Adding a steam source

Hi all,

I was wondering if any has tried to ad a steam source say like a pan of water in the brickwood oven to get that really crusty bread. Also having that good brown color to the bread. Saw some youtube videos of a guy adding water to some contraption on the top of his oven to create steam. It wasn’t like our ovens more like a prefabricated oven.

I’m afraid to try it because water, fire, and bricks is not a good combination. I’m afraid of cracking something. Any suggestions?

Adding a pan of hot water (bread loaf pan) while the oven is firing so the water gets close to boiling hot is one approach. Another is tossing a balled-up wet rag (wring all the water out first) into the oven and the heat from the fire brick will create the steam. There will not be enough water in the rag to drip onto the brick - so cracking will not be an issue.

Just make sure the oven is fired for a long time (so all the brick / refractory is nice and hot all the way through), then remove all the fire and ash. It should be a nice, clean oven for bread.

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Thank you for the advice. Yes I usually don’t cook anything untill the bricks are clean of any soot. But I always left a small fire going. Clearing the oven out will hbe helpfull. Thanks again!

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