Tried cooking with a dutch oven

[eamo]

I had a dutch oven kicking around for ages, might have tried it once or twice years ago but never had any success - anyway, last week finally got around to cleaning the rust off of it and reseasoning it.

Today, my daughter and I decided to try make some bread in it - for what was a first attempt we done ok. Got a receipe off the net and gave it a shot

Firstly made the dough and let it sit for a few hours, no pics of that.

Then we needed fire






The dough in the pot -

might have a bit too much oil . . .

Some of the tools we just had to use



And we're off -



looking good



work in progress


not so good



so coffee was required




I think we done a few things wrong, the oven should have been risen off the fire, possibly if I made a tripod ? I do have some rebar somewhere. I should probably have cut the dough so the centre would cook better and maybe we had too much oil. Having said that, what we didn't burn we ate - it was a little too doughy but the crust was very nice.

[SteveC]

Looks like you had a fun time and a good bonding experience as well.  Great pics   

[eamo]

Looks like you had a fun time and a good bonding experience as well.  Great pics   

Thanks Steve, we had a great afternoon.

[zoidberg]

Nice!      

[Aloha]

Looks like you two had a blast.  Burnt bread is of no concern as you both learned something but more important spent time together. 

[Gareth]

That's not burnt.  That is a medieval trencher in the making.

Looks like great fun though mate. 

[Gareth]

Silliness aside; I suspect you are right that a good deep cross cut in the top would help it back to the middle.  I'm also thinking that, rather than raise the oven out of the coals, is there a way you could raise the bread off the bottom of the oven?  I'm thinking of a wire mesh or grill of some sort in the bottom of the oven might help.  Just a guess though.

[eamo]

Looks like you two had a blast.  Burnt bread is of no concern as you both learned something but more important spent time together. 

Nice!      

That's not burnt.  That is a medieval trencher in the making.

Looks like great fun though mate. 

thanks guys - and yeah Gareth, it'd have made a good trencher, solid enough to hold soup 

[eamo]

Silliness aside; I suspect you are right that a good deep cross cut in the top would help it back to the middle.  I'm also thinking that, rather than raise the oven out of the coals, is there a way you could raise the bread off the bottom of the oven?  I'm thinking of a wire mesh or grill of some sort in the bottom of the oven might help.  Just a guess though.

Yeah, Gareth, thats a good idea, i'm sure i have an old grill or something that would raise it - i prefer that to trying to make a tripod.

The other thing we're thinking of trying is hot stones on top rather then burning wood - easier to handle and less messy with ash etc when trying to open the oven. Anyone ever try that ?

 

[Grathr]

Great tread!

I have been wanting to try a dutch oven, but havent gotten around to it yet. 
It looks like a good first result thoug!
How did it look inside?

My first thought was that it needed to get more coals around the sides to get a more even heat, cooking it through before it starts to burn from the bottom.

Looking forward to see how this progress

[Sparky415]

Looks like you had a great time Eamo 

storage heater bricks? 

[eamo]

Great tread!

I have been wanting to try a dutch oven, but havent gotten around to it yet. 
It looks like a good first result thoug!
How did it look inside?

My first thought was that it needed to get more coals around the sides to get a more even heat, cooking it through before it starts to burn from the bottom.

Looking forward to see how this progress

thanks Grathr I was going to do some hotdogs on a stick like you did, but . . . i ran out of dog food earlier in the week and my dogs dined on what i had so must stock up on more
I think regarding heat that Gareth is right - basically, way too much heat on the bottom, so by raising the bread or the oven to reduce the heat i should get more even cooking.

Looks like you had a great time Eamo 

storage heater bricks? 

Yes, I scrapped a storage heater few years ago and kept the bricks - they make a great firepit. I wonder would they be any good to put on top of the oven if I heated them in the fire first ? Get 2 bricks, split them in 1/2 so have 4 pieces on top . . . .  or just get stones 

[Rossko07]

You can use heat beads instead of wood. Works very well. You will need to light them in a canister before you put them under and on top of the oven. You can sit the oven directly on heat beads depending on how many you have for heat.

Definitely too much oil. Inside should just be a light film.

You've done pretty good I reckon but if using wood you really want some coals.

Top effort though and you spent quality time bonding. Awesome!

[eamo]

You can use heat beads instead of wood. Works very well. You will need to light them in a canister before you put them under and on top of the oven. You can sit the oven directly on heat beads depending on how many you have for heat.

Definitely too much oil. Inside should just be a light film.

You've done pretty good I reckon but if using wood you really want some coals.

Top effort though and you spent quality time bonding. Awesome!

i have a couple bags of barbecue coals alright, I think thats the same as heat beads, at least from looking at google - I'm trying to utilise what I have locally, rather then shop bought - the wood etc is all salvaged from cuttings in my garden and from a drain clearing project i was working on. I'm trying for a "natural" effect
 

[Sparky415]

Yes, I scrapped a storage heater few years ago and kept the bricks - they make a great firepit. I wonder would they be any good to put on top of the oven if I heated them in the fire first ? Get 2 bricks, split them in 1/2 so have 4 pieces on top . . . .  or just get stones 

I guess they would be as good as stones  but I think BBQcoals would be better  maybe
Its worth a go anyway 

(I have some here, I was trying to work out how I could use them as a hot-water bottle when camping  )

[Aloha]

BBQ coal work great.  You can manage the heat distribution better as well.  You'd be surprised how few you actually need.  The lid of your pot turned upside down can work as a makeshift pan  :pop:

Some ideas for your next cooking adventure. Keeping in mind the temp of the environment also plays a part in how many coals. 
https://youtu.be/-210MIz8g80

Bread........... Skip to 8:10 to skip recipe.
  https://youtu.be/8IIly7se1pk

[Aloha]

Here's a good resource
http://dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.php

[eamo]

Yes, I scrapped a storage heater few years ago and kept the bricks - they make a great firepit. I wonder would they be any good to put on top of the oven if I heated them in the fire first ? Get 2 bricks, split them in 1/2 so have 4 pieces on top . . . .  or just get stones 

I guess they would be as good as stones  but I think BBQcoals would be better  maybe
Its worth a go anyway 

(I have some here, I was trying to work out how I could use them as a hot-water bottle when camping  )

yeah i have some BBQ coals - i'll try them and the heater bricks over the next few trys - my aim here is to use what I have so looking to use wood or stones/bricks rather then shop bought stuff like coal or BBQ coals / charcoal etc.

This is a summer long project, depending on the weather - hopefully our summer here will be better then last years which was absolutely smurfE !

[eamo]

BBQ coal work great.  You can manage the heat distribution better as well.  You'd be surprised how few you actually need.  The lid of your pot turned upside down can work as a makeshift pan  :pop:

Some ideas for your next cooking adventure. Keeping in mind the temp of the environment also plays a part in how many coals. 
https://youtu.be/-210MIz8g80

Bread........... Skip to 8:10 to skip recipe.
  https://youtu.be/8IIly7se1pk

Here's a good resource
http://dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.php

thanks Aloha

[David]

The joys of cooking with a Dutch Oven.       

[Gerhard Gerber]

BBQ coal work great.  You can manage the heat distribution better as well.  You'd be surprised how few you actually need.  The lid of your pot turned upside down can work as a makeshift pan  :pop:

What he said.

There's a Hoods Woods video where Karen gets into the specifics of what number of coals roughly equates to what temperature.
My first thought seeing you pics was TOO MUCH FIRE