Rocket Stove Pizza Oven

[matt walker]

Guy, that looks flat out awesome! I am sure you will get a lot of use out of it in the coming months. It's large enough to do some whole meals in, and so cool the way it is smokeless. Your first pizza looks great, time to get your dough making skills in order and start doing some from scratch. Thanks for the photos, keep 'em coming. As you've often mentioned, we love photos here!

[pa_friendly_guy]

Oh No................I have a problem with the oven. Its a Zoning issue. I had put it out behind the house out near my stone wall. I felt that was a Safe distance from the house, and it was a nice shady spot. According to the Powers that be that spot doesn't work. My wife can see it from the kitchen window and she wants it moved. So a new spot has to be found. Out behind the shed seems to be the best, she can't see it from the kitchen, not much farther from the house, the only problem is that its in the sun for part of the day. I guess I will have to cook early in the morning, or later in the afternoon when its shady there,



This looks like a good spot for the oven.



Only problem is that I have to clean up and move all this wood. Oh well, a small price to pay for domestic tranquility.

[matt walker]

Zoning, ha! Good idea to comply Guy, you are a wise man.

[mannytheseacow]

Guy, maybe you can bribe the zoning officer with a new pair of shoes.......

[pa_friendly_guy]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,A Bribe, I never thought of that!!!!!

[pa_friendly_guy]

I don't think shoes will work,,,,,,,,,,,,I will have to think of something else ............Maybe its just easier to comply and keep peace in the house.

[pa_friendly_guy]

My Wife has been away for a few days. She took our Grand daughter to Pine Springs Church Camp with my Daughter-In-Law and our other Grand Daughter. So for the past few days I have been on the Time of Jubilee. I enjoy these rare days when I have the place all to myself. So I got a recipe from the net for French Bread, watched a couple of videos about how you bake French Bread and decided I would give it a try in my new oven. I chose this time when my wife was away because I thought there would be A LOT less yelling involved in the process. So I took a trip to the store and bought some yeast [ We did not have any in the house because my wife doesn't bake much ] I also bought some corn meal to coat the bottom of the pan and of course some ice cream and Oreos because we were out and I wanted some. I did not take any pictures of the process, it was much messier than I had expected, but I can describe it pretty well. I mixed the package of yeast into 2 cups of warm water [ 110 degrees on the nose, I checked with a thermometer ] and added a table spoon full of sugar to get the yeast working. After about 10 min I added a table spoon of oil, salt, 3 cups of flour and mixed it all together. After it was mixed well I added the other 2 cups of flour. In the one video I had seen Lady add some more water at about this point because she felt the dough was too stiff. I figured mine might be a bit stiff too so I added some water at this point. BBBIIIGGG MMIISSTTTAAAKKKEEE. The dough got very gooey and did not knead well. But I muddled through anyway, flouring the heck out of my counter, and my hand and kneaded the dough for about 8 min or so. Then I placed it into a bowl to double in size, [ about 40 min or so ] I had seen on the video that she placed the bowl on a heating pad set on low , so that is what I did. It worked Great, the small amount of heat from the pad made the dough rise nicely. Then I knocked it down, cut the dough into 2 pieces , and formed loaves. The process was to roll the dough out then fold over each side over and make a long thin Baguette. I had greased 2 cookie sheets and spread them with coal meal so the bread would not stick to the pan. Now I again waited for the loaves to double in size. When every thing was ready I started the fire and pre-heated the oven to 375 degrees. I placed an old pan with one cup of water in it on the bottom shelf to keep the humidity high in the oven while it baked. I had heard that high humidity made a nice crust on the bread. The recipe called for baking the bread for 30 min, so I set the timer to about 22 min so I could check how it was doing. Popped in the bread, opened a Cold Beer , and set back. I didn't sit for long, I was messing with the fire, checking the thermostat, worried that something might not be right. I hear that the baking process is an exact science, recipes must be followed exactly. I did however manage to finish the beer as the bread baked, As it turned out the oven has a hot spot in the back so the loaf back there was done in about the 20 some min, not the 30 min. so I took it out. The loaf in the front of the oven I left a bit longer, Maybe 4 or 5 min and took it out. The bread turned out wonderful for a 1st attempt. I was very pleased. I gave the 1st loaf to Ron as a gift for building the stove. He has not given me any feed back as yet. The 2nd loaf I decided to get more feed back. It was Monday night and my Brother and some Friends Golf every Monday and then end up at the Assunta club. Its an Italian Club here locally. I took the bread, a knife, and some Butter down to the Club to here what people would say. My friends didn't show,my 1st taste tested was a guy named Reed, He said he would be honest and not pull punches. His comments, Very Good Bread, nice crust, it would be good to eat a stew with and sop up the Gravy. I took that as a compliment. A fellow and his wife came and tried it, there comment was very good he ended up having two pieces. Then an older couple came in, Evelyn and her husband, Evelyn used to work at the club and I know her well. She said it was very good bread, then she found out I had baked it out doors on a wood fire oven and she was VERY Impressed lol All in all it was a lovely evening at the Club, a good time was had by all, and every one enjoyed my home made French Bread. I am now a Baker.

[Lollykoko]

That sounds wonderful, Guy. There is nothing that compares to a good loaf of homebaked bread. Are you going to try it again after your wife gets back to get her opinion?

[matt walker]

Awesome Guy! Congrats on the first loaves. It sounds like the oven works very well indeed, and tending the oven while cooling off with a Cold Beer is certainly the best way I know of to bake bread. Great job man!

[pa_friendly_guy]

I want to do it again, but I do not look forward to being is " HER " Kitchen when she is there too. It would be better if I did the Baking alone, For both of us,