I'm not sure when the idea first came to me of building our own outdoor bread oven. A photo from our family vacation to Plimouth Plantation, circa 1998, shows us standing in front of a beehive-shaped one. A gigantic wooden peel is leaning against its side, ready for action. We are all smiling happily -after all, this was vacation- but additionally, one can detect a gleam in my eye which bespeaks desire. More than just a twinkle or spark, it screams: give. me. my. own. outdoor. bread. oven.
We have oohed and ahhed over other brick/earth ovens. There is this one at the Crown Point NY historical site. I have seen a few ancient ones in the mountains of Spain. There is one inside Mama Lucia's restaurant, Potsdam NY, which makes bread with a killer crust!
Yesterday, I cracked open the cover of a hippie-styled book, "Build Your Own Earth-Oven".
If I can get past all the "be one with the dirt" mentality, I might like it. The author asserts that anyone can build a well-functioning outdoor oven for free or for very little cost. Enticing, isn't is? (It is for me, a bread-lover of the highest order.) All this talk of dismantling a very large stone fireplace has only fueled the fire, so to speak, of how we can make this outdoor oven a reality someday.
My fancies are tickled by the fact that our old stone home was built next to a gristmill. I wonder where all that flour was baked into bread? I have a vivid and active imagination; it cannot be helped. Some one please help me by building a bread oven for me so I can re-enact history in my backyard.
Even if building an outdoor bread oven isn't high on Hubby's priority list, that won't stop me from dreaming about one. I might as well dream intelligently and read this book from cover to cover.
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