High Heat Mortar Primer Getting Started Discuss High Heat Mortar Primer in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hey C. I am trying to get a sourdough starter going. The crusts I have been coming up with are ...

[Lars]

Hey C.
I am trying to get a sourdough starter going. The crusts I have been coming up with are okay, but I wanted something with a little more flavor. Gosh, I only had one decent rise out of the stuff and it has been about a week!

I did make a pizza on it last saturday and... well, amazingly, the kids all liked it better than the plain white pizza crust on the other four.

L.

[cecilB]

I LOVE talking about the sourdough - and pizza making!

The sourdough I make is the Desem from Laurel's Bread Book and Thom Leonard's Bread Book.
I've had it going for 5 years now! The thing is is that it's something that I have really had to work at and it's been an ongoing learning experience.

Do you have either one of those books? I can give the instructions, but it's not really a recipe. But what is in the back of mind is ....How will it be when I can use the brick oven? I'm kind of nervous.

Do you use steam in the first part of the baking? I used to bake my loaves in terra cotta bakers - you know, the cloche or rommeltopf bakers - I could only do four huge loaves at a time. Now I have finally gotten the courage to use a cloth and "couch" the loaves and flip them over, slash them, and put them on a preheated stone - that's been heated for an hour at least at 450. I can do three loaves instead of two on a stone. I put a sheet pan either on the top rack or the very bottom rack - it stays there all the time - and when I put the loaves in, I pour water on the pan. Things I have learned: Use hot water...try not to get the water on the glass window - Both of my oven windows are cracked! (one's a junk oven on the back porch so it doesn't really matter...but the other one....oh dear!) I think if the water were boiling hot, the glass may not have cracked.
ANYWAY, I grind my own grains - wheat or spelt...or rye...and the spelt makes the best Desem. Today I've made three spelts and three mostly whites.
But I make french bread that's pretty awesome, and a loaf that's called bloomer - it's a British type of French bread with poppy seeds all over...
I also do regular loaves that are not artisan, but good for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and old people who don't get into the "real" stuff!

and pizza - I used to stick to the Bread Bakers Apprentice directions, very good - easy, too, when it's all made the day before....it's just having these darned ovens heating up all the time - I can't wait for my brick oven!!!! - but I got a really good pizza dough recipe out of Saveur magazine or La Cucina Italiana or something....from Naples, they say. It's not as hydrated as Reinharts, and there's very very little yeast....just nice long cool rising times! It's the best, so far - but will be better once we can use the Brick oven!

Anyway...

Hey - the lime - a good friend stopped by today after he was at our local lumber yard - he brought me a sack of ....LIME!!!!
Wow! Right here in little ol' St. Mary's! Whoda ever thought?!?!?
So, now I just need the silica!


cecelia

[Lars]

Cecilia,
I am looking at a large bowl with a wet blob of (not yet) dough. It has been bubbling a bit, but mostly tiny, bubble gum type bubbles for the 12 hours.

Supposedly, I will mix a few more cups of flour in there and let it rise for 2.5 hrs. Rise, mind you. I have a feeling it will just sit there and sneer at me.

Anyway, my starters kind of smell like feet. I don't mean feet that have recently been washed. It tried one with wheat flour, and one with bread flour. The one time I tried this, oh, perhaps 15 years ago or more, I don't recall quite so pungent a smell. And, I did lose interest because the bread ( while it rose well) was not too different from my regular white bread.

Do you grow your own grain? I have wondered how much space I would have to devote to wheat to have enough to make bread for my family each year. Sowing, harvesting, grinding, we sure have learned how to divide the essential tasks of survival to the point that it is almost alien to the average person.

Lars.

[rockstarmasonry]

Originally Posted by david s

When using calcium aluminate cement I found that adding lime in the mix made the mixture "go off" really quickly. On researching this I found, from the manufacturers (can't remember which one) that they said "do not add lime as it acts as an accellerant, which is exactly what I had found. Do not add lime if you want to keep it workable for a reasonable period (eg 1/2 - 3/4 hr or so) .The calcium aluminate cement is very temp dependant. Use chilled water if using on a hot day and don't leave the stuff in the sun to get hot.

How long does it take to set up completely in rainy weather?

[david s]

It is not so much the moisture in the air, but the temp which is the controlling factor. Where I live our temps are high and I usually have to use chilled water to try to slow the stuff "going off", but in our winter it is much slower. On a normal day it sets hard enough to remove from the mould in 24 Hrs. Suggest you mix a little up and let it set and see how long it takes. You do not have to cure it by keeping it moist for a week like portland cement. It is expensive stuff, you dont want to have half a wheelbarrowful wasted. I don't mix up more than one 25 Kg bag at a time. Hope this helps.
Dave

[Chaos]

Just had a quick question...

...I have the Casa2G110 kit and I'm getting ready to start assembly, but I can't seem to find directions on using the high-temp mortar (i.e. how do you mix the dry mix to create the mortar, etc). Is it just like mixing cement (i.e. 3/4 of a gallon pf water per bag), or is it something else?

If this is discussed elsewhere in the forum, a simple redirection/link would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[sutto]

Has anyone tried a mortar using Calcium Almuninate Cement with Fireclay?. I read about Francis using Sand and clay, though i don't know what ratio she used. I have made a trial batch using AC Cement and FC at a ratio of 1:3 and it seemed quite workable and was very sticky, though how it will handle oven temperatures i don't know.

Sutto

[GianniFocaccia]

Haven't heard of or used CA mortar but reading up on it, sounds like it has favorable properties including water-resistant and it sets up rather quickly. Refractoriness good to 1400C. Maybe you could bond some bricks together and heat them in the barbie for a test.

[mikesuttie]

Hey guys!
I'm currently on my dome course and using the homebrew cement, lime, sand,fireclay mix but having issues and the mortar doesn't seem to be bonding to the bricks properly! I built the outer arch from normal clay engineering bricks and 2 days after laying it the brick just came off. Is there any way to ensure the mortar binds properly with the bricks?

Also as it dries it cracks like a biiaatch!

[david s]

sutto,
All clays will shrink on drying so without the addition of sand you risk a reduction of bond strength. The sand also acts as an extenders making the mix way cheaper. Try 4:1:1 sand, CA cement,fire clay. Also be careful that the fireclay is real fireclay, stuff sold by Cement Australia as "Bricklayers Clay, Fireclay" is actually not fire clay and does not handle heat.I have called them to complain about this, but they won't change the packaging for just one complaint.