Baguettes in Inverted Cast Iron Dish?
Hey everyone,
I'm new to this forum and to artisan bread baking and am trying to figure out the best way people have found to get the steam required to form a great baguette crust. I've made a few round loaves in my Dutch oven with great success and would love to duplicate that on a baguette.
The best way I can think of to duplicate that would be to bake the baguette on a stone and place an inverted long, narrow cast iron pan over the top of it for the first portion of the baking. I was thinking of something like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004EWLCUW/ref=aw_wl_ov_dp_1_5?colid=2DUS8S03TBO6&coliid=IB9IUMG0WCQF7&vs=1
Anyone have experience with something like this? If there's a better way to do this I'm totally open to suggestions. What's the best method you've found for baking a great baguette?
If you have a gas oven, covering your baguettes for the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the bake is probably the best way to get nice oven spring, bloom and crisp crust. However, you don't need the weight, expense or burn hazard of cast iron. An enameled metal turkey roaster would do. A disposable aluminum foil roasting pan (readily available before Thanksgiving, anyway) works just as well.
If you have an electric oven that retains steam well, covering is not necessary. You can just pour water in a pre-heated pan. The method I use is the following:
A cast iron skillet filled with lava rocks is pre-heated at 480-500dF for 45-60 minutes. Just before the bread is loaded into the oven, a perforated pie tin filled with ice cubes is placed on top of the lava rocks. This apparatus is usually removed when the bread starts to color, i.e., when the steamy environment is no longer desired. Opening the oven to remove the skillet, of course, also lets the steam escape.
This is the method of steaming a home oven recommended by the San Francisco Baking Institute, except they load the skillet with steel nuts and bolts rather than lava rocks.
I think I get pretty fair results with this method.
Happy baking!
David
Thanks, David! I just found a good use for my 15" cast iron skillet. Made some baguettes for the first time yesterday and they were pretty good. Great crunchy crust, decent flavor. My forming techniques need some work but I can't complain too much since it's my first time.
Baguette shaping really benefits from practice, but you are off to a great start.
David