Oven Construction For Cold Climates

I tend to use my ovens all year, but much less frequently in the winter. Not only do I have to wade through snow to get to them, but the ovens take a long time to heat up.
If you're planning to build an outdoor oven and you live in a cold climate, then consider building an oven with not much mass. This would be especially true if you plan on baking mostly flat breads. In other words, just a red or firebrick floor and not more than 4" of mud, earth or brick on the sides and top. You should also totally insulate the oven because it will heat up faster, hold the heat longer, and you'll burn less wood. I will try to take my own advise with I totally rebuild the oven shown.
The photo shows some flat breads struggling to bake.

No Knead Bread Baking

Probably by now you've all heard of and maybe even tried the no knead bread baking procedure. This was popularized in the New York Times a few years ago by Mark Bittman.
I was always informed, that to make a good loaf of bread, you had to knead the dough, really a lot. Well, you don't have to. In fact, you can make a great loaf of bread without kneading the dough at all. But don't you have to knead the dough to develop the gluten, you might ask? Remember, it's the gluten that holds it all together, and that's why you need it
Sure, kneading the dough does develop the gluten, but gluten will develop all by itself if you don't rush the process. If you enjoy kneading dough, then don't let me stop you, for not only does it give you an upper body workout, but kneading dough can also be a meditative enjoyment. A danger of kneading, however, is that there is a tendency to add too much flour, and this might contribute to baking a doorstop. A slack dough will help you to achieve a nice, airy texture, and that's what you might want to strive for.
In the video there is no mention of sourdough bread baking, but if you're a sourdough baker as I am, then you can easily convert what you see in the video to sourdough techniques.

Three Stone Fire

I've just returned from Guatemala, where corn is still the grain of choice. When Columbus bumped into the new world, corn was being grown from the gulf of the St. Lawrence as far south as Lake Titicaca on the border between Peru and Bolivia. The Europeans had never seen anything like this astonishing grain. Corn was life, religion, food and the basis of Mayan myth.
Many Mayas in Guatemala still cook with "Three Stone Fires." Basically, this is three stones supporting a steel plate with a fire underneath. The smoke from the fire billows into the kitchen or living area and exits where it can. In one of the slides you can see the smoke pouring from the eaves of the house. To say this is bad for one's health is an understatement.

Masons On A Mission, a group I work with, goes to Guatemala each year to build energy efficient, ventilated, wood-fired cook stoves for the Mayas. Tortillas are cooked right on the top, along with beans and rice.The video shows shows a stove being constructed, the Mayas and the happy stove builders. Let us know if you're interested in joining next year's group.

Note: Although my tortilla making skills have improved somewhat, the Maya baker was careful not to include my tortillas in her basket. They simply didn't make the cut. Maybe next year.


(more)

Guatemala/Tortillas

Tortillas-the bread of life

Breadhunter returns to Guatemala this week to build wood-fired cookstoves with the Mayas

Making tortillas is simple for the Mayas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwTxKICbopI

but if you're from the North, then it might take a considerable amount of practice
How to achieve a failure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYmLbSeTpkA

Stopping Starter Misconceptions

Many bakers think that the older the starter the better. Well, it's not so. Sure, I'd like to be able to say my starter came from Ramses during the Third Dynasty, but it actually came from my kitchen 15 years ago. Your starter might be one week old or it might have been entrusted you by granny, but it's all irrelevant. The only thing that's important is that it's well-fed, healthy, robust and full of bubbles.
And nobody really knows for sure how starter becomes starter. Some say the wild yeast and bacteria that turn flour and water into starter come from the atmosphere, and then there are those who say the bacteria and wild yeast reside in the wheat. Finally, some say the magical wild yeasts and bacteria really come from the baker. Your choice.

A fine looking starter

"The Good Old Days"

The "good old days" were probably not so good after all. During the Middle Ages it was not uncommon for people to have their teeth worn down to the gum line. This was caused by bad bread milling techniques which included lots of grit in the flour that caused the erosion of what started out as healthy teeth. In the video below, which is the first scene of a movie I made long ago with Richard Searls, the viewer can observe a remarkable technique for extracting teeth that no longer serve a purpose. DIY.
Hey, if you don't have the bread to see a dentist, what's a poor boy to do?
During the course of making this movie, one of the subjects, Walter Lane, would frequently treat us to biscuits that he baked in a metal box that was inserted into the stove pipe coming from his wood-burning stove. Bob Wagg and Walter Lane were the quintessential masters of ingenuity.

