SC - hi...

[Lee-Gwen Booth]

In a message dated 5/8/00 3:49:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
catwho at bellsouth.net writes:

>   I've always wondered what the 
>  different pastries would do if they were baked in something other 
>  than a conventional oven.  Would the dough be more tender, would it 
>  cook faster, slower?  Would the glutens make a better bread in a 
>  different heat source.  
>  
>  Can you tell I'm a baker at heart?

This is a good question, and one I would like to have the answer to, as well. 
 Being a professional chef/pastry chef, I have a few theories on this, but 
would need to have a few questions answered first.  1) Is the oven in 
question a standard "hearth oven"?  I have experience using these for baking, 
but what throws me is the statement that the fire is swept out after the 
walls reach a certain temperature.  I have used hearth ovens in the past, but 
have never heard of sweeping out the embers.  2) How long will this oven 
maintain a decent temperature?  Does the heat dissipate quickly, or over a 
period of hours?  Is this similar to a Tandoor?  That's what I'm thinking.  
3)  How hot does the baker allow the walls to get before killing the flame?  
This would make a difference, certainly, in the order in which you stacked 
the oven, as the author of the original post suggests.

As for the tenderness of pastry in an oven which cooks at a low temperature, 
I would hazard a guess that the pastry would possibly dry out excessively 
before the crust was browned and cooked through.  Again, this all depends on 
the heat of the oven, which is an unknown at this point.  Breads, also, may 
not rise enough when cooked at lower temperatures (i.e. not enough "oven 
spring"), or possibly even too much (not enough heat to kill the yeast before 
it rises past the point where the gluten can no longer support the crust, 
causing it to collapse).  Rapid changes in temperature can cause 
unpredictable results in baking (of course, if the change is steady and slow, 
then there may not be a problem).  Just a few of my thoughts on the matter.  
I would love to have more information on this oven.

Balthazar of Blackmoor

Words are Trains for moving past what really has no Name.