Night Of The Living Bread

I did say, didn't I, that this blog was about bread and all of its manifestations.

Dying To Learn

If you're dying to learn how to build an earth oven, and you live in Maine, then join me for an intensive two day workshop and learn how. It's happening in the beginning of October.

Couches

 Probably you know how to leaven a dough in a basket or banneton, and you can expect your baked loaf to look something like this.

 However, if you are baking a baguette-style loaves, then you need to leaven them in couches.

 Use linen or cotton fabric to make your couches.

You might say, "why not just leaven them in gutter pans and bake the whole ensemble in the oven?" The reason you don't do this is because you want your breads to make intimate contact with the floor (hearth/deck) of the oven for superior loaves.

The mini earth oven

 Intensifying the fire with blowpipe

If you can't decide if you really want an earth oven in your backyard, or if you're not sure how much work it will take to construct one, then consider building a mini earth oven first. It should only take a couple of hours of your time, but it will give you an idea of what to expect if you're ready to build an "official" oven. Although the mini oven is tiny, it is not so tiny that you can't bake little things inside. You could bake pita breads and even six inch pizzas.

Your brick floor determines the oven size

Workshop participants construct a mini oven on top of oil drum

Cutting an exhaust hole (which is covered during baking) makes it much easier to start fires in mini ovens