wrandyr

That's very interesting. I found that a stone by itself doesn't get hot enough (top burnt/crust under done), and a baking steel gets too hot (crust burns before the top is done), but if I put the stone right on top of the steel, it's about right. I then manage the fire for the dome temp I want, which has been around 600°F lately. Quite astute.

Why do we believe anything? I'm not going to touch that. . . Probably because it works pretty well. It's hot enough to move things along, but not so hot that the outside gets burned before the inside gets done. There are a couple of thoughts here. The first that comes to mind is that older ovens don't have settings in that fine of increments. My 1950s era gas stove only has marks in 25° steps. One of the things I learned in my brief stint in the world of metrology is that a specification isn't to meaningful without a tolerance, and a measurement isn't too meaningful if you don't know the uncertainty of your measuring instrument. We assume or tools are sufficiently accurate, and mostly they are, but I rather suspect that ∓25° is plenty good enough for most food in an oven. So some of us probably are cooking at 361°, 342°, or 373° and we can't tell the difference. The same goes for time. Also, I think round numbers are just easier to publish and remember, and most recipes come from a time when the available tools were much simpler than what we have access to today.

I have trouble leaving well enough alone, so I stole some doll eyes from my wife's craft supplies and glued them to the buttons. The clear silicone adhesive I tried first failed, but the light grey construction adhesive seems to be holding up ok. It makes the button more visible, too.

I use a Fireboard 2 Pro with thermocouple probes and a BBQ Guru Pit Viper fan. It has worked well for me. I like the large display that can be read from a distance. The the BBQ Guru fans are the only ones that fit the KK's fan port, as far as I am aware. My main gripe is that the on-unit control buttons are both hard to see and feel.

You don't have to worry about any biological contamination.

What temp are you cooking it to, and over how long of a time? I would expect that your restarted cook would be enough to eliminate any pathogens.

I have made pandoro a couple of times, but my wife doesn't like listening to the mixer for an hour while I incorporate the butter.

Actually, I like using the FireBoard, mainly for the logs I can get that show the interplay between all the temperatures. Today I used it without the fan just to see what effects the vent controls were having. Different stokes, I guess...

As one of the klutzes using a FireBoard, I haven't experienced the kind of problems @Mcdddy describes. A few things to check: Do you have the open lid detect on or off? I find that it can be a little glitchy. On a low and slow, once the KK is well heat soaked, you don't really need it. If you are running the fan off the FireBoard battery, it will not run at 100% unless the FireBoard is freshly and fully charged. Even then it will start cutting the fan back before long. Plug the FireBoard into the AC charger, and it will then run at 100% as long as it needs to. Yep, another wire. Where is your pit probe? The closer it gets to your meat, the more the meat will cool the probe, resulting in the fan blowing more. If the probe has a line-of-sight path to burning fuel, it will pick up some radiant heat and the fan will blow less. It's just another thing to try to be consistent with. I use a Looftlighter to get 3 or 4 chunks of lump with spots glowing, then close the lid and let the KK and FireBoard do their thing. It usually takes an hour to get to temp, although I wouldn't say things are heat soaked until another hour after that.

My site had a non-uniform and slightly sloped surface surface, so I ended up making my own chock/levelers. Not terribly elegant, but they did the job.

The advent of wireless thermometers seems to have led to some new ideas about what is going on around food as it cooks. There is a body of thought that claims there is a cloud of cooler temperatures around the food as a result of internal moisture moving to the surface and evaporating. The effect is also said to be the mechanism that causes the stall in low & slow. It makes sense to me, and is consistent with my experience. The logging features of these new thermometers and controllers make for a lot of fun watching what is going on throughout the KK. @skoell is correct, things vary considerably while it is warming up. That pan of handsome potatoes probably had some effect as well.

The shape looks like a shamrock to me.

@dstr8Nice work with the lame.

I have a Fourneau, which ships with a perforated silicone mat to bake on. Might be an option to the parchment.

I have a couple of Combustion probes, and I have been having all kinds of geek fun with them.

I am of the opinion that the dough contains all the moisture it needs for the bake, as long as you can keep it in the vicinity of the loaf. To that end, I have had good success with simply placing a preheated metal bowl over the loaf on a sheet pan or even just a piece of parchment paper on the oven rack. It's a lot easier to handle than hot cast iron and seems to get the same result.

While I am not keen on the wires, I really love being able to collect a log of what went on in the cooker. I have really learned a lot. Plus, the zen of KK temperature control still eludes me.

My assumption is that the purpose of the levain is to increase the amount of active yeast so that there will be enough activity to rise the final dough faster than the gases can leak out. So it would depend how much active starter you had on hand. Of course, many of my assumptions have turned out to be incorrect.

My current starter is between 9 and 12 years old. I only bake about once a week, so I keep it in the fridge and refresh it every 4 days or so. I have been using a firm starter-it's more like dough than batter-and its pretty well risen when I use it.

@C6Bill Your formula yields a handsome and tasty loaf, but alas, the tang still eludes me . . .

How about "What is the ratio of water to flour in your starter?"

@C6Bill Thanks! I try it the next go round and report back. What hydration is your starter?

I have been trying for 50 years to get an any kind of tangy loaf. How is it done?

When using a temp controller for low & slow, my practice is to gradually limit the fan speed (or time on) percentage as the temperature gets to about 150°F, and I know the fire is going. Once the fire gets to my target temp (say 225°F), I'll have it down to 5%. This keeps the controller from getting too much fuel burning, which seems to contribute to spikes early on. I also leave the grates out until the temperature hits the target, then put them in for the heat soak time.

I have used the Duro/Loctite Extend product with good success.