July 1, 2018 - 2:13pm
Question about baking in a dutch oven
All the recipes I see for SD here, and most everywhere else, call for the use of a cast iron combo cooker, which I don't have and definitely can't afford to buy right now. I might manage one as a birthday present or for Xmas, but so far I've just used my baking stone and a pan of water and gotten pretty good results, but I'm wondering if my MIL's cast iron and enamel dutch oven would be an acceptable substitute for the combo cooker for now? I'm not sure if the fact you can put the skillet on the bottom and use the dutch oven as the lid in a combo cooker is vitally important, or if it will be fine to have the bread in the deep dutch oven with the lid on top.
Thanks,
Jay in Sacramento
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you can do it either way and you will be amazed at the result. I always try to find an alternative before I buy an expensive item. Combo cookers are very expensive here. I retrieved by old enamel steel roaster from hubby’s workshop, gave it a thorough cleanup and have been using it for about 3years - brilliant!
so have try. Others have mentioned graniteware as being very good too but I haven’t tried that.
Happy baking Jay
Leslie
Thanks for the input! I'll give my dutch oven a try.
One thing to consider--will the knob on the lid withstand high temperatures? If it is some sort of plastic, odds on it can't take the heat, but if you do have a non-metal/cast iron knob, There are others here who can tell you of alternatives. To be truthful, I'm not much help on recipe or technique matters, but I do know a few useful things. (Someday I hope to achieve beginner baker status--but I've made plenty of flour based bricks!)
Yeah, it's enameled cast iron with a stainless steel handle. I'm going to give it a try with Wednesday's bake.
You do not need a special pan for baking sourdough! You can bake in a regular loaf pan, or as a boule, or bataqrd, or baton. Use an uncovered broiler pan with boiling water in the bottom of the oven for steam during the start of baking. Bake sourdough just as you would bake yeast dough! I do!
Ford
Yeah, that's the way I've been doing it so far, though with a cheap aluminum tray instead. I've just been wondering if there is something truly miraculous about the combo cooker and if my dutch oven could recreate it. So I'm going to give it a try for one of my Wednesday loaves, I think, and do the second one the way I always do. Thanks for the input!
Oh yes, an enameled Dutch oven works just fine. I have several cast iron pots (smaller than Dutch ovens, about 3 quarts), both enameled and not, and bake with them regularly.
I've also baked pan breads (100% rye, usually) in regular bread pans covered with steam table inserts (from a local restaurant supply store, used), or in a mini oven in a small cast iron frying pan, covered with a steel bowl.
When on vacation once, I baked a loaf on a baking sheet, covered by a Pyrex bowl, with quite hilarious results (the loaf expanded to fill the entire bowl, and I couldn't get it off for the last part of the bake!)
If you have a baking stone you should be able to cover the loaves with a deep roasting pan or lid (easier to remove with a handle on top) or even a heavy foil roasting pan. Lots of things to try! And all easier than using a steam pan (though I do that all the time).
That last is hilarious, and also I have profound envy for the size of your oven. I will try the DO this outing and then possibly some of those other varieties for comparison and see which one works best/easiest for me. It's nice to know there are many possibilities for success.