I grew up in a very historic home where there were fireplaces aplenty. One in particular spanned the length of the entire wall with little nooks for, in modern times, curiosities; rather than food items to bake or keep warm as they would have been used for centuries ago. It was evident as a child that the hearth used to be the heart of the home, much like the kitchen was the heart of my home growing up. As I spread my wings and moved into many other dwellings, I used all different types of fuel to cook— electric and natural gas, mainly, but nothing felt as right or true as cooking with fire. It was truly a sensory experience which involved many “inconveniences.” One cannot just turn the dial (like on the stove) and have the hearth ready to bake on in an hour. You spend time selecting wood to chop, you spend time chopping the wood to a perfect size, and you build small fires over the course of a couple days to warm up the layers of the oven before you make a fire large enough to cook with. One baking cycle begins days in advance and it’s well worth every moment of preparation. The time honored tradition of baking on the hearth is the perfect compliment to a long and slowly fermented sourdough.
Have you tasted the difference?
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