" BOB" > wrote in message
. ..
> Louis Cohen wrote:
> > I make great artisan breads and pizza in my Kamado ceramic; it works
just
> > like a wood-fired brick bread oven. Or a tandoor.
> >
> > First, you need to be able to get your pit up to the appropriate temp
for
> > your baking. For artisan breads and thin crust pizza, this is 500-600°;
> > conventional breads are often baked around 375°, I think.
> >
> > Many breads and pizza benefit from cooking on a pizza/baking stone. Get
> > good thick ones, at least 1" - look on-line or at restaurant supply
stores.
> > Many kitchen stores (and web sites) sell really thin ones which are
better
> > than nothing but not great. Many people use unglazed quarry tiles from
Home
> > Depot or a tile store. Depending on the type of pit you have, you might
> > want to use more than 1 - one for a heat diffuser so that you get nice
even
> > heat around the bread and one to put the bread on for a nice crust.
> >
> > www.theartisan.net is a great website for artisan bread baking; if
that's
> > the kind of bread you like. Try to adapt their suggestions for oven
baking
> > to your pit.
> >
> > --
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> > ----
> > Louis Cohen
> > Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"
>
>
> Adding one thing to (top posted) Louis' post...MOISTURE! Bread needs an
amount
> (varies with different types of bread) of moisture in the heated air.
Kamados
> and other ceramics are great, not so sure about 'many' of the metal
cookers. If
> raw wood is the fuel, there might be issues with the bread absorbing too
much
> smoke.
>
> BOB
> just finished baking a loaf of "plain white" last night in the baby K
================================================== ==
Thanks.

Well, I guess it won't hurt to try things out in the smoker... and as was
amply noted above, without a lot of smoke. Not being any kind of baker,
I'll start off with some of that "bisquick" stuff and see how it works
out... My friends tell me that bread doesn't come out of a smoker alive,
but I have seen tons of photos of folks in Italy and elsewhere making bread
in these big wood-fired ovens. What works for them should work for us, too,
right?

;-)
Gus Kilthau
Houston, Texas