Ditch The Oven For Homemade Bread - Try This High-Heat Method Instead

When making fresh homemade breads, we've become accustomed to experimentation, occasionally inching slowly away from traditionalist methods. But the process we're discussing here takes things pretty far outside sanctioned bread-baking circles. Thanks to tips from a modern professional bread maker, we're now venturing out of the kitchen and onto the patio. According to expert Nathan Myhrvold (he/him), founder of Modernist Cuisine and co-author of "Modernist Bread at Home," it's entirely possible to bake bread on an outdoor grill.

Whether you're craving traditional, artisan, flatbread, or no-knead bread, opportunities arise with this high-heat cooking method, ones that bring whiffs of smoky, crusty deliciousness to your dinner table. Acknowledging that gas, charcoal, and infrared grills don't typically come to mind when baking bread, Myhrvold holds firm that success is achievable with this approach. "Grills work well for pizza, naan (you can use a grill to mimic a tandoor), pita, focaccia, French lean doughs, and Sicilian pizza," he says, "and you can even bake a short-baguette-sized loaf of bread on a grill."

You'll ideally get the grill prepped and ready when the dough is about halfway through proofing, according to Myhrvold, using an infrared thermometer to gauge ember temps. "If you lit a charcoal grill, move the embers to one side of the grill once it has heated," he explains, "and leave the other side without embers. That will eliminate direct heat right below the dough, which could burn it. If you're using a gas or infrared grill, turn one side off."

Nathan Myhrvold suggests bringing the grill temperature to about 550 degrees Fahrenheit and prepping the grill grates with oil. "We like to dip a towel or an onion cut in half in oil (the onion won't flavor the bread), and grease the side of the grill where you'll place the dough for baking," he reveals. "Slide the dough onto the greased side of the grill, and close the lid, helping trap heat inside so that the dough will bake evenly." Then just check the dough every few minutes, as some breads take longer to cook than others. Rotate if needed, keeping an eye on grill hot spots.

If you're a fan of baking steels when grilling, by all means, go for it — especially if you're cooking flatbreads. "Preheat the steel when you are prepping your grill," Myhrvold recommends. "Grilling bread without a steel works, but using a steel can help prevent the bread from drooping down in between the grates."

Here's a hot tip from my own experience cooking pizza dough on outdoor grills in Italy: You can use a special "grill spatula" for cooking bread on sizzling-hot grates. It's a utensil with a giant, flat surface on one end and a very long handle, typically referred to as a pizza peel, paddle, or slider. But this handy grill accessory could come in handy when baking any type of bread outdoors. It can greatly reduce the chance of skin burns or hot breads tumbling to the ground.