You undoubtedly already had plans about what you wanted to make when you decided to buy a Big Green Egg. But don’t forget about delicious homemade bread, sweet and savoury pies and pastries or delicious oven-baked desserts. Because these dishes can all be prepared in your Big Green Egg using the indirect baking technique. We explain in this blog why this kamado is the ideal convection oven and how you can get started baking in your EGG.
Pizza and tarte flambée baked on the Big Green Egg are extremely popular among EGGers. The crust doesn’t get very nice and crispy in a regular oven and of course, you don’t get that delicious, subtle smoky flavour. So there’s no better reason to ignite the charcoal in your kamado: it’s simply the perfect oven.
The unique ceramic and the shape of the Big Green Egg play an important role. The ceramic retains the heat well and also partially bounces it back. And the shape of the Big Green Egg creates a unique airflow inside the EGG. This enables even heat distribution and perfect cooking of both the bottom and top of your ingredient.
Charcoal-fired convection oven
Because the radiant heat from the charcoal is very intense, place the convEGGtor under the grid in order to convert your Big Green Egg into an oven. This heat shield ensures that no direct heat radiates towards the grid and your ingredient, while the airflow turns the Big Green Egg into a charcoal-fired convection oven in which the heat radiates indirectly to your ingredient. The Baking Stone can also be placed on the stainless steel grid to bake pizza, pastries and desserts. The purpose of the Baking Stone, also called pizza stone, depends on what you are going to bake. You can use a cold Baking Stone or a preheated Baking Stone when baking.
Should the pizza stone be preheated or not?
The Baking Stone serves as a ‘floor’ for pizza and tarte flambée. In this case, your Big Green Egg is converted into a stone oven, so that the crust of your pizza or tarte flambée becomes nice and crispy. Pizza and tarte flambée are both baked briefly and at a fairly high temperature. To get that crisp crust, it is important that the Baking Stone is properly preheated, just like the floor of a stone oven. Therefore, place the stone on the grid while heating up your EGG so that the Baking Stone is nice and hot when you place the pizza or tarte flambée on it.
With bread and pastries such as cake, pie and desserts, the Baking Stone serves as an extra heat shield to prevent burning the underside of your creation. The Baking Stone is serving another function and therefore it is much more than a pizza stone. Bread and pastries generally require longer preparation time. Therefore, in general, when baking bread and pies, place a cold Baking Stone in the Big Green Egg when you place the cake or pie tin or your bread in the EGG. This way, the Baking Stone heats up slowly and provides extra protection so that the bottom of your cake or bread cooks gradually, without burning.
Baking on the pizza stone or in a baking tin
You can bake pizzas, tarte flambée and some breads, desserts and pastries directly on the Baking Stone. When the stone is hot, it is also recommended to use a pizza peel.
To prevent your dough from sticking to the stone and to the peel, you can lightly dust it with some cornmeal or flour. A piece of parchment paper also works very well. In that case, slide the peel under the parchment paper and you can let your creation slide onto the Baking Stone (and slide it off again).
Certain types of bread, desserts and pastries can be baked in a tin or ovenproof dish. Then you also usually place it on a cold Baking Stone. The metal tin or earthenware dish would otherwise heat up too quickly, again with the (unnecessary) risk of a burnt bottom.
Baking tins for the EGG
If you bake bread, pastries or dessert in a baking tin, you can use the baking tins that you already have at home. As they are not exposed to the direct radiant heat of the charcoal during baking, the baking tins will not be damaged. But have you ever thought of using the Cast Iron Skillet (Ø 36 cm), the Cast Iron Skillet Small (Ø 27 cm) or the lid of the round Green Dutch Oven (Ø 23 cm)? They are perfect for this purpose! Always grease your tin well or line it with parchment paper so that your bread, pastry or dessert does not stick to the tin. This way, you can bake like an accomplished home baker on your Big Green Egg!
If you want to get started right away, then we have selected a number of baking recipes for the Big Green Egg especially for you.
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