A few weeks back, I posted this video on Instagram. It shows Mildrith’s magical ability of springing to life in the morning when it’s time to bake bread.
She’s fired to about 900ºF the night before. Just before I go to bed, I shut her down with enough wood to smoulder through to the early hours. I close the air vents and damper. I plug the oven entrance with a heavy wood-steel door plug.
When I open the oven at about two a.m., I can see a few embers glowing inside. The rush of air brings immediate life to the fire, though, without my even touching it! A spark, a blue flame, and before you know it, the fire is roaring and ready for more wood!
I love Mildrith, but her high heat efficiency has taken its toll on the wood door plug!
Damaged oven door plug
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a corner of the oven door plug had burned away. And last week, there was more evidence of burning along the top. So much, that the screws attaching the wood to the stainless steel shield had broken loose. There was even a small flame visible inside the plug which I doused with water. It continued to smoulder for another half hour.
The oven plug is a crucial part of Mildrith’s functioning. It takes the brunt of her substantial heat. Without it, heat leaks away, even with the air vents closed and the damper shut. The steel doors aren’t the greatest at retaining heat inside the oven. Without the oven plug, Mildrith’s baking ability is compromised.
Some customers may have noticed their loaves weren’t as dark-coloured as usual. Mildrith wasn’t hot enough because the oven plug wasn’t able to keep as much heat inside as usual!
Jacques to the rescue!
The plug was designed by Jacques Marmen, who built Mildrith with my minimal assistance 1. It’s made of charred Pender Island fir with an attached shield of stainless steel fabricated by Callum McKay of Stainless by Design. A layer of rock wool insulation makes it a solid thermal seal.
But six months of high heat and regular firings finally wore it down.
I’m lucky Jacques lives here on Pender. He responded immediately, even though he’s busy with another project. In the next day or so, we’ll be back in business with a fresh new oven plug … and Mildrith will be back to turning out the chestnut-coloured loaves we’re used to.
In the mean time, we’ll be turning our minds to designing a new heat plug that won’t have to be replaced every six months!
![First attempt at Nina’s Pain Sauvage, wild bread. Borne of simplicity: coarsely milled grain (I used spelt), freshly milled red fife flour, water and salt. No yeast, wild or commercial. A few flax seeds sprinkled on top, baked in bread tins. Tastes of grain and earth. This is Nina Raginsky’s bread. She lives on Salt Spring Island BC in an old house that she calls her Maison Sauvage, and she tends her garden, her Jardin Sauvage. She prefers living with a small footprint; loves the aimless life, but is an Officer of the Order of Canada for her photography. Read the latest Happy Monk blog post for more about Nina. Thanks to Sophie Williams @ravenbreads for sharing about her conversations with Nina back in January — a meeting of like minds and hearts, I think. Today is Nina’s 80th birthday! Happy birthday, Nina!
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#bread #wildbread #painsauvage #baker #bakers #baking #bakinglife #ancientgrains #heritagegrains #yeastfree #nosourdough #tassajara #tassajarabreadbook #edwardespebrown #woodfired #woodfiredbread](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
First attempt at Nina’s Pain Sauvage, wild bread. Borne of simplicity: coarsely milled grain (I used spelt), freshly milled red fife flour, water and salt. No yeast, wild or commercial. A few flax seeds sprinkled on top, baked in bread tins. Tastes of grain and earth. This is Nina Raginsky’s bread. She lives on Salt Spring Island BC in an old house that she calls her Maison Sauvage, and she tends her garden, her Jardin Sauvage. She prefers living with a small footprint; loves the aimless life, but is an Officer of the Order of Canada for her photography. Read the latest Happy Monk blog post for more about Nina. Thanks to Sophie Williams @ravenbreads for sharing about her conversations with Nina back in January — a meeting of like minds and hearts, I think. Today is Nina’s 80th birthday! Happy birthday, Nina!
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#bread #wildbread #painsauvage #baker #bakers #baking #bakinglife #ancientgrains #heritagegrains #yeastfree #nosourdough #tassajara #tassajarabreadbook #edwardespebrown #woodfired #woodfiredbread
Happy Monk Tidings - April 14, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Spelt + Honey Loaf; Plus the mighty Seed Feast; Happy Monk Blog: Nina's Pain Sauvage - [ See link in profile ]
Nice bake yesterday! The Salish Sourdough turned out great. So did the Fig and Fennel Loaf, but wish I’d added more fennel!
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#bread #sourdoughbread #sourdough #baker #bakery #breadporn #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbread #figbread #fig #fennel #figandfennelbread #breadlove #happymonkbaker #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #penderisland #southpenderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - April 7, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Fig and Fennel Loaf or Your Old Stand by: the Salish Sourdough; Happy Monk Blog: Is the Baguette on the Verge of Renaissance? - [ See link in profile ]
UPDATE: Sorry folks! No Bread This Week 😢. We'll be back soon! [ See link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - March 24, 2021 🍞 - Blog: The Milk Maid, Love and Bread Pudding; Bread this week: Salish Sourdough and Seed Feast - [ See link in profile ]
Hot Cross Buns are out the door and we have a few extras. The deep spice, fruit and texture of these buns evoke faded memories for me. Maybe Aunty Betty made them? Maybe they’re the stuff of dreams?
