Smoked Pot Roast and Sourdough Bread


 
Cliff Bartlett

Cliff Bartlett

R.I.P. 5/17/2021
Decided to do a smoked pot roast last night. To go along with it, I took my crack at sourdough French bread using the recipes Bill provided earlier in the week. The recipe for the pot roast is from Malcom Reed and came out quite good.

Here is the roast. Next time I'll go a little smaller. More on that later.



Seasoned with an all purpose rub and then a light coat of Montreal Steak Seasoning.



The recipe I was using was cooked on a UDS. I chose to cook mine on my 22 WSM, set up similar to a UDS, just charcoal basket and top rack of smoker. Cooked seasoned roast on top rack for about an hour, 30 minutes on each side, giving it a light sear and soaking up some pecan wood smoke in the process.





After the "searing", I prepared the braising liquid for the next step. Here is what I used.



Dissolved the beef base in about 48 oz. warm water. Also added a cup of red wine. Sprinkled one packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix over the top. Covered aluminum pan tightly with foil and put it back on the smoker for around 1 1/2 hours. By the way, I ran the smoker at a steady 250 for this entire cook.



Got some veggies ready during this step.



Pulled and added the veggies to the pan. Re-covered the pan and cooked for about 2 1/2 more hours.





I went to work on my bread. Actually this first shot was taken first thing in the morning. I got my dough prepared and let it rise for about 9 hours. I'd been working on the starter since last Sunday, right after looking at Bill's first SD post.



Continued...
 
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Cooked the bread in my small dutch oven at 500 degrees for 20 minutes. Pulled the lid.



Cooked another 20 minutes without lid. Let bread cool on rack.



Pulled pot roast after nearly 5 1/2 hours.



Sliced the bread. It was amazing.



Plate.



The roast was delicious but the bread was amazing. My wife and I ate nearly half the loaf. I mentioned earlier that next time I'd get a smaller roast. This one was 4.2 lbs. It was very thick and I had to extend the cook time for nearly an hour and a half. The meat was delicious, probably the best flavor I'd ever achieved. The meat however did not have that fall apart texture I associate with pot roast. It was tender and moist however and well worth the effort. I would have liked to let it simmer for another hour but just ran out of time. Thank you Bill for the heads up on the fantastic bread recipes and thanks everyone else for looking!
 
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this is just amazing. absolutely the kind of thing we love to cook. awesome, thanks for sharing.. :cool:
 
That cook is as good as it gets and the < $3.50 a LBS is the icing on the cake. Nicely done Cliff, Nicely done!
 
Cliff, you and Bill almost make me want to try making bread...almost.
Your pot roast looks real good - did it still have a smokey flavor?
 
Nice job!

With the weather we've been having in Nor Cal lately, pot roasts must be on a lot of people's minds. I did one yesterday though it wasn't on the grill. I did a 3.25 lb pork shoulder roast in the slow cooker. Turned out really good. Will have to do one on the Performer though. That sounds even better :)
 
A Master class in cooking, love the recipe and I know all too well that ran out of time/tender situation. The Bread looks great my friend so glad you enjoyed it.

On another note, let me give you a heads up on sourdough stater cause after doing some research I found one of the problems I am having is in not letting my starter mature to full potency. Do not put it in the fridge for the first couple of weeks at least. Feed it about 1/3 cup of flour (whichever you are using) and about 1/4 cup of water everyday during this time. Mix it well. Every other day or so take out about half of what you have and dispose of it, make pancakes with it or whatever you want to do with it. Feed it, mix it and let it double in size and do the same thing again. Each time you do this you concentrate the yeast in the starter and it gets more leavening power. After a few weeks it is very strong and concentrated.
Then when you think it is strong and bubbly enough take a small spoon full and drop it in some luke warm water. If it generally floats it is ready, if it sinks to the bottom it has not gotten to the potency you need to make outstanding sourdough bread.
Mine has been put in the fridge between making breads and I retarded the performance of my now two week+ old starter. I started rectifying that today.
Live and learn, good luck to you hope you keep it up. I am not going to stop till I get that perfect loaf I want.
 
Thank you everyone!

Brian Dahl said:
Cliff, you and Bill almost make me want to try making bread...almost.
Your pot roast looks real good - did it still have a smokey flavor?
Click to expand...

Still had very good smoky flavor Brian. Actually, I was a little concerned as I had to throttle down the top vent too to maintain my 250. Thought I might OD it on smoke that first hour and a half. My wife made sandwiches for us this afternoon and the smokiness was fine.

Bill Schultz said:
A Master class in cooking, love the recipe and I know all too well that ran out of time/tender situation. The Bread looks great my friend so glad you enjoyed it.

On another note, let me give you a heads up on sourdough stater cause after doing some research I found one of the problems I am having is in not letting my starter mature to full potency. Do not put it in the fridge for the first couple of weeks at least. Feed it about 1/3 cup of flour (whichever you are using) and about 1/4 cup of water everyday during this time. Mix it well. Every other day or so take out about half of what you have and dispose of it, make pancakes with it or whatever you want to do with it. Feed it, mix it and let it double in size and do the same thing again. Each time you do this you concentrate the yeast in the starter and it gets more leavening power. After a few weeks it is very strong and concentrated.
Then when you think it is strong and bubbly enough take a small spoon full and drop it in some luke warm water. If it generally floats it is ready, if it sinks to the bottom it has not gotten to the potency you need to make outstanding sourdough bread.
Mine has been put in the fridge between making breads and I retarded the performance of my now two week+ old starter. I started rectifying that today.
Live and learn, good luck to you hope you keep it up. I am not going to stop till I get that perfect loaf I want.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the starter Bill. I will give that a try. Actually I have a second starter working right now (same recipe as this one) as I wanted a back up in the event the first one didn't take. I'll combine the two now and do as you suggested. Also have a whole wheat starter going as well that should be ready on Tuesday. One problem I do face is we keep a relatively cool house and heat primarily with wood. We had astronomical utility bills through the summer staying cool and am trying to conserve on the propane heat. Might have to alter that a little for the next few loaves! The things we do for our hobby!
 
Cliff that is the most amazing cook I've seen in a while. Great selection on vegetables. I'm not allowed bread on my diet but I was drooling over that sourdough bread. Well I can't help it I'm going to have to duplicate this cook. Babygirl says job well done!!
 
Cliff Bartlett said:
Thank you everyone!



Still had very good smoky flavor Brian. Actually, I was a little concerned as I had to throttle down the top vent too to maintain my 250. Thought I might OD it on smoke that first hour and a half. My wife made sandwiches for us this afternoon and the smokiness was fine.





Thanks for the tip on the starter Bill. I will give that a try. Actually I have a second starter working right now (same recipe as this one) as I wanted a back up in the event the first one didn't take. I'll combine the two now and do as you suggested. Also have a whole wheat starter going as well that should be ready on Tuesday. One problem I do face is we keep a relatively cool house and heat primarily with wood. We had astronomical utility bills through the summer staying cool and am trying to conserve on the propane heat. Might have to alter that a little for the next few loaves! The things we do for our hobby!
Click to expand...


Put it in your house oven and turn on the light
 
Bill Schultz said:
Put it in your house oven and turn on the light
Click to expand...

Great idea. Will definitely do that. I did what the Samfield video suggested, that being to heat oven for three minutes and turn off, and place dough in oven to rise. The light seems to be a more consistent warmth for a long period it time.
 
Cliff that was absolutely fantastic. Everything looks so yummy and that bread is to die for.
 
Great looking SD and pot roast Cliff, that's one of our favorites. Really like your choice of veggies and I've also learned about those large chuck roasts almost like cooking pulled pork, the cook never ends.
I'm going to see if Barb wants to jump on the sourdough, she's the baker and much better at it then me.
 
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