How to Bake Bread on a Wood Fire
For most of human history food was cooked and baked over a wood fire. Today bread is still baked over an open wood fire in many areas of the world. Recipes for many flat breads were developed specifically to be baked over an open fire. the bread is baked on a metal surface that sometimes hangs over the fire and sometimes it sits directly on the fire. The surface can be flat or in the shape of a dome. Pans, griddles and roasting spits are also used to bake bread over a wood fire. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Paper
- Twigs and kindling
- Large branches
- Metal plate
- Skillet
- Griddle
- Spit
- Bread dough (according to the desired recipe)
Instructions
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Prepare the dough. There are a number of recipes for different types of bread dough which bake well over a wood fire. Tortillas, chapati, bannocks, pitas and injera are just some of the possibilities. Recipes can be found on the internet by searching "bread recipes over fire" (see resources).
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Each recipe will give instructions for how the bread is to be baked over the wood fire. Some breads will need a flat metal plate which will sit on the wood fire-- the bread will bake on that surface. Some breads bake on a "saj", a domed metal piece that sits over the fire. Some breads are baked in a skillet which sits on the fire and some are baked by roasting them with a roasting stick over the fire. Some breads are baked on a griddle that is suspended over the wood fire.
Make sure that all necessary equipment is at hand before starting the fire.
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Build the wood fire. Have rolled up newspapers, small twigs and pieces of kindling and successively larger branches (all wood must be thoroughly dry) ready next to the fire pit. Light the newspapers and throw the small kindling on it. As those pieces catch on fire, add slightly larger pieces of wood, increasing the size of the wood pieces as each previous size catches on fire.
Make sure that the fire pit is surrounded by stones to keep the fire from spreading.
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When the wood fire is going well, place the baking sheet, pan, or other utensil that will be used onto the fire.
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Bake the bread on the wood fire according to the directions in the recipe. Flip the dough when the second side is ready to bake.
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