In this short film clip, Bob Wagg demonstrates do-it-yourself dentistry



*Disclaimer*
The directors highly recommend you consult with a professional before attempting this method of tooth extraction.

An award-winning feature film by Richard Searls and Stuart Silverstein
Most requested film at the Maine State Prison (no joke)
67 minutes
Covering a period of four seasons in the remote backwoods Maine, DEAD RIVER ROUGH CUT presents a revealing look at the lives of Walter Lane and Bob Wagg. They live and work in the woods, cutting trees, trapping beaver and accepting their isolation for the independence it affords them. They share their reflections about friendship, women, money, the lone life and death. Amusing, insightful and always outrageous, their observations and stories pull few punches in this beautifully restored new version of a Maine classic.

For more information go to Northeast Historic Film
Check out the Dead River Rough Cut blog

Bialys

BIALYS (pronounced bee-ah-lees)
From Bread On Earth

I’m not really sure where bialys originated, but my guess would be Poland because that country has a large city called Bialystok. Many Jews emigrated from Poland to America, and some of these émigrés had superb baking skills.
On New York City’s Lower East Side, I know of a bakery that specializes in the production of Bialys-chewy rolls with flattened or concave centers into which chopped onion and poppy seeds have been mushed. To my knowledge and taste, this bakery in New York is the only place where authentic bialys are made. I’ve eaten bialys from Boston and South Florida, but they were really dismal samples. Unless you go to New York City for a bialy, the only other place you can find a good one is in your kitchen after you learn how to make them.
The essence of a good bialy is its chewiness, and one way to produce chewiness is through the use of high gluten flour. In my book Bread In Time, I outlined that technique. Another way to get a chewy texture is with sourdough starter, and I’m pretty sure the traditional bialy was made that way and not with high gluten flour. Sourdough can be created by the baker, while high gluten flour is a specialty flour that most likely wasn’t even available when bialys were developed.
You may very well want to double the ingredients in this recipe, which of course, will double the yield. (Do not, however, double the amount of starter you use-1 cup is enough.) I make this suggestion because bialys are a special treat, and they will be devoured quickly.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup warm water (about 85)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 teaspoon salt (what you normally use)
1/2 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
3 1/2 cups wheat flour (I don’t recommend whole wheat because it will make the bialys too heavy, although white wheat flour is definitely an option. Try wheat flour with the restored germ, white or a combination.
1 tablespoon poppy seeds (seeds, spices, and herbs are almost always fresher and cheaper to buy in natural food stores than in supermarkets)
1/2 cup chopped onions
bran for dusting
YIELD: 14 (3 1/2” diameter) bialys
PROCEDURE
Stir starter into the warm water. You can use the starter straight from the fridge. (replenish your starter.)
Stir in 1 teaspoon of ordinary salt, not the coarse kind. Incorporate about 3 cups of the flour by stirring vigorously. When the mixture comes away from the sides of the bowl, turn it out on your work surface, heavily dusted with about 1/2 cup of flour, and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes loamy and satiny.
Place the dough in a clean, dry, unoiled bowl, large enough to allow the dough to double in bulk. Cover the bowl and set in a warm place, about 80 degrees, for approximately 4 hours. If you starter is robust, with lots of vim, and vigor, and if the temperature is about right, it should double in the allotted time. However there are so many interesting variables in bread baking that it might take 6 hours or just 3 hours for the dough to double in bulk.
When the dough is ready, turn it out on a floured work surface. Tumble the dough around for a couple of moments in the flour, let it rest briefly, and then roll it out with a rolling pin to a uniform thickness of about 1/2”.
Cut out the bialys. I use an empty 3 1/2” diameter juice can to punch out the bialys by bearing down firmly. Sprinkle bran on 2 standard-sized cookie sheets (insulated sheets are okay, but not necessary here), and place the bialys on the sheets.
Cover with cloths and set in a warm place about 80 degrees F. to rest and rise for 30 minutes. While you’re waiting, chop the onions and get out the coarse salt and the poppy seeds.
Preheat the oven to 400. In the top center of each bialy deposit a pinch of chopped onions, some poppy seeds and a tiny bit of coarse salt. With your fist, must these ingredients into each bialy. Don’t be afraid to mush down hard.
Mist your bialys with water from a clean plant sprayer. (You should not be using a sprayer that ever housed a chemical. In fact, the sprayer should be one used only for bread baking.) Slide the cookie sheets onto a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. During the first 10 minutes of the bake, mist the bialys 2 or 3 more times with the sprayer. Just reach into the oven, mist them, and quickly close the door.
Ideally the centers should still be flattened when the bialys emerge from the oven, but this will not always be the case. Don’t worry, they’ll still be delicious even if they rise like rolls.
The bialys are done when they turn golden in color. If you have baked the bialys for the allotted time and they have not turned golden or amber in color, try this trick, but be careful: Slip the bialys under the broiler for just a few moments. If they are not monitored almost continuously, you’ll burn them hopelessly. And I don’t want to have to say I told you so.
Update: Now I easily bake bialys in one of my three wood-fired outdoor ovens.

