Community Ovens project
The portable oven arose from its own ashes (of a burnt out frontispiece) to make pizzas at the Crosby Ravensworth Food Fair.
Come and help at our next oven project at Smoky Jo's.
As part of the Local Loaves for Lammas celebrations run by the Real Bread Campaign, The Watermill in Little Salkeld is having an open weekend to inaugurate it's new permanent cob oven, helped along by story-telling.
Not that anyone needs an excuse, but Lammas is a perfect opportunity to eat and celebrate locally produced Real Bread.
Come and help at our next oven project at Smoky Jo's.
From Peter Dicken:
I'm no expert on finding clay, leaving it to the people who want an oven built to source it. Locally dug is always best, regardless of quality, as you can always adjust the amount of sand you mix in with it to compensate for impurities such as soil/sand in any clay you find. Look closely at becks/ghylls running down to the Eden. If the banks look yellow and firm it's more than likely to be clay as sand tends to drop when dry and form a beach.
Once upon a time when only rich men could afford an oven and the space to house it, the poor shared an oven between the villagers. It would be lit once aweek and every household would take their bread to be baked in it, much like as still happens in poor countries today. The bread would be followed by casseroles or joints of meat and as the oven heat declined, cakes would follow and finally, in the gentle slow lowering of temperature, meringues and cheesecake would gently bake.
This worked well with economical use of fuel resources.
Report from Peter Dicken:
The cob oven at Acorn Bank will be completed today and fired ready for Mill w/e 14th May.
We're starting to build a cob oven at Acorn Bank.
Turn up at around 10am.
Please contact the food group if you need more details.
The oven will be completed on Tuesday 3rd May and fired ready for Mill w/e 14th May.