Bixmeister's blog

If you don't have a high temperature oven for pizza this is a great baking accessory.  You set your oven to 500 deg. F.  When the oven reaches 500 deg.F allow the stone to preheat for 45 minutes.

The baking steel should be placed on the 2nd rack from the top.

i baked the pizza fo 7 minutes(7-9 min. Recommended).  The crust turned out bubbly and crisp.  I will provide pizza pictures next time.

I recently heard from the owner of Kamado Corporation regarding my inquiry as to whether his company makes a product similar to a wood burning oven for making bread and pizza.  Richard Johnson, the owner sent my a reply including pictures that I have in this link: Meridian

Bix

Besides bread making, one of my other hobbies/interests is homebrewing.  I have brewed for over 15 years now.  I am an all-grain brewer which means I brew with grains rather than extract.  I am also an AHA beer judge at certified level.  You need to pass a test for this.  I am a member of a very fine beer club, QUAFF which put San Diego on the map beerwise by winning the National Homebrew Club of The Year award 6 years consecutively and several California titles.  You may ask yourself why am I telling you this when this is a bread oriented forum.

The answer is because I promised to bake bread for the National Homebrew Conference being held in Oakland, CA this year.  I promised four Ciabattas.  What I baked was 4 Ciabattas plus a bonus bread, my first attempt at a 6 strand braided Italian bread:

4 CIABATTAS

MY FIRST 6 STRAND BRAIDED ITALIAN BREAD

Comments and Suggestions Welcome

The oatmeal bread that was exhibited on The Fresh Loaf a few days ago inspired me.  I made my first attempt at this bread:

Bread Ready for Baking

Bread Out of Oven

Another View

Bread Sliced

Crumb Detail

Please leave comments and suggestions

Bix

I heated my Kamado to 700ºF.  I used the temperature gauge on the Kamado to get an idea of inside temperature.  I placed one stone under my main grill to create an indirect baking oven.  Next I placed my rectangular baking stone on my main grill where I would do my pizza baking.  I used an infrared temperature thermometer to make measurements of the stone temperature.  The pizza dough recipe came from the King Arthur Flour website.

Picture of the bake follow.

Temperature of the Baking Stone Temperature inside the Kamado

Pizza on Peel Ready for Baking in The Kamado

Pizza inside Kamado Baking

Pizza after Baking 7 Minutes at 600ºF

I as always welcome comments and suggestions.

Bix

For those that are tired of stopping your Kitchenaid mixer every few seconds to scrape the side of the bowl

check my latest entry on the Forum Topic labeled Stuck on Italian.  This really works.  All I do is spray the new

blade with oil, add my ingredients then mix until I need the dough hook which I also spray.

Bix