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Bread from the kettle. Made with rye- and wheat-sourdough. I used wheat, spelt and emmer, 70% hydration.

I am quite happy with the outcome.

It seems to be two things that effect the crust
First one we know is steam or water etc.
The second is how you prove. I normally just have a cloth over and a proving basket.
This gives a harder skin on the dough that we know gives a better crust.

So this was try 1.
1, using clingfilm on all the dough stages, noticeable that the skin seems softer.
2, The cover on the tin, both seems to stop drying out of the lid and keep its form.
3, No water in the oven.

Both the loaf and roll had a crust like normal sliced white, little bit of a bite but nothing much.
Dad seemed to cope much better with it too.

This it to be repeated to make sure it was not a one off.
But having this nice soft crust on both the roll and bread was good.
Having a slice that is uniform is good too for the toaster.

Looking good for the 1st try! As for the problem, that you can't see the dough with closed lid - same with the dutch oven method. Only chance: build some working recipes over time and stick to it. In Germany most people go for cast iron forms, btw. A FOTM thingie, I guess. I would go for a darker crust color as this gives more flavour. Crumb looks nice! Wouldn't a normal cake form give similar results? With initial steaming, I mean?

For some reason I get the darn "you can't upload jpeg, only jpg allowed" forum error, so I can't post photos from yesterday.  Silly iPad.

OK New loaf tin test done.

Made my usual batch of 1kg style dough with normal yeast etc.
Proved, then shaped, in to the tin then proved again.

As it was smaller, I had to reduce time, normally I cook about 35 minutes, reduced to 25 minutes.
OK Guess the first problem when it is in the oven.

Yep, how do you see what the colour is like. +1 bread point to those that got it
So lid off and looks good (they are poppy seeds on the top)

Came out of the tin very easily

Side view too

And finally a slice (slightly warm still)


Really happy with the results, the crust is very slight and easy to bite through.
Looks like a normal white loaf too, ready for the toaster.

I would really recommend one of these tins.

And for the left over dough

Again proved in plastic so a slight crust too, I like it that way on these.

Well my new loaf tin turned up today.
Seems a little smaller than I thought, but will try and give it a go at the weekend if I can.

yes and no. I had 2 thick fireclay plates in the kettle and these didn't really got to temp. I will replace these with my pizza stone next time. So the air was hot, the stones were not.

Looks very good, especially in the kettle.
Never a failure, all lessons learnt.

Did the kettle hold temp well?

Not sure, where to post this. 

My usual loaf of sourdough bread, but I used the kettle grill to bake it. First try - I like it! There's room for improvement... I'll work on that.

1st "classic" grilling was only so-so. I had for about an hour 200-250°C, but then the temp dropped. I wasn't expecting that. Refilling and heating up again took quite some time, so it was a very late lunch. Indirect grilling worked well. I messed up with the steak - decided to try "backwards", but need more practice with that. Came out very well done. A chuck eye is only about 2,5cm-3cm thick here in Germany, but it's good meat and was on sale... Next time I'll do it "forward" with just a bit of resting.

Oohh new grill!

I did not know you were treating yourself.
Took a quick look, looks nice and all the fun bits you need for offset grilling.

Look forward to seeing what you do with it.

Funny thing. Had a talk with a colleague and he complained about his father in law always stalling things badly. So with 2 free days last week (I just had to take a break from work) I thought it would be the perfect time to not stall on the what-grill-do-I-really-want question but to trust my gut feeling. I always hated kettle grills because I didn't know where to put the lid - and that problem is gone here. So when I saw it for the first time I thought - hey this is smart! I want one! And didn't buy. I then found out, that you can fold the grate and put in the dishwasher. Call me  silly, but I like the idea of a clean grate when I put my meat on it. I hope, it will serve me well over the next few years.

1st grill test was very successful. I bought 2 lamb chops - already with some marinade. I took off most of it, flipped them for about 3mins directly over the hot charcoal and set aside on an indirect spot. Tried the 1st one after a few minutes - wonderful. Tender, but not "melting", very few slightly chewy bits. 2nd one after 10 more minutes. I expected a disaster - but it was wonderful, too. Keep in mind - on steaks personally I am looking for the point just before well done. To my mind the meat is most tender at that point, while early and late rare stages got another "bite" feeling towards "raw". Think of sushi vs. buttery smooth and tender fish. Sushi has a certain "raw" feeling. Just when this raw feeling in the meat is gone --> perfect steak for me. And I can happily live with well done, especially when this adds more "meaty" flavour. It's overdone when it starts to get dry. So compared to other people I get a wider comfort zone around the well done point. Most restaurants and even steakhouses can't do steaks the way I like them, although I explain it every time. 80% of the time I get burnt-ouside-raw-inside, the others are dry and dead. Frustrating. Why do people even burn their steaks on the outside? Dark, roasty brown - nice. Flavour! But pitch black? Better eat charcoal right away if you like that - it's way cheaper than a good steak.

Today I tried to get the kettle into BBQ temp range - no chance. 200-250°C with a full load of pre-heated briquettes  no matter what I did. With only half of the coal left I added a few coco briquettes while still having everything pretty much closed. After a while it settled at around 150°C on the lid thermometer and a tad below 135°C at grate level, which is fine by me.

2hrs+ into the cooking it looks like this. I will go the most easy and most lazy way: I'll do nothing to the ribs until they are almost done. Then coating with some BBQ sauce for the last 30mins. As with the baking I am looking for very basic and easy stuff. If it even looks or sounds stressful I won't do it. I'll take care of the temp and give it the time it needs and hope for good food in the end.

Have a nice weekend!