"We've been experimenting with the Fourneau to see if it is a good tool for using with a fire ... The results are pretty awesome ...stay tuned for more details when the Fourneau recipe book comes out!"
This is a fun post to look back on. So, what happens when you build a raging hot fire on top of a cast iron cloche? Well, as you might expect, the inside gets really hot! Back during the summers of 2015 and 2016 we took manufacturing samples of the original Fourneau Bread Oven down to the shores of Lake Michigan and explored the possibilities of this strange arrangement.
What we found is that with a really hot fire, the cloche can be heated to the point where it will work as a broiler. Transferring the heat of the fire to the bottom of the apparatus however, proved difficult. Naturally we gravitated toward beach pizzas and eventually landed on a technique to par-cook the dough before flipping, dressing, and re-blasting. These pizzas took a couple of minutes to finish and were incredibly fun, if a little difficult, to make.
We also had great luck with blasting whole fish under the cloche. Seasoned and handled on a small tray of foil, we broiled the fish on two sides and enjoyed the delicious, blistered crust.
Of course, the Fourneau Bread Oven was never designed to do any of this and we wouldn't recommend using the product in this way. Not only are the parts dangerously hot to handle, the live fire completely strips the oil-seasoning from the parts and would likely cause distortion and warping in the iron as well. That said, these kinds of experiments are what fuel new product ideas and we're extremely excited to introduce our live-fire and charcoal grilling concepts to the world soon.
