DIY -- no-oven bread

Some of you are going "Of course you can make bread without an oven, Boston Brown Bread is steamed not baked."

Not what I'm posting about.

I finally got a batch of white-flour starter to bubble properly, and also got the sponge to rise overnight. Hint: white flour takes more days of feeding than rye flour to produce good starter, and the sponge has to be covered in plastic.


Then I let the dough rise 4 hours.  Here's the result: 
the golden brown loaf:

Here's a shot of the cut and the crumb.  I've gotten better crumb from rye loaves but this is way better than my first two tries.







Here's the no-oven part. There are two ways you can work this. One is to use a dutch oven on the stovetop.
http://www.wikihow.com/Bake-Bread-on-the-Stovetop

The other thing you can do is divvy the dough up into pieces the size of hamburger rolls or English muffins, or make flatbread from it, and cook on a griddle or frying pan. A cast-iron pan may work  best.
https://permies.com/t/12359/Homemade-sourdough-bread-oven

This guy even used his crockpot.
https://permies.com/t/12359/Homemade-sourdough-bread-oven

What's great about the stovetop is the burners there use like 800 watts while the oven uses something like 1100, IIRC.

And here's the easiest one of all in which you don't do any kneading. Note the comments about the bread not rising in the fridge. I don't know where they got the idea that it would but it won't. Yeast needs warmth to rise. Same is true with your starter: let it warm up before using and when you feed it, let it stay a little warm afterward so the yeasties will get some good from the fresh food.
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2015/02/no-knead-overnight-artisan-bread/

BTW you shouldn't waste the crumbs. Collect them, refrigerate them, and soak a little while, then incorporate them into your dough. George Greenstein calls this altus and says it gives the bread extra flavor. Who knew?

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