June 15, 2020 - 4:59pm
small Dutch Oven for countertop oven
Does anybody know of a small baking vessel for a countertop oven?
I don't have access to an oven for the next 2 months, just my Breville compact smart oven. The inside is only 12x10x4.25", much too small for my trusty Lodge 3.2 combo cooker. I don't think most 2 qt dutch ovens (Le Creuset, Lodge, etc.) will fit inside because of the handle on top. In my quest for crust, I tried an inverted mixing bowl but it's awkward and tight.
Any suggestions, or should I just stick to panned loafs for now? That works ok, though you need to put a little foil on top to get the top of the bread from cooking too quickly near heating elements. Any suggestion of things to bake are welcome.
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Oven height is going to be the problem. 4.25” doesn’t give much height for the loaf much less the DO. Perhaps try clay/earthen ware rather than cast iron. I bake rolls in Korean “dolsot” clay pots. There are various sizes and widths. They can handle well over 500 F easily and retains heat fairly well. I Usually flip them upside down on a stone as their lids usually have some height to them and aren’t stable as a base. You can even heat them up on the stove first to speed things up.
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I have a set of square baking pans that fit lip-to-lip and 3 1/4" high. Practical. Happen to be the width of my mini oven fitting into the shelf slots. Hot air circulated front and back.
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one can also use just one pan upside down on top shelf to shield dough from elements ( like foil) and remove during the bake. The bumps on the pan edges make for a good fit.
I find with the small (tiny) ovens, one doesn't need to trap steam like a DO. The oven is the DO. It's just a matter of avoiding too close contact with the heating elements. Pullman pan?
Hi Glenn
What size is your lodge DO? Thanks
cc
When I first started bread baking 15 years ago, I was wedded to my dutch ovens, but the bread was impossible to slice uniformly for sandwiches so I switched to Lodge cast iron loaf pans about 8 years ago. Then I got a Breville as a birthday present. Lo and behold you can fit two Lodge cast iron loaf pans in the Breville. That's what I've been doing ever since. I can slice my bread and eat it too.
Thanks everyone, for the suggestions! I agree that the first thing to try is cooking without a DO and see how the crust comes out. If it's inadequate, I like the idea of stacking two pans, or possibly removing the handle on a smaller DO.
I tried baking a sourdough batard in the countertop oven without a DO. From the outside, it's a little ugly: there's some burning on top from the heater (which I mitigated w/ tin foil), the scoring didn't open up (which might explain the blowout on the side), and the crust is quite dull.
But the inside is perfectly fine, with a decently open crumb. It tasted delicious! And the crust looks fine when sliced into a sandwich.
So I'd say the countertop oven won't win any Instagram likes, but it is perfectly adequate for baking good bread even without a loaf pan. If I were going to use this for a long time, I'd probably still search for a baking vessel. But I can do without for now.
The side blowout seems to be a typical thing with toaster ovens and convection ovens, based on seeing so many reports/photos here on TFL.
The top crust sets/hardens too soon, so the bread expands out the side or bottom.
The thing that usually resolves it is not using top (broiler) heating element during the first 10 to 15 minutes of the bake. ( Using the broiler element during warmup would be fine.)
How long to use the top heating element is up to you, depending how long it takes to get the browning that you want.
Using convection/fan usually requires a reduction in temp, for a "net" consistent bake. Some ovens automatically do that for you without telling you, so check the manual to see if your oven does that.
My toaster oven is "dumb", meaning I have to manually set it to use upper, lower, or both heating elements. And there's no convection fan. I don't know how your particular model works in controlling that.
Bon appétit.
Anyone ever try to bake in a dutch oven on a stove top? I've been thinking about this and doing some temp tests. i think it would work to do stove top dutch oven for 20 minutes and then finish in a toaster oven for 20-30 minutes.
my plan is to super heat the dutch oven top and bottom on stove top to 500 degrees. drop in my dough on parchment into the deep side and cover. the deep side will retain/distribute more around the sides of the dough. i'll turn the fire to low and monitor with laser gun to make sure the bottom doesnt get above 475. meanwhile, i'll preheat my little toaster oven to 475. 20 minutes later, take bread out of dutch oven and put into toaster to finish.
i think the only issue is that top of the DO could cool quickly. maybe i can heat a skillet and lay on top of it after 5 minutes.
what do you think? i'll give this a try in the next day or two.
I saw that on youtube. The guy used a skillet sized to the dutch oven, with the DO on top, so the direct heat went to the walls, not the bottom. but he had to flip the loaf over part way through.
here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5LuVPUmLddw
and others here: https://youtube.com/results?search_query=bread+on+stove+top
Right...but i mean with the nice scoring and open crumb instead of fried bread with flat top and bottom which is what i see on youtube. something like what a proper loaf would like like if we did it in oven with steam. i'll give it a go and report back.
I don't remember if that guy preheated the D.O. and the lid.
It's too easy to overheat something on the stovetop. You want 500 degree F for bread, but a stovetop burner can go much higher. But the lid would not get that hot. You might have to pre-heat the lid in the toaster oven.
you guys going to love this. i did my experiment with dutch oven on counter top and finish in toaster oven. great success. I'll post to a new thread and link from here.
Here it is:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64722/toaster-oven-sourdough-big-success
I've had a good amount of luck using ciabatta's stovetop method (see above) for large batards.
But I also wanted to try (demi) baguettes. My idea: make a dome over the Breville baking pan using two pieces of foil. Here are the results:
Honestly, they were the best baguettes I've every made, though that's not exactly saying anything. My other tips (besides the foil):
Still learning how to shape and score these things properly, but that's a different topic!
How about THIS? It's only 2-1/2 qt capacity!!
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Sure its for baking? I'm in love with the style and color and it is beautiful.
Have you baked in it? The base looks larger than the opening and may present a challenge removing a well risen loaf.
I made some mac & cheese in it.
I suppose it really depends on what you are trying to achieve.
If the goal is to trap steam and/or shield the bread from the (drying, quickly-browning) effects of the convection fan then honestly your simplest options is going to be a baking tray with a cake tin on top.
You said you tried a mixing bowl but it was awkward - a cake tin should be much easier as the sides are straight, giving you far better grip to lift it off.
As a bonus, cake tins come in every size you could want, including rectangular and oval, for a (small!) batard shape - and they are comparatively thin so won't waste much space.
Here, for example, is one exactly the correct size:
https://www.cakecraftshop.co.uk/shop/products/Invicta--12-Inch-x-10-Inch-Oval-Shaped-Cake-Tin.htm
Now, whether that will fit (i.e. if the inner measurements allow a vessel 12x10" or whether that's the actual inner dimensions is a something for you to check).
Going simpler, a 9" round x 4" high cake tin would fit, too.
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