I wanted to see what difference it would make to bake loaves from the same dough, one in a preheated oven and one starting off in a cold oven. In a previous post I mentioned that I had tried the cold oven technique using a cast iron pot. The resulting bread had a very light, shattery-type crust. It was an unusual loaf for me, but then again, the circumstances were not usual. We were at our cabin and I had no scale, no mixer, no sourdough.

Back home, I took advantage of my 1960 double oven to put the hot v. cold oven to the test. Because one oven is smaller, I used an oval Le Crueset for the loaf I started in a cold oven and a round Le Crueset for the loaf I started in an hour-preheated 500 degree oven (the pot was preheated too). I baked both until 205 degrees internal.

Cold/hot oven (hey it's a 50 yo stove)

A cold oven is supposed to produce a good oven spring but that didn't happen here. The cold oven loaf collapsed where scored. I've never had a loaf collapse on me before so I suspect it was the cold oven.  I don't think it was because of overproofing. After shaping, I only proofed it 35 minutes because I'd heard it was best to underproof if using a cold oven. I scored it about a 1/2 inch--same as the round loaf.

As As you can tell, the crumb is very open. The bottom crust is burnt.

The round loaf came out looking better. Decent oven spring. The crumb was more regular (not necessarily a plus) than the oval loaf--but that may be because of the shaping process.

Still and all, these loaves were pretty darn similar. Taste was the same. Both had a nicely carmelized, crispy/chewey crust. I'll probably keep playing with the cold oven technique (esp this summer), but if I'm baking for company, I'll stick with the more reliable hot oven method.

The next mystery I need to resolve is how I got that shattery/light crust in the loaf I made at the cabin. Any thoughts??

And now, I better clean the oven!

I was re-reading Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery and discovered the passage in whiich she describes the author Virginia Woollf's technique for making a cottage loaf. That sounded like fun, so I decided to give it a try, and was very pleased with the outcome. I blogged about it here.

Here's the loaf just after removing the cloche.

And here it is after final browning.

I'm very pleased with both cold-start and cloche techniques, and will continue to use them. Of course, I quickly discovered that they are old news here!

Jeremy

The first time I baked a no-knead loaf in a cold oven, it came out perfect. It was made with bread flour. I don't remember if I greased the pan, or what the oven temp was.

The next 3 loaves have stuck big time. They were -

whole meal spelt, greased with butter, baked in corningware

bread flour, greased with butter, baked in pyrex

multigrain, greased with safflower oil, baked in stainless dutch oven

I decided to give serious study to my good bread books, and Laurel's floated to the top.

My favored place for proofing is in my gas oven, which I turn on until it just barely registers a temperature rise; then I turn on the oven light, and it maintains a temperature of 80-90 degrees.  Of course, I don't do this when I want a slow rise, but my kitchen is typically 60-65 degrees, so this is great for the final rise or when I'm in a hurry.

I've read a few references to baking the NYT no knead bread in bread tins, and also to starting the bake from a cold oven.  Would the rather enclosed shape of a traditional loaf pan work this way?  I'd love to save some hot oven time, and a more sandwich friendly shape would be welcome at times.