Well, here it is only mid/late November and I’ve had to put a halt to all brick laying. I was all ready to form the oven dome roof arches and cold night temperatures put a stop to that idea. Mortar doesn’t set properly if the temperature goes below 40 degrees F and it’s definitely been colder than that for the last several days.
I really wanted to be able to cook our Thanksgiving turkey in the brick oven, but “next year” is when that will happen. So, I’ve been practicing my bread baking skills in the inside oven. Here’s a picture of my latest loaf of bread. Beautiful if I do say so myself! I used the recipe for simple whole wheat bread out of The Tassajara Bread Book but substituted King Arthur bread flour (white) and added a tablespoon or so of sorghum syrup as the sugar component. You don’t taste the distinctive sorghum flavor in the baked loaf, but it gives the bread a moistness and yumminess that lasts until it’s all gone – which isn’t long around here. Oh yea – I baked this in the cast iron casserole dish that I bought recently (see previous post). I lined the dish with parchment paper sprayed with a little olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal. The loaf proofed right in the dish and was then popped into the oven set to 500 degrees F. Eighteen minutes later – the perfect loaf!
The perfect loaf - Yum
I haven’t given up all hope of being able to do some more brick work on the oven in 2008. Georgia is notorious for mild weather in November and December. Hopefully, the wooly worms weren’t right about an unusually cold winter for us.
Thanks for trying our flour. Good luck with the oven! Frank from KAF, baker/blogger.
Hi Frank – I didn’t just try King Arthur Bread Flour, I’ve been using nothing else ever since our local Publix starting selling it a few years ago. My secret wish is to take a class using the KA wood burning oven. Does King Arthur ever sponsor events or booths at Rennaissance Festivals? They should!