Community Bread Bake On November 21st

Happy Thanksgiving (almost).

We are hosting a Thanksgiving Community Bread Bake on Saturday, November 21st, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  This event is open to everybody, just bring your loaf or loaves to the oven and we will bake it.

Also, the Saint Paul Bread Club will be meeting at the same time. They are a friendly group, and so feel free to get to know people who also love bread and love talking about bread. All skill levels are welcome.

The best breads for the community bread bake are ones that have little or no sugar in them. Caramel rolls or banana bread will likely burn on the outside and remain gooey on the inside. Of course, the oven may have cooled by noon and we can give it a shot, but no guarantees.

Bread that is baked in the oven is usually not in a pan (like the ones above), but we can bake breads in a metal pan. No glass or pyrex bread pans.

If you need a recipe, you can check out "Lazy Loaf" and the "Sunday Loaf."  They are posted on the blog on the right-side column under "General Information and Recipes." 

History Sunday with Sweets

We had a big day at the Community Oven last Sunday. It was history Sunday, celebrating 135 years.

The day was proclaimed by the city of Saint Paul, is Marguerite Pramann Day and Hamline University and Hamline Church Good Neighbor Day! Thank you, Bishop Ough for visiting us and such an energizing sermon.

The community oven was also fired up. The focus this Sunday was on doing something sweet, and so we baked a few loaves but primarily focused on Cinnamon Rolls, Caramel Rolls, and scones.  They were quickly consumed.

Community Brick Oven Dedication

It was a beautiful (but cold) Sunday to dedicate the Community Brick Oven at Hamline Church.  In order to bake bread in the morning, the oven had to be fired up the evening before.  I was out there in the darkness, loading wood into the oven and hoping that when I returned in the morning there would be a bed of hot coals. The fact that it was storming and there was a tornado warning did not deter us.

In the morning, I arrived at sunrise to see a beautiful glow coming from the oven.

The oven was a whopping 1100 degrees (way too hot to bake bread) that morning. Lesson learned that I didn't need to load that much wood in there the night before.

So all the coals were shoveled out and I left the door off for four hours, hoping the oven would cool down to 450/500 degrees for the bread bake.  Meanwhile, members of the congregation started arriving with their dough to bake in the oven.

Finally, the time came to load and bake the bread.  Luckily nothing burned, and when everybody came out for the dedication we had hot, steaming bread for everybody to eat.