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Dark pumpernickel, tried a cloche

Joe Fisher's picture
Joe Fisher

Dark pumpernickel, tried a cloche

My wife bought me a Pampered Chef set of stoneware a few weeks ago. I wanted to make some sourdough pumpernickel, so I thought it'd be a great time to try it out as a cloche. This is a dark pumpernickel with raisins, made with rye sourdough starter, molasses, coffee and cocoa powder. Yum!

 

I made two loaves. One I baked as I usually do, on a stone, spraying water into the oven. The other I baked in a cloche, putting the loaf in with the cloche cold and sticking it in a 450F oven.

 

Here's just before being slashed:


And here's what they looked like when done (left is baked on the stone, right in the cloche):

The cloche one looks darker, presumably because it stayed moister. The crust was *very* soft when I took the cover off after the bread interior reached 196F. I left it in the oven with the cover off for 5 more minutes, and that seemed to help a lot.  As you can see, they both sprang beautifully in the oven.  The cloche didn't seem to make a difference in that department.

 

I haven't opened either up yet, so I'll have some more pictures for you tomorrow!

 

-Joe

qahtan's picture
qahtan

 

 Joe. Nice looking cloche but is the inside glazed?

                        qahtan 

 

Joe Fisher's picture
Joe Fisher

No, it's bare stoneware.

 

-Joe 

qahtan's picture
qahtan

 

 

 I should have also said nice looking pumpernickel,  which it is.

 I have never made pumpernickel, I should maybe try it some time.

                qahtan

Joe Fisher's picture
Joe Fisher

Thanks :) This recipe is very rich. The bread is dense, moist, and very flavorful. It comes from Bread Alone.

 

-Joe

rmk129's picture
rmk129

By pure coincidence, I also started making this exact loaf (from Bread Alone) a couple of days ago...I finally finished baking the loaves this afternoon and cut into one of them tonight. YUMMY!!!! I must admit that mine don't look as pretty as yours (one had a major lopsided "blow-out"), but they had quite the oven spring and really are dense, moist and flavourful! I think that a piece of cheese with a slice of this bread will be a meal in itself!!!