Continued from an earlier entry....
We let the first layer dry a few days, and some fairly big cracks started to form. I decided to pull out the sand to give the oven more room to shrink as needed, and to help it dry out faster. I cut a smaller door than the final size, you can see the final door scored into the surface:
I finally got up the gumption to move my construction photos over to my flickr account. Here they are in the entirety, I tried to make the titles fairly self-explanatory:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/7541655@N03/aX31kR
Here's a condensed version with some commentary:
First off is the foundation. Our frost line in in theory 48 inches, so we dug down quite a bit. We hit a VERY large rock, which made us decide the hole was big enough, and which we figured would act as a foundation in itself.
I post this recipe before for JMonkey, you can see it here.
1)Preheat the oven to 550 degrees.
This flax seed-currant bread is similar in texture and technique to ciabatta. It was really fun to make and tastes delicious. The recipe and more photos are here.
Susanfnp
Still working on the nuances of oven temperature. It’s really a comedy of timing between two ancient processes—bread making and fire building. It seem like if I get it over 600 degrees at the start, it takes a good 45 minutes to reach a more comfortable 550 for bread baking, but then it holds the temps nicely for hours. Handy if you have multiple batches, less handy if you were hoping to cook your dinner at 350 degrees anytime soon. I do crack the door to bring the temp down a bit quicker.
Common occurrences when firing your mud oven:
I got much closer on the timing with the miche. Real nice oven spring and pretty nice crumb.
This is a concocted loaf of whole wheat with fresh basil from the garden, chopped green olives, and leavened with San Francisco Sourdough starter from Sourdoughs International
King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour
Amish Cornmeal
Quinoa Flour
Oat Flour
Ground Flax seed
Hemp seed
Org. Barley Malt
Org. Canola Oil
I've never tried doing a blog before, but just had to share last weekend's ragingly successful experiment. Sourdough has been going not-so-well lately, so I've returned to commercial yeast for a bit. This is a somewhat altered version of my mother-in-law's recipe.
Orange Sticky Rolls
Sweet Dough:
1 Cup lukewarm milk (for non-dairy, I use 1/3 c each of coconut, soy, and rice milks)
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
The Jewish members of my family and friends, have been fasting for the last (almost) 24 hours, as is traditional for Yom Kippur. I have been making their life difficult by baking and making the house smell very tempting. The good thing is that those "fasters" will be allowed to enjoy the results in a couple of hours.
Break-fast bake I
