From the wood fired oven

Contents Y

Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xvii Introduction xix

Part One. Ovens and Fire

1. Wood-Fired Masonry Ovens 2. How Wood-Fired Ovens Work 3. Types of Wood-Fired Ovens, and What Makes an Oven a Bread Oven 4. Fuel and Combustion 5. How to Operate Your Oven

Part Two. Bread Baking: The Process

6. Baking Bread in a Wood-Fired Oven 7. Essential Ingredients for Wood-Fired Breads 8. Standards and Conventions for Bread Formulas

Part Three. Using the Full Heat Cycle

9. Cooking with Fire: Tips and Techniques to Get the Most Out of Each Burn 10. Pizza and Other Live-Fire Flat Breads: 600°F (316°C) and Above, with Fire 11. Live-Fire Roasting: 600°F to 500°F (316–260°C), with Fire 12. Hot Oven: 500°F to 350°F (260–177°C) 13. Moderate Oven, aka the Comfort Zone: 350°F to 212°F (177–100°C) 14. The Long Tail of the Temperature Curve: Under 212°F (100°C)

Appendices

A . General Masonry Oven Design Tips B . Commercial Yield Formulas C. More About Baker’s Percentage D. Bread Production Schedule E . Oven Temperature Log F. Starting a Liquid Sourdough Starter from Scratch G. Regular Maintenance: Care and Feeding of a Liquid Sourdough Starter

1 5 17 41 51 71 103 121 129 135 151 171 247 257 275 291 297 301 303 305 307

Resources 309 Bibliography 311 Index 315

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Types of Wood-Fired Ovens, and What Makes an Oven a Bread Oven

 33

William Davenport’s counterweighted door

Andrew Heyn starts a fire in a William Davenport oven at Elmore Mountain Bread, the central Vermont bakery he owns with his wife, Blair Marvin.

The bricks serve as an oxygen diverter, guiding air to the sides and back of the firebox. The insulated plugs to the left and right are in place to keep heat inside the oven during firing.

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92 

From the Wood-Fired Oven

Start to shape a boule in the same way you preshaped the dough right after it was divided.

Roll the dough over so the seam is on the bottom and drag it across the work surface at about 15-degree angle so the surface of the dough tightens against the friction.

Encourage the dough into the seam of the loaf with the tips of your fingers. Photo by Kate Kelley

Turn the loaf so the seam is toward the side.

Push the dough away . . .

. . . so the loaf’s seam is sealed with the edge of your hand.

Unless otherwise noted, Photos on pages 92–93 by Melissa Rivard and Andrew Janjigian

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