl T,[p]Keep plugging away with breads in the Egg. It's well worth the effort.[p]The only advice I'd give to you now is to bake all of your breads at a higher than 375F for all bread bakes. Presently I use two approaches to temperature. For small loaves and rolls I try to peg my large Egg at 450F for the entire bake. For large loaves and dense breads I take the temperature up to around 550F, get it stable for about ten minutes, place the dough into the Egg and then shut the bottom vent and cap the top completely. This method provides for crisper crust.[p]Puj[p]