Hi Rado, You are one cool dude. I can’t thank you enough for the CD’s, it’s amazing. The pictures tell a story of a guy who is artistic, a craftsman, a clean organized worker, and extremely creative to boot WOW! There are so many tips I get from viewing the pictures and reading the various materials texts, super knowledge. I purchased oven plans last year from Allan Scott’s website, $250US. I also bought the BreadBuilders book which is what got me so ga-ga to build a bread oven. I wish I had seen your web-site before putting out $250US. To my mind, the small price I paid for you to ship a CD to me is worth a lot more than the plans I received from Allan Scott. However I won’t cry over spilled beer. My oven project has taken almost a year so far, from digging the foundation to where I am now, laying the arches. My goal is to be finished by Canadian Thanksgiving (this year Oct.10th. I will be cutting it really close but it will be quality.)
Ta da! Hello Everyone, Finally, after grinding, dithering, spending and making it up as I go along … bread. I made my oven larger because I am into a bread baking production where the oven never cool down too much. Hope you enjoy the pics and stop by to taste. (The internal hearth space is enlarged, approx. 49 inches wide and 47 inches deep, in Metric ~ 125 cm x 120 cm. Not exactly square but close.)
435 degrees Fahrenheit = 223.9 degrees Celsius
In my day job I work as…
A baker!
In a former life I was…
A rock musician!
I am:
The Rock & Roll Baker!
Here are a load of pics, I hope you will forgive me for sending you so many, and also for the poor quality of my workmanship. Masonry is not my forte. Put a guitar in my hands and I will make it scream. Put a piping bag in my other hand and I can create delicious cakes and pastry. But a trowel and a chisel and a hammer…
Forgetaboutit!!
Keep in touch,
David
Ontario, CANADA
PS I will send more pics as I complete the job on the outside and around the oven.
I LOVE fresh hot BREAD.
A fresh bread aroma and crust … no price tag on quality!
The taste of real bread and pizza – oh my.
I love pizza and calzones. My wife bakes bread and I know she will enjoy using the pizza oven outside and not heating up her kitchen inside when it’s really boiling outside. Zak
This is the reason why we build ovens, spectacular job well done.
I make sourdough bread and pancakes.
How do you get your bread to rise up and look nice?
What kind of flour do you use?
I am struggling with my bread I have been trying for 12 months. It seems the oven is too hot when i put in the bread and they always come out looking great but heavy and hard to eat. Good toast terrible italian bread any tips. I have a dough maker which does the hard work but the science just isn’t right yet. Please help.
Hi Brian,
It will be the dough. Can you describe your bread dough in more detail, when it is fresh? Everything can be fixed or improved, always. If you could elaborate more on these:
1. What is the liquid to dry ratio, water to flour etc.?
For instance most often I mix 435 mL of water with 600g dry, and for large loafs I pour 860 milliliters of water to 1.2kg flour.
2. What sort of flour do you have?
Currently I work with 30% dark rye flour which I mix into unbleached flour which has only about 11% of protein. I just started to experiment with mixing also wholemeal spelt flour into my dough and results were absolutely fantastic right from the start.
3. How long does your bread dough stay in your oven?
My small loafs bake for 30 to 35 minutes and then they get taken out. The large breads stay inside for 60 minutes or longer up to one hour plus 5 or even 10 minutes extra (up to 70 minutes baking). Basically till I can see that the breads are quite dark, just like the color of David’s breads on this page.
4. Are you following any recipe, can you post it here? Do you rest and spray your dough before it goes into the oven?
Hi David:
I live in a house that was built in 1835 and it has a fireplace and a brick oven on the opposite wall. I am nervous about using this brick oven but after reading your article, I am going to try it!
Thanks for the positive reinforcement.
Best regards,
Karin