March 24, 2009 - 12:22pm
Covering SD Loaf with Turkey Roaster
I'm getting ready to bake a loaf of SD bread and want to try baking it under a turkey roaster instead of steaming. I understand that I need to remove the roaster after about 15 minutes, but it isn't clear if I need to preheat the roaster on the stone first. Can someone advise me? Thanks, in advance.
--Pamela
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Hi, Pamela.
Cover the loaves for the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the bake, but I wouldn't cover for more than 15 minutes. If you cover longer, your crust will be lighter colored and super shiney. I think this is because more starch gelatinizes and sort of glazes the loaf.
You don't need to pre-heat the cover in the oven. What I do is fill the cover with hot tap water to pre-heat it, then dump the water but don't dry the cover when you are ready to put it in the oven.
David
I chickened out for today, but I have another loaf ready to go for tomorrow. I'll fill the roaster with hot water, dump it and cover it for the first 15 minutes. Thanks for the advice, David. --Pamela
Hope you had some good food in SF--great looking pictures!
Out the Door (an offshoot of The Slanted Door), Tres Agaves, Osha Thai Restaurant, Peets, Peets, Peets and Blue Bottle. Oh! And Acme Bakery (just to stay on topic). We ate (and drank) well.
Yoghurt and an orange for lunch today. My 2-1/2 year old granddaughter told me I had a "big tummy."
David
I just took the roaster off the bread (12 minutes into a total bake time of about 30 minutes) and what a difference! The loaf is considerably bigger than the identical loaf I baked yesterday with steam and no cloche. I can't wait to see what the final result will be. More later.
--Pamela
I'm thinking about using a clear pyrex bowl to cover the rising dough just to observe the oven spring. Capturing it with a time elapsed video might prove interesting.
Wild-Yeast
I can't tell for absolute sure, but the cloched loaf is definitely bigger and lighter in feel than yesterday's uncloched test. I expect the crumb will be more open on today's loaf as well. I'll take pictures in another hour or so when the bread is cool enough to slice.
--Pamela
I left the oven at 500 degrees while the roaster was on, then lowered to 450 as soon as I removed it. The crumb is more open and the loaf larger than yesterday's loaf--you can see the size with respect to the board. (Picture on grass is yesterdays.) I can't wait to try this method on other breads!
--Pamela
I'm curious about your analysis of the crust. I finally got around to trying the technique last weekend, using two boules. Baked one under a large stainless steel bowl for 15 minutes and the other without the bowl.
I saw no difference in the height of the boules, but the color of the crust was lighter on the covered boule and the crust softer. Still delicious as ever, though.
I'm curious if the softness was the result of my misting the bowl and the dough with water before baking, or if that's a natural result of the process.
I used a very heavy, enameled turkey roaster. The crusts on both loaves are identical in color, crunch, and thickness--I can tell this much without cutting into this loaf. I didn't mist anything. I just filled the roaster with hot water and let it sit for 5 minutes, dumped it out without drying it, loaded the bread onto the stone, and put the roaster on top.
David didn't mention about the water that would drip off the roaster onto the oven door during this process :-) but fortunately it fell on the non glass section of the door (I've already had the cracked glass experience so no need to repeat it). Next time I'll put a towel over the glass during this procedure.
The bread needs to cool for another 30 minutes before I can slice and photograph. I have photos from yesterday's loaf too.
--Pamela
Neither, after removing the bowl, the undercover loaf needs to be left a few minutes longer in the oven to brown and crispen the crust. I'm curious, why didn't you leave it in longer if it wasn't brown enough?
Pamela, Here is a Cloche Thread, there are even older threads too. For me, a thread doesn't get old unless it contains useless information. Many of the old threads are quite charming and if continued, the information is easier to find. No one should feel they can't add on to an older thread.
Mini
Mini, the bread was left on the stone to continue baking after the cover was removed. For at least another 15 minutes. I think the internal temp was 205F when I pulled it out.
The crust browned, but not as deeply as the uncovered boule. But the crust definitely was softer than the boule baked uncovered with normal steam.
That's not a criticism by any means. Just something I noticed between the two.
and lower temperature. Obviously the cover keeps some heat off the dough in the beginning. I know that soft loaves are baked cooler and longer. Think that may have something to do with it?
Mini
The bread was JH's Vermont sourdough, but shaped into boules instead of my standard batards. Oven temp was 460F. Natural gas heat.
The recipe calls for 40-45 minutes baking time - I baked these around 35-40 minutes.
I wonder if the humidity just didn't have time to dissipate after the bowl had been removed, which resulted in the softer crust.
Steam slows down the coloring and "cooking" of the crust. That's its purpose. As the crust firms up, it is harder for the loaf to expand. So, a loaf covered for the first part of the bake should have greater oven spring and bloom.
But, when you uncover the loaf after, say, 15 minutes, it will be lighter in color than if you had baked it uncovered. The relative pallor compared to an uncovered loaf will persist, given no alteration in time or temperature for the remainder of the bake.
As the loaf cools, moisture is migrating outward from the interior. This tends to soften the crust, unless you have baked it to the point where it is relatively impervious to this "steaming from within."
Since the loaf that was steamed retains more moisture than one baked uncovered, you may want to do something to dry it out and crisp it up. The best method I know is to leave the loaf in the oven, with the oven turned off and the oven door ajar for 5-10 minutes after the loaf is "done" baking.
BTW, I do this with all breads when I desire a crunchy crust, whether it was baked covered or not.
I hope this helps.
David
David, you are definitely correct about the way the loaf looked when I uncovered it, but it had completely recovered by the end of its final 15 minutes of baking and had a nearly identical crust to the loaf baked the previous day! I was surprised (more like amazed) by its ability to recoup itself. I posted the picture in an earlier post in this thread. I have some baguettes ready to go today. I'm going to try them under the roaster to see how they do.
--Pamela
NW Sourdough has a video about using a turkey roaster for steaming. She preheats the turkey roaster along with the stone--no warming with water. Her loaves are awesome.
I use a cheap aluminum foil roasting pan. No preheating, no warm water. Excellent results!
My breads start to brown on the edges even before the pan is removed. They develop a beautiful brown color and a crisp crust that "sings" when I take them out of the oven.