Little Sis

A long time ago I came upon this post in the newsgroup, rec.food.sourdough

Let me first introduce myself.
My real name is Debbie LeGrande but here at
Rivers End, I'm known as Little Sis.
My parents are of french Creole and cajun decent.
Most people think that I'm Native American because of
my dark skin and jet black hair.
I'm only twelve years old but I've been baking bread for
three years now.
When I was eight years old, my mother fell off a tractor
when it hit a bump.
The tractor started going in circles and my mom tried
to get out of the way but the plows cut off her legs.
She was in the hospital for three months and I had to take
over the bread baking for our family.
I have three older brothers who do all the kneading for me.
I bake six loaves a day. (Basic white bread)
My dad made a special bread board that my mom can
hook on to her wheel chair.
We sit together at night and knead some dough for the
next days bread.
last month we all loaded up in both our pickups and took
a drive to New Orleans.
This was not a pleasant drive because it's mostly a hundred
miles over dirt roads.
The food in New Orleans was so good it almost brought
tears to my eyes. (Almost)
The bread was so good that it did bring tears to my mamas eyes.
It was the first time that any of us had ever tasted Sourdough.
We wanted desperately to make this bread at home so we went
to a health food store and bought 50lb. bags of whole wheat, rye
and Cajun, unbleached white flour.
We also got a few packets of "Mojo Sourdough Starter"
As soon as we got home we started a starter right away.
We used one cup of whole wheat and one cup of well water.
And the "Mojo Starter" of course.
After 12 hours, we saw little bubbles and noticed a fruity smell.
It smelled like peaches and apples.
We added another cup of whole wheat and well water and waited.
On day two, there were a lot more bubbles and the same fruity smell.
Day three the starter was climbing out the gallon jar and still had a
fruity smell to it.
We used a cup of the starter to make some bread and put the rest
in the fridg.
The bread came out really good but didn't have a sourdough taste.
Our recipe was -
One cup of starter.
One cup of well water.
One tsp. Cajun Sea Salt.
Three cups of Cajun, Unbleached white flour.
Two cups of whole wheat flour.
1/2 cop rye flour

My main question is -
Is it normal to have a fruity smelling starter ?
Will it get sour over time ?

Thanks Guys, me and my mom really love this news group.

Little Sis

Bread Devolution

There is a Buddhist meditation where one is asked to contemplate the deterioration of the human body after death. No, that's not a very comfortable thing to do, but I thought I'd start with a loaf of bread. You'll notice that half way through the video, the bread is moved to a new location. What happened was that the bread was left on the front steps, but after a short while the smell, the flies...well you can imagine. So, either I move the bread or my wife would move. I moved the bread.
Here's a little slide show of the devolution.

Safe Passage Bread Ovens

In January of 2006, Pat Manley designed two wood-fired bread ovens for the humanitarian organization, Safe Passage. Safe Passage was founded by Hanley Denning because she wanted to do something for the children who lived by the sprawling and dangerous Guatemala City dump, and she thought the ovens would be a wonderful way to help the children learn some baking skills.
Along with a group of volunteers, Pat supervised the construction of the ovens, also in January of 2006.
To see a slide show of the construction process and life around the dump, watch this You Tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ifgimXytjg&feature=channel_page