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Old-Style Mud Oven Fires Up Pioneer Spirit
People in Melville, Sask., think there is no bread quite as good as bread baked in a mud oven.
The mud oven is part of a revival of pioneer bread baking methods. A local citizen, Harry Swartz, remembered the one on his home farm when his parents first settled the area. He decided to build a replica for use during
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Old-Style Mud Oven Fires Up Pioneer Spirit FARM HOME Food 5-5-27 People in Melville, Sask., think there is no bread quite as good as bread baked in a mud oven.
The mud oven is part of a revival of pioneer bread baking methods. A local citizen, Harry Swartz, remembered the one on his home farm when his parents first settled the area. He decided to build a replica for use during the 75th anniversary provincial celebration dubbed "Celebrate Saskatchewan".
Harry Swartz' mud oven is 7 ft. long, 3 ft. wide and 3 ft. high. Although mounted on an old cart so that it can be moved around, the original ovens were built in a permanent location. Also, he used bricks bound together with a mixture of clay and straw, whereas the old ovens were usually made with stones and clay mortar. It took about a month to build.
Before baking bread, a fire is built in the oven and heated up for about two hours. Then, when the fire and ashes are removed from inside, the bricks have enough heat in them to bake bread.
Bread loaves usually bake in about 35 minutes, depending on the oven and the baker's skill. To regulate temperature, a chimney can be opened to allow heat to escape, or the outside of the oven can be sprayed with cold water to cool it down. Starting temperature for baking is about 450 degrees F., but when 25 loaves are put in, they absorb a lot of heat.
Verla Erlendson, Melville, assisted Swartz with much of the baking for the celebration. Her old recipe yielded loaves of bread that people bought up faster than they could be baked.
"What we didn't know about the oven, nature taught us.. We learned that the bread browns quickly but then keeps baking without turning browner," says Swartz. "You listen to the bread when you take it out. If it crackles, it's done. If the sides cave in, it's not cooked properly inside."
The mud oven has been turning out about 200 loaves a weekend, as well as pies and rolls. It's expected to be used again and again in the future as an attraction at Melville events.
For more information contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harry Swartz, Box 92, Melville, Sask. (ph 306 728-5840).
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