Prairie Flour Bakery

I think most people on the bread list understand that my oven is heated by burning wood, and bakes just with the heat retained in the masonry after all the coals and ashes have been cleaned out. This system is an ancient one. It has many favorable aspects such as providing a steam chamber while the loaves are baking, which in turn permits the loaves to "bloom" as they bake.

The system also has inherent limitations and one of the chief ones is that from load to load of bread, the heat in the masonry declines. I load the oven according to which types of bread bake at higher or lower temperatures, but at some point, there simply isn't enough heat remaining in the masonry to bake loaves as thoroughly as I would like.

The past few weeks have been thrilling for me because the orders have been large and I have pushed my beloved oven right to its limit--and a bit beyond. In order to make certain I have enough heat for all the loaves, I must either limit the orders I accept or bake the bread over two days. I am going to try the latter approach first.

On the "Next Baking Dates" page of the blog, I have listed the next two baking dates--Thursday June 2nd and Friday June 3rd. I will bake "brown" breads plus baguettes on Thursday; "white" breads including baguettes on Friday.

I regret making the bakery system even more cantankerous than it has been. By baking baguettes on both dates, I hope to permit (most) people to place their entire order on just one day. Interestingly, people seem to have a predilection for brown or white bread.