Monday, November 29, 2010

Outdoor Oven Journal



It was late, so I didn't get a chance after dinner to post the results of yesterdays cooking. Here are some pictures:


Pizza coming out of the oven


Pizza ready to eat


Softer Sandwich Loaf



  




Sunday, November 28, 2010

Outdoor Oven Journal

In this journal, I will be sharing my experiences as I attempt to prefect the outdoor oven, and apply it to everyday cooking. Today, I will be doing several things:

  1. Gathering temperature vs time data for my oven
  2. Baking pizza
  3. Baking focaccia
  4. Baking a softer loaf of sandwich bread
Recipes are as follows:

Pizza and Focaccia Dough

4.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp yeast
1.75 tsp salt
2 cups water

Add all of the flour, yeast, and salt to the KitchenAid mixer. Mix for 1 minute with the dough hook on lowest speed. Add water all at once and allow to mix and knead until the dough is smooth. Do not worry about the dough until it has kneaded at least 5 minutes. It will eventually clean the bowl and become soft and smooth.
Put the dough into a bowl with a damp towel over it and allow to rise at room temperature for about 4 hours. In my case, room temperature is approximately 68 degrees today. I made 2 batches of pizza and focaccia dough today.

Soft Sandwich Bread Dough

4.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp yeast
1.75 tsp salt
2 cups half and half
2 tbl honey

Add all of the flour, yeast, and salt to the KitchenAid mixer. Mix for 1 minute with the dough hook on lowest speed. Add half and half and honey all at once and allow to mix and knead until the dough is smooth. Do not worry about the dough until it has kneaded at least 5 minutes. It will eventually clean the bowl and become soft and smooth.
Put the dough into a bowl with a damp towel over it and allow to rise at room temperature for about 4 hours. In my case, room temperature is approximately 68 degrees today.