February 9, 2017 - 7:12am
Terracotta bread loaf pan baker into a hot or cold oven?
Hi
I am getting quite confused by the information available from the two main terracotta bread form manufacturers! Neither are specific in regard to whether one can put a ready to bake bread baker with risen dough into a hot oven. Just been told by customer service at one of them to put it into a cold oven and let it heat up to baking temp, but then how long should that take to bake. They said otherwise the pan will crack. Can anyone that bakes with one tell me please. I would think a room temp proofed pan would not crack but !? I understand the seasoning of the pan etc
Regards
Richard
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I've never tried to put my terracotta baker straight into a hot oven, but I would advise against it if you're working with a really hot oven, like you would be for an artisan-style loaf.
I always heat up the baker, empty, in the oven for a half hour or more, as the oven gets up to 500. Then (carefully!) throw the proofed loaf directly into the hot baker and cover. I like the results from the terracotta more than the Dutch oven method.
I'm not an expert myself, but I hope that helps!
thanks lizzy I'll give that a try,my first bake stuck in the baker so I'll try with parchment next time
I did my first bake in a clay cooker yesterday by doing a final proof in the bottom of my cooker lined with parchment, mine is not glazed and thought it would be better so the loaf would not stick. I preheated the oven with my baking stone inside to 500F I soaked the top for 30 minutes and the bottom for 15 making sure the water was just shy of the lip of bottom. I placed the cooker on my stone and followed the instructions for baking. I saw a post here somewhere on the forum from a baker that did the same with no problems and gave me the idea to do the same. I was pleased with the final product. My bake time was 20 minutes at 500F with top on. then turned down to 450F for 10 minutes with lid on, and then took the lid off for 20 minutes or till internal temperature was 200F. My cooker held up just fine, but if you look around the forum there are many ways bakers use their cookers from a preheat to a cold oven,this worked for me and I'm sticking with it.
I have one of these:
http://sassafrasstore.com/superstone-covered-baker/
LOVE IT! This particular baker seems to be happy with 1000-1100 grams of dough, so that is my dough goal. This system is very effective for me and has been pretty foolproof:
1. Do your sourdough as normal.
2. 45 minutes from when you expect the loaf to be proofed, place the baker, lid and bottom separate, into the oven at 450 F. (I final proof on a towel inside a 13x9 glass pan, lengthwise, which is perfect for the oblong baker)
3. When the dough is ready, I pull out the baker onto a few oven mitts, gently roll the dough into the baker, slice the top, put on the lid and into the oven.for 15-20 minutes (not always EXACTLY the same)
4. Take off the lid and bake til the color looks good (use an insta-read thermometer for internal temp if not sure)
5. Oven OFF, bread out, bread back onto the over rack with the door open for an hour of cooling (not essential, but it does make a crispier crust).
So, I use no water, mist, steam, etc... and keep the oven at 450 the entire time. I preheat the baker. My results have been excellent!
i have a romertopf unglazed terracotta clay baker. i soak the top & bottom of the clay baker for 15 minutes prior to use. i place the nearly proofed bread in the baker on parchment paper & place in a cold oven and heat the oven to the desired baking temp. i usually remove the lid ~ 10-15 minutes before the end of the bake time in order to finish browning the bread. i sometimes need to add an additional 10 minutes over recipe time. it depends on how the bread looks and the internal bread temp; usually 205-210 dF for my breads.
try googling romertopf clay baker for additional instructions, info & recipes.
Hope this helps,
claudia