SC - What kind of recipes would you experiment with....
CBlackwill at aol.com
CBlackwill at aol.com
Mon May 8 22:10:19 PDT 2000
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.
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