Wow! Very beautiful loaves from your new WFO. The crust and crumb look just perfect. Congratulations!
I have worked with WFO before at work and used to owned one at home (my profile picture) but only for baking pizza. I have never baked any bread in it at all. My brother-in-law is kind enough to let me use his WFO to bake my sourdough bread in two weeks time so if I can ask you a few questions about your bake?
When you said "waiting for the oven temps to cool slightly", what was the oven temperature when you loaded the dough into the oven? How long does it take you to fire up your oven? Did you close the oven with a door when the loaves were baking in the oven?
Annie, The oven took about 2.5 to 3 hours to heat. I spread the coals over the floor to even temps out, that took 30 min. I removed the coals and placed the door on the oven. The door had been soakoing in water since I started the fire in the oven. I allowed the oven to set another 30 min. The oven floor was setting about 550-575F. I mopped out the oven with a damp towel and tossed in a some naan flat bread. I Mopped again an placed the door on again. I allowed the oven to cool until the floor averaged 450F and placed the loaves in. I baked with the door on for 15 min, then turned the loaves. I didnt really need to turn them though because they were baking evenly. I placed the door back on then checked the loaves every few minutes until they reached the color I wanted. That took another 10 to 15 min.
Next time I want totry to get more steam in the oven during the frist 15 to 18 min.
I think it is a great idea to toss in some naan bread at the beginning when the oven is ready for baking. I was thinking some Turkish pide to start with but now I have changed my mind. Naan is so much easier. :)
So how are you going to get more steam in the oven?
The baker at Poilâne Bakery put a bowl of hot water in the WFO in this video
Replies
Despite the fact that it took 15 minutes to play (must be something about Vimeo on my system I guess) that was quite a job.
I assume the Coronas were consumed by the works team /;-{)}
Years of baking ahead .
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Sorry you had a tough time watching the video.
Ha, the bottles were actually supplied by the bearded man in the video. He claims his wife drank them all. :)
I'll be trying the first bread loaves tomorrow. I'll post the results.
That is a great looking oven. Did you use a plan of some kind?
Thank you LeadDog! The oven is based on the ovens from Kiko Denzer"s book "Build Your Own Earth Oven".
I thought I would add some pictures from the first bread loaves I baked in my new oven.
Waiting for the oven temps to cool slightly.
!5 minutes in to the bake. I'm guessing I had room for three more loaves at least.
Fres out of the oven! The oven spring was greater than what I see in my conventional oven. The middle loaf split beyond one of my slashes.
The crumb of the loaf we kept. The other two went to family members.
Over all I was thrilled with the results. It will take a little experimenting to see what I can do with my new toy!
Maaaagnificent!
Wow! Very beautiful loaves from your new WFO. The crust and crumb look just perfect. Congratulations!
I have worked with WFO before at work and used to owned one at home (my profile picture) but only for baking pizza. I have never baked any bread in it at all. My brother-in-law is kind enough to let me use his WFO to bake my sourdough bread in two weeks time so if I can ask you a few questions about your bake?
When you said "waiting for the oven temps to cool slightly", what was the oven temperature when you loaded the dough into the oven? How long does it take you to fire up your oven? Did you close the oven with a door when the loaves were baking in the oven?
Thank you for sharing your beautiful bake.
Cheers
Annie
Great looking bread Shasta, I especially like the way that last one is so round and open.
Well done sir.
Thank you everyone for the comments.
Annie, The oven took about 2.5 to 3 hours to heat. I spread the coals over the floor to even temps out, that took 30 min. I removed the coals and placed the door on the oven. The door had been soakoing in water since I started the fire in the oven. I allowed the oven to set another 30 min. The oven floor was setting about 550-575F. I mopped out the oven with a damp towel and tossed in a some naan flat bread. I Mopped again an placed the door on again. I allowed the oven to cool until the floor averaged 450F and placed the loaves in. I baked with the door on for 15 min, then turned the loaves. I didnt really need to turn them though because they were baking evenly. I placed the door back on then checked the loaves every few minutes until they reached the color I wanted. That took another 10 to 15 min.
Next time I want totry to get more steam in the oven during the frist 15 to 18 min.
I think it is a great idea to toss in some naan bread at the beginning when the oven is ready for baking. I was thinking some Turkish pide to start with but now I have changed my mind. Naan is so much easier. :)
So how are you going to get more steam in the oven?
The baker at Poilâne Bakery put a bowl of hot water in the WFO in this video
video.
Many thanks again for the WFO information. It helps a lot for the planning of my up coming first bake in WFO.
Happy baking!
Annie
That's a great video Annie!
I think you saw the post of my second bake where I talked about spraying water into the oven. I used a spray bottle like this one
It worked great! I also spray the loaves lightly before I loaded them into the oven.