Forgive the question if it's already here someplace. I haven't baked fresh bread in 20+ years and crave your indulgence. I'm  housesitting some property for a relative until it is sold and have found an unused, brand new "Rumtorf"' (spelling) clay cooker in the medium size. After reading the instructions ( it says to soak in water for 1/2 hour prior to use and put into a cold oven) for poultry / meat my question is would this be adaptable for baking a loaf  and if anyone has experience with it can you give your insight. Would you still soak it in water? The idea with that is that the steam keeps the meat from drying out. To adapt for bread would you preheat it in the oven dry and then place the raised dough in it? Thanks in advance for your input.--Mary

Hi,

I am a German expat living in south-east England with a craving for good bread.

After some unpleasant experiments with hi-yeast breads I found Andrew Whitley's book Bread Matters,

which helped to turn things around (I especially like his simple breads based on liquid rye starter).

Through this forum I found out about the books by Peter Reinhardt and Richard Bertinet,

which gave my bread production another kick.

Personally I am most interested in sourdoughs, although my family love their plain white loaf for breakfast.

Now to the clay pot:

In a local pottery I found clay pots called "Panayoti pots".

The little information they could give me was:

"Named after their Greek originator. These charming pots were filled with bread dough and placed in the sun.
When the oyster-like lid opened, the dough was ready"

Has anyone heard of them, or even used them? Are there any recepies?

Looking forward to your replies,
Juergen

I just inhereted a 30 year old hardly used clay pot bakeware (unglazed) make by Romertopf, model 110 with inside dimension of 9.5" x 6.5" x 3", with a domed top of the same dimension that would allow 6" in height - looks perfect for a 1.5 lb loaf.  Instructions require 15 minutes of soaking in water to allow the pores to soak up the water.  Place item in cold oven, bring up to heat.

Has anyone made bread in one of these?  I would think the bread would have to rise on parchement placed in a similar shape vessle and then lift and place into the pot, cover, and bring oven up to temp.  Remove cover after 20-25 min (instead of 15 given cold start?) and finish from there?

Any thoughts or experiences would be welcome!!  I've made nice loaves using a cast iron dutch oven removing lid after 15 minutes, and in the long run, that may be easier.  But I have to try it.

Thanks!!

Ready in 3 1/2 hours?  (Make it longer if you wish, use 1/2 teaspoon of yeast, add salt & caraway and use cold water to make it rise slower.)

Wheat shaped form ... White Bread   crusty

• 450g hot water (you can just manage to keep a finger in it)
• 7g instant yeast
• 650 g Wheat flour (250g AP, 400g Bread flour)
• 1 1/2  to 2 teaspoons table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground caraway
• olive oil for bowl & form

Pour hot water into a large 2.5 ltr. mixer bowl and sprinkle with yeast.  Add the flours and stir until all the flour is moistened and a shaggy dough has formed.  Cover and let stand 2 hours or until the dough has risen up to the cover.  Remove cover and scrape out dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Sprinkle with the salt and caraway.  Fold or roll up the dough and knead to blend for about two minutes.  Shape into a tight ball and cover with the bowl.

Soak top and bottom of a Clay form (total volume 2 liters) 10 min in warm water.  Allow to drip dry and surface water to absorb, one minute.  Smear inside with olive oil.  Re-shape and tighten dough to form a loaf.  Rub with oil and place into bottom form.   Oil the inside of cover and place over dough.  Set in cold oven for 15 minutes.   Turn on oven to 225°c  (440°F) on Hot air (convection) and time for 45 minutes.   Remove form and brown loaf another 5 minutes in hot oven on rack.   Cool on rack for 15 minutes and serve warm with bread knife on cutting board. 

I was given this form for Christmas without any instructions.  As you can see the ingredients add up to just over a kilo of dough, about the right amount to fill this two liter volume form.  The loaf crust is very crunchy and thick.  The crumb slightly chewy and tender.  I removed the top for the last 5 minutes of baking but wished I had removed the whole form to let the bottom brown more as well.   Slices are almost round and crumb is fine.  The oil in the form adds to an almost buttery flaky crust.   This loaf was sliced warm.

Mini

Hi Everyone:  

After lurking on this site for a week or two, I've decided it's time to get involved.    There's so much great information here!!

I've been baking for over 35 years.   Especially love the challenge of baking bread; sourdough is my favorite!    Guess you can say I'm a sourdough puriest . . . I shy away from sourdough recipes that add commercial yeast.  

I have a couple challenges with my baking . . . during the summer months we spend our time at our home in the mountains of Arizona where the air is VERY dry.   Baking at altitude (6,700 feet) certainly brings on it's own challenges too.   In the winter months we're on our sailboat on the west coast of Mexico, so my bread baking challenges are different there!

In addition to sourdough, I've gotten involved in the NKB . . . especially like the Cook's Illustrated Almost No-Knread 2.0; which works great while we're on the boat.     I've been baking in a cast-aluminum dutch oven on the boat, and a cast-iron here at home.  Today, I'm giving to try baking NKB in my Romertopf clay pot, have yet to decide if I'm going to use the whole pot or just the lid over a pizza stone.

Hi. I'm a new member. I've read previous posts on using clay pots, but thought I'd ask for the most recent advice. I've been making hearth breads using a thick pizza stone, and introducing steam via a preheated cast iron skillet and ice (Rose Levy Beranbaum's method). I keep reading that a cloche makes superior bread, and I already have a large Romertopf that was previously unused. Per instructions regarding the clay pot, I made my last batch letting the dough rise in the bottom half of the pot, then soaked the top half prior to putting it in a cold oven.