I bought a Cobb BBQ today and I'm really interested to know if others on here have ever tried baking bread in one?
The Cobb is a table-top BBQ, which uses a relatively small amount of charcoal or special briquettes and has a domed lid to retain heat. It isn't insulated in the way that a brick oven would be, and there isn't a baking stone in their range, but there is a heavy-duty pan which might hold and distribute a fair amount of heat.
I can't find much information about the temperatures the grill can achieve when it's lid is on, but it does have six vent holes which could take a thermometer probe. The "moat" which surrounds the charcoal can also be filled with up to 250ml water, which might create some useful steam in the early stages of a bake.
I can only find one post on TFL from 2013 which shows that bread baking is possible, at http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34783/charcoal-grill-bread
While I bought the BBQ for outdoor cooking, the temptation to see what it could do is just too much to resist. I may have to make a yeasted dough this evening and retard it overnight, just to have a play with it when I get in from the office tomorrow.
Even if you haven't tried baking on a Cobb, but wanted to know more about them then try:
There are also quite a few You Tube videos demonstrating Cobbs in use for various cooking techniques.
Would be great to hear from anyone who has some experience give some pointers, tips or tricks.
Happy baking! Colin
Hi Colin,
I owned one of these 4 years ago and I'm afraid I sold it on Ebay after only 4 uses. My experience was that it was better suited to 'low and slow' cooking (roasting) than anything else. I think the 'advertorials' are a little colourful in their enthusiasm!
I readily admit that I probably did not give it enough time so please do not be put off by my remarks. I did try making some flatbread on the Cobb and it burnt in a most spectacular fashion! so I would suggest being careful with the 'direct heat'.
I think in fairness to Cobb it is better suited to using at home in the garden where it is likely to be sheltered from the wind, and you have the time (and facilities) to clean it properly. We were travelling in our campervan and consequently often exposed to the wind (it really is not good in wind, just runs too cool) and it was tricky to clean and store.
I have a few friends that still use their Cobb, but most of us have gone back to good old fashioned BBQ's !
I would say use best quality fuel, let it temperature stabilise for at least 45 minutes and if baking bread keep the dough off the direct heat surface.
Good luck with it, keep us posted on your results
You can bake bread on a charcoal grill it's just another heat source. Not familiar with that type. You just have to do a sample bake then adjust the procedure to the bread and grill. It might to be useful to use an IR thermometer so you can accurately measure temp in different areas of the grill.
Good luck and have fun.
I do pizza on my Weber grill fairly regularly. Usually comes out pretty good. Not as good as on the stone in a hot oven though.
Thanks to Chockswahay, STUinlouisa and Matt H for their posts.
The Cobb BBQ had its first outing today for a Sunday lunch in the garden. It worked really well, but having bought a thermometer to test the temperature inside the dome, I don't think it's hot enough to bake with: shortly after lighting, letting the coals turn grey and covering, it reached a maximum of around 240°C, but the temperature fell fairly quickly to a little under 200°C.
I'm not sure that I will be spending time trying to bake bread on this - though it might work well for a flatter bread, like focaccia.
It did make a spectacular lunch for two, though:
Clean-up was really easy, and I'm delighted with my new Cobb.
Best wishes and happy baking! Colin.
Glad to hear its working. The food you cooked sounds really tasty. I did not have a thermometer when I had mine but the figures you report sound about right.
Ah well, bread in the kitchen, bbq in the garden :)
Many thanks. I have a mind to buy an outdoor pizza oven too(!) But for relaxing weekend meals in the garden a new BBQ was the higher priority.
Happy baking! Colin
I'd like to suggest that if you're keen to have a BBQ in your garden that you invest in something a bit more substantial - especially if you want to do more on it than char a few burgers... Not that the Cobb isn't usable - it obviously is, but something a bit bigger would be far more versatile.
We've had a Kamado Joe BBQ oven thing for some years now and use it most weekends in the summer when its not raining (we've used it the past 4 weekends already). I've baked bread in it, cooked pizza on it roasted chicken and 6-hour slow-roasted brisket in it - not to mention that at one point it was the only thing big enough to cook a rather large pollack I was given. I've even used it to roast big stuff in for xmas meals...
Hm. Did this almost a year ago now: http://moorbakes.co.uk/kamadojoe-sourdough-and-lunch/ must blog more on it.
Random roasting picture:
And this is a rather rubbish photo of something I was trying to put together last year:
the bread is aish baladi - an Egyptian flatbread similar to pita - cooked on a Kenyan shallow steel cooking wok - but a good heavy fryping pan would do, placed on the BBQ grid. Cooks in seconds burns in minutes...
-Gordon
Good Day Colin, I see some time has passed since you posted this, but I found your article very interesting. I have owned my COBB for a few months now and have done everything from burgers to roasts and from steaks to bread (Some images of bread below). One of the first recipes I tried was off there website, www.cobbglobal.com for Baby Pot Bread: http://bit.ly/2pt1DYk and I know they also have many others including a Pizza dough (thats my next adventure). Anyway, I hope this helps... Look forward to hearing about more of your creations with your COBB.