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#hotcrossbuns #sourdough #sourdoughbread #baker #bakery #easter #easterbread #easterfood #woodfired #woodfiredoven #naturallyleavened #michaeljames #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Happy Monk Tidings - March 17, 2021 🍞 - Happy Monk Blog: One a Penny, Two a Penny! | Baker's Choice: Hot Cross Buns [ See link in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - March 10, 2021 🍞 - Bread this week: Your favourites: Salish Sourdough and Seed Feast; Happy Monk Blog: The Ocean Within Us [ See link in profile ]
Was windy down here this morning, but nothing like a winter storm! And look what what Mildrith made this morning just as the wind was kicking up! Polenta and Rosemary Loaf made with rosemary that grows wild on our property.
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#windyday #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbaking #polentabread #rosemarybrushes #rosemarybrushes #bread #breadporn #woodfiredbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven
Happy Monk Tidings - March 5, 2021 🍞 - Happy Monk Blog: Building Fences, Mending Walls; and Baker's Choice: Polenta and Rosemary Sourdough [ See link in profile ]
The mighty Seed Feast, Pender Island style, Happy Monk style. @chez_sjaan
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#seedfeastbread #seedbread #seedybread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #bread #breadlove #baker #bbga #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #naturallyleavened #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland
The Seed Feast is pretty when it drops out of the banneton. Today I used a UFO bread lame #wiredmonkey to make it prettier. Nice control and it slices through those big pumpkin seeds!
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#wiredmonkey #ufolame #seedfeast #bread #breadmaking #breadbaking #sourdoughbread #sourdoughscoring #sourdough #woodfiredbread #woodfiredoven #bakery #bakeries #bakeriesofinstagram #southpenderisland #southpender #penderisland #happymonkbakery #happymonkbaker
Happy Monk Tidings - February 24, 2021 🍞 - Happy Monk Blog: The Honest Baker; Bread choices this week: Salish Sourdough or Seed Feast - [ See link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - February 17, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice Week: Mountain Rye; Blog: A Hard-Earned Homecoming - [See link in Profile]
Saturday, Feb. 13. 2:45 am. Air temperature: -3°C (26.6°F). Mildrith, the wood fired oven, had an internal temp of 977°F (525°C). Balmy! Too hot to to bake bread, but she cooled quickly enough with the open doors, then baked 68 loaves! The problem was getting the orders out to customers, as the roads were unploughed with 8” of snow. Our all-wheel Subaru saved the day and customers got their bread! I tell ya!
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#cobovens #coboven #woodfiredbread #woodfired #woodfiredbread #bakers #bakersofinstagram #bakersgonnabake #bakerylife #bakery #happymonkbakery #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbaker #southpenderisland #penderisland #penderislandbc #penderislandlife #earthoven #earthovens
Half loaf of Happy Monk Salish Sourdough with @clarewilkening Herringware, beautiful “stacking tableware” by Clare Wilkening, whose ceramics are about “marine and terrestrial ecosystems” and homage to the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Salish People. The bowl was a brilliant Christmas gift from daughter Ella, a long-time friend of Clare’s.
Check out the Happy Monk being interviewed on (@madbaker)Mark Dyck’s Rise Up Podcast ... wherever you get your podcasts! Scintillating conversation for baking nerds and wood-fired oven enthusiasts!
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#baking #bakingpodcast #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbaking #cobovens #breadbaking #breadmaker #bakery #bakinglife #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbaker #penderisland #southpenderisland #penderislandbc #podcast
@earth.oven
Happy Monk Tidings - Dec. 16, 2020 - Happy Monk Blog: Time to Hang Up the Baker's Peel for 2020; Baker's Choice: Fruit Sourdough [ See link in profile ]
Instead of “figgy pudding,” I made some Figgy Bread! Fig and a hint of Fennel. Doesn’t roll off the tongue as well as figgy pudding, but it tastes better! (Thus the red carpet threatment!)
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#figbread #figgybread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #bread #breadlove #baker #bbga #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #naturallyleavened #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland
Salish Country Loaves tumbling out of Mildrith, the wood-fired oven this morning. There are a few extras, so if you’re interested, I’ll be at Medicine Beach until 2pm today (Friday, Dec. 11)!
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #coboven #Mildrith #Mildriththeoven #woodfiredovenbread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #breadporn #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderislands #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
Happy Monk Tidings - Dec. 11, 2020 - Baker's Choice this week: Fig and Fennel Loaf; Happy Monk Blog: Praise the Rain! [ See link in profile ]
Volkornbrot casts a long shadow … getting bagged up for deliveries today. The aroma of 100% rye in the kitchen is otherworldly! I’m walking around in a trance.
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#volkornbrot #rye #ryebread #ryebreadlove #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #bread #breadlove #baker #bbga #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #naturallyleavened #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland
See you in the morning, Mildrith!
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#woodfiredovens #woodfiredbread #woodfired #sourdoughbread #baker #bakersofinstagram #bakersoven #woodfiredovenlove #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #southpenderisland #penderisland #penderislandbc
See How I Built My Wood-Fired Oven for a recap.↩