Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

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!
 

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.

My new kettle grill arrived today - I am doing the "burn in" atm. Roesler F60 Air. It's heavy, it's big and let my have a look into the future: there will be meat.

It sits at 300°C atm, I am burning charcoal. So far everything looks good.

Did I already recommended the butter4all website to you? Have a look at this:

https://www.butterforall.com/traditional-cooking-traditional-living/butter-top-sourdough-sandwich-bread/

You'll find more interesting stuff there.

As for my bread. I used different flour (812+1600 vs 550) and from a different mill. Its always a problem to adjust a receipt to that. I am working on it.

Sorry you can not repeat it, but I think you should still keep the level up!

The soft crust is mainly for my dad, his teeth can not handle the tough crust.
But he does like sourdough.

So I think if I prove and seal with clingfilm or plastic bag, then transfer to this and plastic bag again.
Lid on and bake, I hopefully have a soft crust that works for him.

Plus the advantage of a good sandwich / toast size loaf.

Hi there,
good luck with this project! You can bake amazing bread in these. I saw results in a bakers forum that looked really nice. These people didn't try to replicate the ultra soft bread / toast they sell in the supermarket, though. If that's your thing - go ahead! I can see the use for BBQ, too

I had no luck in making this bread again. There are too many parameters and you really have to hit the exact spot. So far I was aiming for a way more relaxed and forgiving baking method with 2-4 days of proofing time. Baking with sourdough AND making it a very relaxed experience is a hard mission. I didn't gave up yet.

Looking good Jor.
So was it lucky or have you been able to repeat them?

I have moved on to my next thing..
Making bread like the stuff you buy, so you have soft crust and fit it in the toaster.

With this in mind, I have ordered one of these...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M5F45M0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I read this helps when baking, want to see how this is on its own, then try proving in a plastic bag.
In 3 to 4 weeks when it arrives, will try it out.

Baked this yesterday evening, I am very pleased with it. If I can do this not just by accident, I'll claim a level-up in breadmaking Time will tell, if that was just a lucky accident.

P.S. Good morning!