Hi there,

what a great site! I've been getting into my baking the last couple of years, and especially since I made my own bread oven.

Look forward to picking up lots of good ideas here and sharing my experiences.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/

Want to bake bread daily in a wood fired oven?

Della Fattoria is looking to fill an open position in our bread bakery.

Must be good with your hands, and willing to work Fridays and weekends. Experience in a food production environment is beneficial. Must be able to work swiftly and efficiently, as we all know the dough doesn't wait for us.

If interested please email your resume to

intelplatoon@gmail.com

Thank you for your time.

This forum has been a bit slow lately, and since I've been meaning to post this for a while now, here's something for the cause. While I was firing for this week's batch (a small batch of basic baguettes and some roasted poblano peppers this week), I took a few pics of my oven door. The question of how to make a door comes up pretty often, and this is how I solved it for my own oven.

I made this door from white pine from a tree that was cut down in my yard. I milled a bunch of the wood up to use for furniture, etc, but I used one piece for this door. It's two layers of 1-1/2" pine, layed up in alternating directions -- the outer boards run vertical, the inner ones run horizontal. The two layers are held together with some cut nails, just 'cause I like the way they look -- kinda rustic. The handles are cut from 5/4" white oak and screwed on with 3" stainless steel deck screws. Note that the bottoms of the handles rest on the deck for added stability. These also do double duty -- they just fit in the ash dump, allowing me to prop the door open at an angle like a kitchen oven door. (I'd like to say I planned that, but it was purely fortuitous.) In the center, I countersunk a Big Green Egg accessory thermometer -- it registers from 200 -1,000 degrees. It's probe is about 6" long, so it extends well into the oven on the back side of the door. It's about 3 years old now, and not showing any signs of heat damage.

Here's how it looks when it's tilted. I sometimes use this "feature" when I want to allow some extra air into the oven when I have a smoking fire going. You can see here how the bottoms of the handles fit into the ash dump slot to hold the door at this angle.

Here's a shot of the business side of the door. The oven side is clad with galvanized steel left over from some HVAC work, bent to fit the door snugly and fastened along all sides with copper nails (roofing job leftovers). After using it this way a few times, I noticed that the wood was still getting too hot, so I added another layer of galvanized sheet, just exactly the same size as the inner door opening. (The door itself overlaps the masonry by about 3/4" at each side, and about 2" at the top, for a pretty tight seal.) With this cladding and shielding, I don't have to worry about keeping the wood wet like some do. I can use the door even when there's a small fire working off to one side, but not a big one (tho' I don't know why I'd want to use the door with a big fire anyway.) I often keep a bit of a fire going with the door on, cracked open just a bit, when I want to smoke a chicken, turkey or pork butt.

 The inner heat sheild is held away from the door about 3/4" by some short lengths of 1/2" copper pipe (more leftovers) and is held on by more stainess steel deck screws driven through the heat shield, through the center of the pipe standoffs, through the door cladding and into the wood. I used stainless because it's a relatively poor conductor of heat and it helps keep the hot screws from scorching the wood where they enter it. You can also see the thermometer probe where it penetrates throught the door, the cladding and heat shield.

I don't use the thermometer much for bread baking -- I use masonry temps for that. But it does come in handy for other roasting and baking. Helps a bit with gauging timing of things that take a while to bake (e.g., turkeys) since the oven temps are continually falling if the fire's out. It also helps making sure the temps aren't rising too much if there's a smokinig fire going.

I'm planning some day to see if I can't add a gasket from a wood stove door to the perimeter just to improve the seal a bit.

ClimbHi
Pittsburgh, PA

Tre mesi dal mio ultimo post, ma continuo a panificare. Oggi scrivo per aggiornarvi sull'andamento dei lavori per il nuovo forno a legna di Cascina Favaglie. Il forno è a buon punto, resta da terminare la canna fumaria, il tetto e la struttura frontale.

Three months since my last post, but I'm still baking bread. Today I write to update you about the construction of the new wood fire oven at Cascina Favaglie. The oven it's almost ok, we need to finish the flue, the roof and front structure.

Nel frattempo faccio qualche prova di panificazione e continuo a lavorare sui prodotti che prepareremo nei corsi di panificazione di maggio 2011. Al momento ho previsto tre corsi differenti, ognuno orientato ad uno specifico tema. I corsi si svolgeranno sabato e domenica a tempo pieno. Massimo 6-8 partecipanti. Fai una cosa, falla con calma e falla bene, questo è la mia filosofia.

Meanwhile I do some baking test and I continue to work on the products we will prepare at the bread baking courses in May '11. Currently I've planned three distinct courses, each one oriented to a specific topic. The courses will be held Saturday and Sunday, full-time. Maximum of 6 to 8 partecipants. Do one thing, take your time an do it well, this is my philosophy.

Il Punto Parco Cascina Favaglie, nonché sede di ItaliaNostra Milano Nord-Ovest è un'ottima collocazione. Le nuove strutture e la natura che le circonda creano l'ambiente ideale per questo tipo di attività. Questa mattina, dopo aver finito di cuocere il pane sono andato a fare un sopraluogo sotto un'abbondante pioggia. Queste sono alcune foto che ho fatto.

Punto Parco Cascina Favaglie, also ItaliaNostra Milano North-West section is a great location. The new accomodations and facilities, the surrounding nature create the ideal environment for this kind of activities. This morning, after my baking I went to do an inspection under a heavy rain. These are some shots I took there.

I tre corsi sono:

• Chef: Pane Francese a Lievitazione Naturale.
• Grani dei Paesi Freddi: Pane di Segale
• Fuoco e Fiamme: la Pizza

First full fire and bake in the WFO (Forno Bravo Casa 2g 110)!

First, some "practice" crusts with just garlic oil, salt & pepper:

Then a Margherita, with homemade Goat Mozzarella, home grown Cherokee Purple Tomato and Basil.  Did not survive long enough to be photographed.

Next, several pies with a drizzle of olive oil, lots of cinnamon & brown sugar, and homemade Goat Cottage Cheese.  Sugar carmelized beautifully, and cheese melted just enough:

And used the last of the dough up as a big "Naan":

Can't wait to do it again!  So tomorrow we're having my folks & nieces over for a pizza party!

Namaste, y'all -

     Bill

Here is a link to an interesting article I found on the web.  This baker uses whole grains, sourdough, and sells his product at the local farmers market and by subscription.  I haven't tried his bread but I will at the next opportunity.  Prairie19

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11food-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss