DIY Projects - Experiential Learning Made Easy
DIY Projects, I discovered are another great way to learn and have fun.
I was asked to conduct a teachers' workshop on Scientific Approach at a school for a group of 20 teachers. As I started to toy around with the idea and browsing the Internet, I came across some videos on bread-making with commercial yeast. That was my first DIY project.
It was a failure. I did not prove the yeast correctly. The sticky dough had me worried and I added more flour to the dough to 'set it right'. Ultimately what came out of the oven was too salty and rock-hard.
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The concept of bread-making however, was too exciting to let the failure dissuade me. As I explored the Internet further, I discovered videos of baking bread without commercial yeast. The concept of the sourdough starter to bake artisan bread was very fascinating. That became my second DIY.
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Look for each of the DIYs on their specific pages
- Sourdough Starter - Would you like to get your own sourdough starter? Write to me here
- Portable Wood-fired Oven
- Sourdough bread
- Clay Oven
As I continued to explore the WWW, I discovered another interesting DIY - making a wood-fired oven. The possibilities were several. I could either make one of the many variations of clay-ovens or a portable one.
I decided to test out the portable one. I thought - 'if this works well, then my next DIY would be a clay one.' It was exciting to set out on this DIY. Here are some pictures of my dry-fit portable oven.
The inspiration for this came from Stu Silverstein's book and fantastic, inspiring and information packed blog - Breadhunter's Blog
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The picture above shows a dry-fit oven. It has no mortar. It was stabilized by angle and T-irons. Below the fire-brick layer is a layer of insulating bricks and below that is a layer of normal red-bricks.
In front of the oven opening is an iron pan to keep the oven warm and collect the hot coals. The rod leaning against the angle iron is a blow pipe and a stoker.
I baked some really
delicious cheese and tomato pizzas in this dry-fit oven.
My next DIY is a clay oven and then to bake a sourdough bread in it. Will let you know what happens.