The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Baking 4 Loaves

hydestone's picture
hydestone

Baking 4 Loaves

Hi All:

I am baking 4 loaves of SD and trying to shorten the tone it takes to bake them all.  I’ve been going 25 in Dutch oven, then finishing on the rack, while the next load is in the Dutch oven.  The crust is coming out a little thick on the rack.

Does the crust get thicker on the rack or inside the Dutch oven?

Also, just realized I had the oven at 525...so dropped that to 450. 


Wondering if next time, I should load them 2 at a time onto the the baking steel and add steam, instead of using DO. 

How are people queuing up multiple loaves?

Ilya Flyamer's picture
Ilya Flyamer

I bake two at a time on steel, it works well. Add steam. It's better to rotate them during non-steam part of the bake, when I forget to do it often two opposite sides of the loafs don't get as nice crust as others.

I bake on paper, and my bread bottom doesn't get scorched, but others have had that problem. You can try inserting a cookie sheet or a baking tray below the steel to insulate a bit.