Beehive Bake Oven

[esther]

Has anyone ever used a beehive bake oven before? I'm a newbie at it and I am teaching myself how to use one through trial and error. If anyone has any advice about using a beehive bake oven, or can point me to online information about using them, I'd greatly appreciate it. Also, please share any receipts if you have them.

Here are pics of my first attempt at using a beehive bake oven.

The oven, once I shoveled the hot ashes/embers out of it:


The bread, once it was done:


Some notes to self, for the next time:

After I let the dough rise, punched it down, formed the loaves and let them rise again, I think I need to flour the surface that I let the loaves rise on better. They stuck to the surface and when I pulled them up, they stuck and the loaves fell. It still made a good bread, but it was dense because of this.

I need to make a smaller fire in the oven. It will be much more manageable when it comes time to shovel the ashes out and swab the insides of the oven. We also had trouble regulating the temperature of the oven because it was way too hot. The oven took too long to cool down enough to be able to cook in it. Also, the bread was cooking too much on the outside and not enough on the inside. I also need to make smaller loaves next time, they seem to cook more evenly.

All in all, the loaves turned out well, but they could have been better. But it certainly was an excellent first try. Baking with these methods certainly gives you a feel for how hard people worked and for the skill involved. This was an all day task for us!

[Mme de Beaufort]

This is wonderful! I was talking about this sort of oven with my friend who cooks prolifically at Ren fairs. There are all sorts of fire restrictions, but you are allowed an 'elevated' fire... and this counts as an elevated fire. Constructing one on site though, and then dismantling might be a challenge... but it's nice to see one actually in action. Thanks!

[esther]

It's amazing how labor intensive beehive ovens are. It took us most of the day just to make a few loaves of bread. You have to get up early just to start and maintain the fires in the oven, so you can have the oven the correct temperature for baking in the afternoon.

You have to maintain the fires in the oven for a few hours, then shovel out all of the coals into a tub of water. This is much harder than it sounds because the ovens are so hot by this time, that you have to be very careful so you don't hurt yourself, burn your clothing or burn down your surroundings. Once the oven is empty, you have to swab it out with water, then let it sit for another hour or two to regulate the temperature inside, because it's too hot to bake in at first. It certainly makes me appreciate the grocery store!

I've been to re-enactments where people set-up portable beehive ovens and sell their baked goods. One of my favorites is Blue Hen Bakery. They go to Fort Frederick every year and I always look forward to the sausages that they bake inside of bread. They are so good.

[amandamoose]

Not sure it's period correct or not, but reading this made me think you could build the fire in a tray that way the coals would be contained and therefore easier to remove and less swabbing to be done? I have no clue about beehive oven baking but that idea popped in my head and I thought I'd share it. I apologize if it's useless lol

[esther]

I don't think a tray would work well because the doorway to the oven is small, in order to keep the heat in. The fire needs to be bigger than any tray you could fit through the small door.

I would also still need to swab the insides of the oven, no matter what. The swabbing is not done so much as to clean the inside of the oven out, but to help regulate the temperature of the oven and to add moisture inside of the oven. The steam also helps to make a good crust on the bread.

When I am using the oven, it is also for demonstration purposes so I like to keep the process as authentic as possible. But, thank you for the suggestions. It's good to get the ol' brain working outside of the box!

[amandamoose]

yep that's me thinking silly thoughts outside the box

[annbwass]

The only time I saw an oven in action (at Fort Massac, in Illinois), they had I don't know how many loaves. As someone says, it takes all day, so they kept running them in and out. Remember, too, that in the period, different things were baked at different times as the temperature did change. You said it was too hot at first--is that when cookies would have been baked, because they bake quickly at higher heat? I think that is what I remember.

[esther]

Cookies would have been baked later at a lower temperature. A higher temp would burn them up too quickly because they're so small. Bread was cooked first when the oven was hottest, then cakes and pies. as th oven cooled off you made cookies or "biscuits," then puddings or custards. Once you were done baking, there is still enough heat to dry herbs, vegetables or fruit overnight. Or they would use the oven like a crock pot overnight and cook something slowly like beans.