Good use for wood...bread for Christmas

twar · December 22, 2021, 11:05:03 AM

I use wood in many ways. Here is my one of my favorites:
r>

HemlockKing · December 22, 2021, 11:35:30 AM

Nice oven! I’ve been entertaining the idea of making one of these this coming summer, never layed brick before so it will be another new learning curve

Ljohnsaw · December 22, 2021, 11:36:46 AM

That's a lot of bread! Do you have a retail bakery, a party planned or just love to eat bread all day? :D

I'm confused though. Is the 'oven' on the opposite side from the fire box? Or is there some sort of heat draft thing going on? Assuming there is some sort of oven door as well?

twar · December 22, 2021, 11:57:47 AM

Much of the family will be in and out all Christmas, and yes, we eat a lot of bread. It freezes well, so we'll freeze it, then take out of the freezer as needed. There is just one "box" with one entrance. I build a fire about 4 hours before the bread is ready. The oven is massive/dense, so it uses the thermal mass principle; the mass heats up and stays hot for a looong while. I rake all the embers out about an hour before baking the bread, "sweep the floor" and close the door. At that point the oven is too hot to bake bread (400C/750F). When the oven falls to ca. 260C (500F), the bigger loaves go in for ca. 35 mins. Then the smaller stuff goes in after that for ca. 20 mins. We could keep this up with cakes, cookies, chicken, stew etc. using the gradual fall in temperature. It's about -4C (25F) outside right now. The oven will be back at that temperature early next week. The oven is 6 years old, and it was fun to build (and I'm no mason).

(And there is pizza in the summer.)

thecfarm · December 23, 2021, 02:30:07 PM

That looks good. I use to eat a lot of bread!!

peakbagger · December 23, 2021, 06:34:27 PM

The local farmers market in the non snow season has a backyard baker that sells lots of baked goods. He is a retired doctor who likes to experiment with bread. Its all baked in an outdoor wood fired over. There is usually a line in front of his stand 20 minutes before the market open up and its continuous until he runs out. Great bread. Hard to match wood fired bread (or pizza)