OVEN LINKS
Cathy Moore
DAWN oven
Medieval oven
Oven Basics
Hopi Oven
 7/24/05 2nd Alb Message Board...Here's my report on the oven use: The first true public exhibition of the oven went quite well. I made 6 different breads (3 each day). Additionally, I baked some dough that was brought by one of the reenactors. In general, it came out very well, though some of it could have used a few minutes longer in the oven. I used up 13 pounds of flour plus miscellaneous other ingredients - walnuts, currants, ginger, oil, eggs, sugar, spices, butter, and yeast. Throughout I received a large amount of help and support from Jim and the Fort volunteers, and from Kevin, Harvey, Dean, Sam, and others. Many thanks to all. On Saturday I first started a batch of plain french bread dough. I then fired the oven, using oak shavings, some small hardwoods chunks left over from woodworking projects, and some wood that was supplied by a neighbor to the fort. Kevin did the actual lighting the fire using flint and steel. As with last time, the fire took a while to catch, but once caught burned fiercely. I added a lump of wood every 10 or 15 minutes for an hour and a half. At this point, a small handful of water thrown on the top of the oven made a hiss. I then let the fire burn for another half hour (total burn of two hours), then raked out the coals. The oven was far too hot. Near the mouth it was perhaps 600 degrees, but the core was around 800. I let it cool for quite some time. In the meantime I had made up a sweet bread dough, and Kevin had chopped up walnuts for me. Once the temperature was down around 475 or so (best guess, as always), I put in two of the four baguettes I had formed. In the meantime, I finished forming up a coffee cake, which ultimately ended up in a stoneware bowl and a pie plate. The baguettes baked well. The first two took 17 minutes. The second two went in immediately after word. I probably should have given them 2 minutes longer than I did (I think they were in around 20 minutes). After that, I put in the coffee cake, which baked around 45 or 50 minutes, and came out quite nicely. I had made up a large soft rye loaf which went in next. It took about 50 minutes, imply that the oven temperature was down to 345 or so at the end of its bake. At this point, a reenactor brought over some over-risen bread dough. He seemed very reluctant to left me reknead it, but it was so overrisen I felt I had to do something. I did a minimal reform of it and then let it sit a while. When I put it in, the oven was probably down to 325 or so. It took an hour, and, while baked sufficiently, had an over-yeasty flavor. I then put in a pot of beans and left it overnight. It didn't end up baking sufficiently, though the oven was still around 110-120 degrees at 7:30 a.m. this morning. This morning, I started some dough, then fired the oven around 8 a.m. It started slowly, then produced a good inferno. The fire looks a lot like the heart of a bonfire, rather than an open fire. I made what was probably a hotter fire - it drew amazingly well, with some of the flames licking forward along the roof of the oven. I stopped adding wood after an hour and fifteen minutes, and, with Sam's help, raked out the coals after another half hour (1:45 total fire time). The coals consisted of a number of still sizable chunks of wood, which is probably because I used more oak. I estimate the initial oven temperature was around 650 degrees. I immediately closed the door and let it sit a while. When it was around 500 degrees, I put in two rye baguettes. They came out very nicely after about 15 minutes. The next two took 18 minutes and weren't as attractive - the additional rise time had been detrimental to them. Next was two current-ginger sweet loaves, which came out just before lunch time. They took perhaps 45 minutes, and should have had another 5 or so. They were sent to the reenactors' lunch table, where most of them were consumed. Lastly I baked two herb rye loaves made with herbs that Dean picked just before they were incorporated into the bread. These were formed as braided loaves with an egg-salt wash, and were quite a hit. The bake time on these was around 45 minutes, implying an oven temperature of still around 360 or so at the end of their bake. I could easily have done another batch. I could also have easily done twice or three times as much bread every time without any inconvenience in the oven. I think one could do four or five times as much, but then it would take better placement that I currently seem capable of. The last batch of bread was made with a sweet dough starter from today's first batch, and used no additional yeast. Throughout both days, we got a huge number of visitors who asked a lot of questions, virtually all intelligent (though many people had a hard time with the concept that there was no fire in the oven when the baking was occurring). When I do this again, I should bring 20 pounds of flour or more. Again, many thanks to everyone who helped me. David Manthey |
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