Bread Bakers Forum Brick Ovens Web Sites

From Norbert Senf of Masonry Stove Builders author of The Bake Oven Page	The baking part is similar to any other oven -- you put the bread in and take it out when it's done. You might use some steam to get the right kind of crust. A friend of ours on Saltspring Island bakes at around 500 - 550 F, and it takes about 20 minutes. She uses an infrared pyrometer (about $200) to determine oven temperature. The tricky part is knowing how to fire the oven and figuring out when it is at the right temperature. There is really no substitute for experience in this area.. There's a page of information on temperature cycles in retained heat ovens that was provided by Dan Wing and Alan Scott. We're currently recording data from an electrically fired brick oven, and will put it online when we have more. We use an infrared pyrometer as well, and bake at around 500 for 30 minutes. There are some preliminary details at: The Bake Oven Page.
From Jim Skutt brick oven builder & baker	The point in brick oven baking is pretty basic, you want to put fire in it and heat it to desired temperature, then bake! You chould refer people to me for answering of their questions on a specific level. It's hard to put out in a few lines how to bake in the brick oven. You just have to use your senses and watch what happens. Installing a thermometer helps..
From an anonymous baker	If propane or (?) electric, then you'd bake in it like your regular oven -- albeit with a longer pre-heat. When we'd work the wood fired oven we'd fire up the fire box Saturday evening for a Sunday bake. That was the biggest trick. You want the oven uniformly hot -- top -- sides -- bottom -- ambient air. To get that, you need a LONG preheat and will have nothing but coals at baking time (if you still have active flames than the temperature is changing AND the bottom heat is greater than the sides -- top -- ambient air.) (Theoretically, you could clean out the fire box and still have plenty of oven heat left for baking). Nothing but experimentation will tell you how much "charge" you need in the firebox to have the oven right for baking. Anyone who wants to bake wood-fired must be willing to give up some of the 'modern conveniences'. Experiment, practice and keep good records of what you did so you can duplicate your successes.