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I will buy a bread tin with a lid, this seems to also help create a soft crust.
I am going to try and get one with a more square shape.
Bread baked in that should have a soft crust and more like a standard white loaf.

But going to wait a few weeks still.

135c is a common temperature to cook at, many people do.
The barrel smokers usually run that hot.

With tougher cuts like brisket point, it does need a long time to break down the meat and become tender.
So with these higher times, wrapping and resting becomes far more important.
In someways you dont save as much time as you think.
You also get less smoke penetration, as the wood is getting a better combustion and less smoke.

With my type of smoker, it is easy to program the different temperature. Can even time that through the app.
But charcoal or wood would be harder to do.
Have to let it almost burn out and then slowly add coals to keep that low temp.

I will try again with 165c with the same cuts I normally use.
See if the larger cuts of meat handle this higher temp.

2 tries at pan de cristal failed. 

As for the soft crust - here are a few hints and ideas.

- higher hydration for the dough (I know it's hard)
- lower fermentation/rise time
- keep dough moist / don't let it dry

Basically you don't want the dough to develop any "skin" at all. Buy yeast and try to make rolls. Use a lot of yeast, so dough will rise fast. Around 65% hydration is enough for that experiment. Keep the dough moist all the time. Use plastic bags to prevent air to get on the dough.

When baking, use steam a lot until the rolls won't rise anymore. Then open oven to release steam. 10s is NOT enough. Better go for 1 min or so. After baking let rolls cool until they are around 40°C, then put in plastic bag or cover etc. The remaining water in the crumb will soften the crust.

Good luck!

wohoo. 165°C is really hot for BBQ. I tried around 135°C and that worked well. You save some time and it's not too far away from 110°C. What you might wanna try: Start real hot - i.e. 200-250°C - for the crust and then let the grill/smoker cool down to 110°C to slowly cook the meat inside. I want to try that... I mean, you do it all the time when using an oven... so it should work.

Problem: how do you do it with just one grill? You can't just lower temp like you do on your kitchen oven.

Afaik you got more than one grill - so go for it! If you are done with the meat and it sits in the 110°C smoker, use the hot grill for sausages and snacks! 

Photo:



Not the best, plus rained a lot.
So the only one I really got.

New week, new BBQ.

Not much in the photos, as they sort of look like the last....

But I am experimenting with "Hot and Fast" rather than "Low and Slow"
Basically you are cooking at 165c rather than 110c.

Worked ok so far, but need to keep trying.
With this method you need to keep spraying or mopping the meat.
I was happy with the nice crust on the meat I got. But not as good as low and slow.

So when I can, 5kg beef and 5kg pork and try again.
I feel I will need to inject and mop a lot. But really want to see the results.

Sounds hard to do.

But for me, I am very happy with all white sourdough, so moving on.

Next for me is Brioche and Croissants for the butter fun.

I do need to fix the soft crush loaf and buns, as dad with his teeth finds hard crusts difficult
Probably going to order a new loaf tin, with a lid. This should help keep the crust soft.
But as for burger buns (mcdonalds style) no idea yet.

So that is the next target in a few weeks.

Oh well... sourdough can be tough. Keep practicing, thats the only way. I am trying to make Pan de Cristal. 106% hydration. Quite the challenge.

New weekend, new bake.

So this will probably be the last for me for a few weeks. Well sourdough.

So this one is full strong white flour (starter and flour) and I am very happy with it.


The main difference and the very first one (the one that collapsed) is less water in the mix.
Made it hold together better for me and retained shape.

Todays loaf was not good.

I still think loading up some charcoal, open the dampers and chimney, you will get some heat that will dry out any left over food inside. Which is all you really want to do.
Can try brushing most of it off and should prevent mould returning.