Hi everybody,

Last night I was browsing through a few methods for bread on the grill, which I would love to attempt- we cook most of our meals (except for bread) on the grill. I was struck by an "awesome" idea while reading forum posts. What about a pie on the grill, cake? Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions? If I put a large dutch oven on the grill would it mimic the effect of being in a regular oven? Also what about baking in a loaf pan on the grill? Suggestions?? I'd really like to try this.

John

What do you all think about this "Cast Iron Grill Humidifier"?

http://www.surlatable.com/product/661256.do#

The description seems to say that it is just two cast iron boxes with holey lids.  So is it anything? or not anything?

Sometimes in warmer months I will try to bake out on the grill. It is sometimes quite successful, and sometimes not so much. Does anyone believe this might help in baking bread?

I also wonder if this might work in an indoor oven too. I don't like to mess w/ water or ice tossed into a hot oven.

My only concern is that one would be unable to estimate the correct amount of water needed for baking.

My very first post to this esteemed bread board!

I have been lurking here reading for a while, and in particular looking for information on simulating a brick or clay oven by use of a BBQ grill.  While the topic is mentioned in some posts, most folks seem to then get into a discussion of pizza.  Now I love pizza as much as the next person, but that is not really what I want to bake.  I am after bread on the grill.

To that end I have begun experimenting on my charcoal grill with methods by which I can bake bread.  The first time I tried was a total disaster!  The top crust looked great, the bottom was burned beyond recognition, and the inside was still quite doughy!  Yuk! 

But one learns from one's mistakes.  So I have now had a second baking, and while the results were not spectacular, they were certainly acceptable, and the bread tasted good.  What more could one possibly want?

Thinking that I should reduce the number of variables in the process, I chose a very simple bread recipe, "Daily Bread" from the King Arthur Flour web site.  You can easily go to the King Arthur site and look for this one. I've made it before, and I know it is both good and simple.  Your very basic white bread.

That means that the variable in the BBQ baking will be in the baking process not in the bread itself.  So for the baking process I use a Char Griller, barrel type grill.  This is a fairly good sized grill, not one of the standard kettle grills.  I really want to simulate the effect of a brick oven or earth oven, so I needed some masonry.  For that I chose to use the pizza stone, and a terra cotta flower pot.  My pizza stone is about 14 inches in diameter, and I used a 12 inch diameter terra cotta pot.  I know that there is concern amongst many about using pottery from the garden store.  But my thoughts on this are that the bread is not touching the big pot, it is sitting on a pizza stone, and that flower pot is just resting over the top of the bread providing the simulated masonry.

I pre-heated the grill, stone, and pot to about 400 degrees (f), and the moved the flower pot long enough to slide the bread dough onto the pizza stone, added just a bit more charcoal to maintain, but not increase the temperature.  I was worried about how the process went, as the first time I tried my bread was burned after only about 10 minutes.  So this time I opened up and took a peek after 20 minutes when I had not yet smelled burning bread.

The crust was just barely beginning to brown.  Added another shovel full of charcoal and closed things up again for another 20 or so minutes.  By then the bread was a light golden brown, and when percussed it had a hollow thumping sound.  So off the grill and onto a cooling rack for a bit.

Then the first cut, it looked pretty good.  Tastes just fine.  But I wish I had gotten the crust just a wee bit crunchier.  I think I will have to continue experimenting to get this just the way I want it.

What?  You ask about pictures of this process.  Surely I can provide those, but not here, you must make a quick trip to my Flickr page.  Here is the link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/12687649@N06/sets/72157621922724906/

Thats all folks

Curmudgeon66

I tried to grill a pizza...twice.  I had read on the Internet...my stone broke both times.  The second was advertised as a BBQ pizza stone.  Anyone try this before?  With success?  The instructions I read didn't say use indirect heat, so I didn't.  I also read that you could do it without the stone, cooking both sides of the dough first.  I'm sure I'd end up with dough falling through the grates. 

I must say that grilled pizza tasted good!

Steph

Are there any types of bread you can cook directly on a grill/bbq without using the BBQ as an oven. I figure there must be types of bread in some cultures that have some nomadic roots that do this as who is going to lug about an oven.

I don't care about authenticity more that it's always good to have freshly cooked bread with a BBQ and cooking it on the same grill would be handy.

I imagine that you need to use a flat bread so it cooks fast so something along the lines of pita breads might be an option.

Has anyone tried it? can you cook directly on the bars of the grill or do you need a flat surface?

etc etc etc.