The cat's meow ?  I saw this awsome ceramic grill at Lowe's today. Talk about being able to bake with steam outdoors ! The inside was unglazed clay and offers many ways of cooking, steaming, baking, grilling, roasting and all with charcoal.  The link here shows it from another vendor:

http://www.livingdirect.com/Cypress-Ceramic-Charcoal-Grill-500-515/500-515,default,pd.html?mtcpromotion=GoogleBase%3EPatio_Garden%3EOutdoor_Grills%3E500%3E515&src=SHOPDISCOUNT

Oh, this one might just go on my Christmas list !

Anna

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

i am considering buying a wolf gas range with a charbroiler built in infrared grill on top. it replaces a set of burners.  has anyone used one to bake flatbreads like naan or focaccia?  i love the results of baking flatbread and pizza in a weber kettle grill, but never seem to actually get around to doing it!  when i do use the weber, i use charcoal and smoking chips, and cover it with the lid, so i don't know how much that is responsible for the delicious flavor.  i also wonder if an outdoor gas grill would be so much more convenient that i might use it more than charcoal, and would a gas grill have enough smoke flavor?  i notice the olive oil on top of focaccia is especially good at picking up the smoke flavor. by the way, i just use a peel to put dough directly onto the weber grate, not a baking stone. then bake it covered.  i guess i would have to cover the indoor grill with some sort of oblong baking pan as a lid, or flip the bread to cook both sides.

TIA

After reading this site (and many others) for some time, I have read and learned many tricks and tips from fantastic bakers on how to make a better loaf.  My goal is to just keep improving and making my loaves a little better each time.  I don't really make them for anyone in particular.  My wife will have a piece once in a while but I usually make bread for myself.  I think I've achieved a pretty consistent recipe that yields a fairly consistent loaf, and I would like to use this blog spot to discuss the different cooking vessels for baking the bread.  Although the cooking vessel won't necessarily improve the flavor of the loaf, it's interesting to see what kind of difference these things make while baking. 

In the next few post, I plan share with you all the results of my baking so that we can all see what an average (or sub-average) baker with readily available (and relatively inexpensive) tools and equipment can make in his home kitchen.  In particular, I will use my standard recipe as a control and will bake the loaves in: a sheet pan, on a pizza stone, in a dutch oven, on some newly-acquired fire brick, and maybe even on my grill with some of the aforementioned vessels so that we can all actually see what we get when we cook bread using these different techniques.

I hope to start in the next few days and will use the following "Plain as Jane" white bread recipe for all future loaves in this series:

4 cups AP flour (unbleached, of course)
1 1/4 cups water
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs salt
1 packet of yeast

This has produced a somewhat bland but soft and tasty loaf for m and I will use it as a control in my upcoming "experiments".

After this series is over, I will explore different recipes in order to expand the flavor of the loaves but, as Alton Brown says, that's another show.

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.

Hi. I'm writing this from my rental 5th wheel. Our house burned about 1 week ago and we were forced to rent an RV while they rebuild the house due to smoke damage.  Anyway, one of the silly things I was so disappointed about losing is my fairly new sourdough starter that I made all by myself. I just started baking bread (other than a few minor efforts in the distant past and bread machine bread which I don't count) and I made my sourdough starter about 2 months ago. Had to toss it due to smoke damage.

Yesterday, was reading this forum while avoiding packing, enjoying the rainy weather. I ended up digging out my Kitchen Aid blender, decided I couldn't live without it for 3 months. I'm working on trying to figure out grill baking on my gas grill. I went to Home Depot yesterday and was so disappointed that they didn't have Saltillo tiles for me to line my grill with! Anyway, started up a pizza dough at 1am and I'll finish it up Friday. (whole wheat from Peter Reinhart's recipe). Hopefully, I can find some tiles by then. In the meantime, I have to work 3 twelve hour shifts. Tonight I think I'm going to start a new starter with the directions on this forum which are much simpler than my first starter mix.

Looking forward to trying all the wholegrain recipes and techniques that I glean from this forum. This is awesome! The french fold and other techniques for use with wet doughs have already helped me tremendously! Sure wish I knew that the first time I made a rye bread!

Doc Tracy

Hi Everyone!

I have tried and tried and tried again to bake on my gas grill and

all I get is a charred piece of nothing. I only have two burners set

as low as they will go. I have tried with and without my baking stone

with same results. I'm even using a cast iron Dutch oven set on top

my stone. Guess the real question might be what the temperature

inside should be, any one know? Seems like the big difference between

an oven and a grill is the oven has a thermostat and turns off whereas

the grill is burning constantly. So how does one maintain an even temperature

in a grill and what is best thermometer to measure. What thermometer

can best assist me with these challenges.

Thanks Very Much in Advance.

Rob

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. 

I've read a few references to using a pizza stone on the grill.  I've also read advice not to do so. Has anyone here used a pizza stone on a gas grill?  I'm hoping that using some woodchips would give it a bit of a smoky flavor.  I'm just getting a baking stone and will try it inside first anyway.