Hey there,

I'm a ceramic student who have chosen one of his favorite hobbies to make a project out of. Baking.

I've had enormous success with an old Römertopf I bought used, both for doing stews but especially baking.
The old Römertopf had some shortcomings though, it was really big, necessitating a rather large bread, or a half used space which is an energy waste I rarely tolerate.
I accidentally broke the lid by putting it on a wet tablecloth, thermal shock of the right kind will make it crack :s

Now I'm in the happy position that my school actually allows me to do a design for the home and I've chosen to do my own closed baking form.
I've decided on earthenware because It's supposedly less prone to cracking from thermal shock. Also to not glaze it as there doesn't 't seem be any point in doing so.
I could do stoneware or porcelain glazed but so far I've seen no evidence as to why that would be preferable. I would get a denser vitrified ceramic body out of it and have a hell of a time getting a glaze that really fitted the claybody just right. But if somebody know something I don't I'd happily hear about it.

I'm intending the baker to be slimmer and longer so that I might place 3 or 4 in the oven at the same time, side by side. I also don't want to make it as high, max 15cm. I'm inclined to make the top and bottom meet at the middle in order for the bread to be easier to get out and to support a more wet dough.

But I'm really keen to know what you people who usually use such a closed form have to say.
What you think would be better about the type you use, what bugs you, and so on.

Warm greetings from the Baltic sea.

Lauge

This has been a day of firsts.

• Actually started last night by making the sponge for my "Wayne Thomas's English Muffins" and leaving it in the fridge overnight for first time.
• Finished and cooked the muffins this morning, they look great.
• Decided to try the #111 Romertopf clay baker (that my wife scored at a local thrift shop a couple of days ago for $6 !!) for the first time so I made a simple white bread from a recipe on http://www.fantes.com/romertopf.html called One Perfect Loaf.
• This resulted in the first real "ear" I have managed to get (at least from one of the two slashes). I have started to slash with the double-edged razor on kabob stick thanks to this site. Some work still required.
• I decided all these firsts were worth my first blog post.

I hope this tastes as good as it looks. It was far and away the most oven spring I have had. As soon as the bread cools I'll get a crumb shot and then post the pics. I imagine some would say this should be a little darker. I agree, but the wife likes it this way for sandwiches. Also, I am baking this in an anemic gas oven on our boat. I followed the recipe as far as soak bottom, proof in bottom, soak top, place in COLD oven. After removing the top for the last 5 mins, I realized it was never going to brown (always a problem in this oven) so I stuck it in the microwave/convection on broil for a few minutes. I think next time I'll remove the top sooner, as it was still moist inside after 45 mins (at an attempted 450+).

Comments and suggestions always welcome. Love this site.

wayne

Hi,

I am just thinking of buying a "la cloche" or a similar clay bakeware to bake our bread. I have read many of the comments here on TFL and elsewhere, but now I am a little confused about how to use clay bakeware...

- some people  recommend to preheat the la Cloche in 500°F oven (for how long?) and some prefer to put it directly with the dough inside in the cold oven. Does it make a difference? Is there a method that is better for different kinds of bread - for example lower/ higher hydratation, no knead, sourdough, yeasted, sweet...?

- is it necessary to sink the bottom and the top into the water before baking?

- is it necessary to oil the dish or to use a parchment paper?

- what size of la cloche (or romertopf) is recommandable for a 1 1/2-pound loaf? or 2-pound loaf?

I will be very happy for explanation :-)

I tried making a no-knead loaf in a Romertopf clay baking pan today for the first time.  I sprinkled some cornmeal on the bottom of the pan and around the sides of the dough where I thought it might stick.

I plopped the dough into the pan, wet the inside of the cover, and put it all into a cold oven.  Baked for a while, then removed the lid to finish it.

The crust was nice and crisp, everything worked fine, BUT the loaf stuck to the bottom and sides, and I ruined it by prying to get it out.

How do you prevent sticking in this pan?  And how exactly are you soaking (or not) and preheating (or not) and baking?

(In the past I've used a heavy Dutch oven and sprinkled cornmeal, which worked great.)

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Alina

Find award-winning vegetarian and vegan recipes at my blog:

http://almostveganinparadise.wordpress.com

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.