The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Steam can do Wonders!

March 10, 2011 - 11:17am

tssaweber

Steam can do Wonders!

Reading through SylviaH's long blog (Oven-Steaming My New Favorite Way) I decided that I have to give this steaming technique a try.

I always felt uncomfortable with spraying my hot oven and I don't know how many times I burnt myself in pouring water on the hot bottom. Even though it is still working I believe I've done a lot of damage to the oven and this is probably also the source of all the issues I have with it not holding the temperature correctly.

Like others I was pretty amazed with the result!

The oven spring was so strong that I had blow-outs in my baguettes.

I don't think this happened because of poor shaping. (I'm Sinclair trained! The Back Home Bakery) On the other hand it shows nicely how big irregular holes in the crumb are created and that scoring plays a big role.

Of course a very strong sourdough starter is very helpful too!!

Happy baking!

Thomas

www.tssaweber.com/WP

SylviaH

March 10, 2011 - 11:54am

wow, you did get some spring!

Love the ballon bowl!

Glad your enjoying the benefits of towel steaming! Thanks for the plug, Thomas! I love the ease/safety of this method too! The 'microwaving' of the towels, gets the center of the rolled towels super hot. Just yesterday I had steam still releasing from the towels several minutes after removing them from the oven. This always makes me smile. Opening up the rolled towels with tongs anytime while they are in the oven, you will get even more steam. 'Tongs come in very handy for me'. moving the towels into the pans and opening up the towels.

Sylvia