HELP! Looking for advice re: baking bread in SmokeFire

[PattiA]

Today's experiment is going to be baking a loaf of sourdough bread in my EX4. My oven is on the fritz. Does anyone have any advice to share about bread baking on the SF? Thanks

 

[JpsBBQ]

Today's experiment is going to be baking a loaf of sourdough bread in my EX4. My oven is on the fritz. Does anyone have any advice to share about bread baking on the SF? Thanks

I would use a pellet like Traeger Maple or Alder. They (Traeger) do not leave the bark on the wood when making pellets. Those particular pellets are the least smoky. The weber pellets produce more smoke as they incorporate the bark into the pellets. All this is with the assumption that you don't want real smoky baked goods. I guess I wouldn't.

 

[GRT1959]

Today's experiment is going to be baking a loaf of sourdough bread in my EX4. My oven is on the fritz. Does anyone have any advice to share about bread baking on the SF? Thanks

I can't speak to breadmaking, but my jalapeno cheddar cornbread in cast iron and pizza pizzas come out just like they do in the oven, and I've had consistently great results with every recipe we otherwise do in the oven. As mentioned, you'll have to decide about introducing smoke flavor to bread, but we've done garlic bread and baguettes (in foil) for years on the Weber kettle, always with a little wood smoke. All you can do is try it and see, then let us know

 

[PattiA]

Reporting back on my bread baking...

Since the bread was to be baked at 375 for about 40 minutes, I decided that smoke wasn't going to be too much of a concern. Plus I only have Weber Grillmaster pellets and I was too lazy to go out to find some milder pellets like JpsBBQ suggested. I was also too lazy to haul out my baking steels

I set up my ThermoWorks ambient temp probe on the bottom rack, close to the middle of the "oven" to double check the temperature. Preheated to 375 for about 30 minutes. I had to increase the temp a little to get the ThermoWorks probe to 375. I baked in a loaf pan. I decided to put the loaf on one side of the grate, rather than across the middle of the grates since from what I've read, temps on each side are different. (My next experiment is to put an ambient temp probe on each side of the grate.) After about 20 minutes, I opened it to check on the bread. I had no idea what to expect. It was cooking and rising nicely in the pan. Around the 30 minute mark, I opened again to check the temperature of the bread. At that point, one end of the loaf had risen up a lot more than the other end. I used my probe thermometer to check the temp. I pull my bread when the internal temp is 205. The low side was about 15 degrees higher than the high side. I swung the pan so the high side was on the left side of the grate. Gave it another 10 minutes. I was expecting the low side to be overdone, but both sides were at 205 so I pulled it. Compared to being cooked in my oven, the bread felt much softer than usual. Not necessarily a bad thing. The sourdough baking process that I follow calls for letting the bread completely cool before cutting. The next morning I was pleasantly surprised by the crumb. The bread tasted great. It has a very, very faint woodfired taste. It's going to be a while before my oven is replaced so this was the first of many loaves baked in the SmokeFire.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Reporting back on my bread baking...

Since the bread was to be baked at 375 for about 40 minutes, I decided that smoke wasn't going to be too much of a concern. Plus I only have Weber Grillmaster pellets and I was too lazy to go out to find some milder pellets like JpsBBQ suggested. I was also too lazy to haul out my baking steels

I set up my ThermoWorks ambient temp probe on the bottom rack, close to the middle of the "oven" to double check the temperature. Preheated to 375 for about 30 minutes. I had to increase the temp a little to get the ThermoWorks probe to 375. I baked in a loaf pan. I decided to put the loaf on one side of the grate, rather than across the middle of the grates since from what I've read, temps on each side are different. (My next experiment is to put an ambient temp probe on each side of the grate.) After about 20 minutes, I opened it to check on the bread. I had no idea what to expect. It was cooking and rising nicely in the pan. Around the 30 minute mark, I opened again to check the temperature of the bread. At that point, one end of the loaf had risen up a lot more than the other end. I used my probe thermometer to check the temp. I pull my bread when the internal temp is 205. The low side was about 15 degrees higher than the high side. I swung the pan so the high side was on the left side of the grate. Gave it another 10 minutes. I was expecting the low side to be overdone, but both sides were at 205 so I pulled it. Compared to being cooked in my oven, the bread felt much softer than usual. Not necessarily a bad thing. The sourdough baking process that I follow calls for letting the bread completely cool before cutting. The next morning I was pleasantly surprised by the crumb. The bread tasted great. It has a very, very faint woodfired taste. It's going to be a while before my oven is replaced so this was the first of many loaves baked in the SmokeFire.


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I’d have a sammich on that bread.
Possible the sheet pan is affecting the air flow differently than it would in an oven? The right side is also almost always hotter than the middle or left side. Might be worth experimenting by placing in the center over the main deflector.
I really appreciate your follow up post. Thanks for sharing.