"dutch oven" experiment
I see that lots of TFLers use dutch ovens or cloches to get great oven springs on their bread,and there is some pretty awesome stuff out there. so although I don't have a DO thought I would try with an inverted stainless steel bowl. Made 2 small boules (300 gms)! and baked them side by side on my baking stone using steam (a small towel in a pyrex jug +steam pan on base of oven). I covered the left loaf with the bowl. and left other as usual. Oven temperature 250oC at loading dropped it to 225oC for rest of the bake. I removed steam and stainless bowl after 12 minutes and baked another 15 until internal temperature was 205oF. My standard method I am happy with while DO style bake spread more and didn't rise as high. Right loaf is my standard method, left one is experimental bake. Is this what you would expect? or did my 2 different scoring styles affect it?p
If you have a boule on a baking stone with an inverted stainless-steel bowl covering it, how does the steam get in?
my understanding was that the steam is generated by the loaf itself as it progresses through the cooking process. My oven spring wasnt that good so I may need to do it differently as suggested by another post. :)
Since dutch ovens are usually preheated in the oven before loading the bread, they're able to deliver a lot of heat to the loaf quickly. I suspect that your inverted bowel might have shielded the loaf from some of the heat of the oven, which might explain the lesser oven spring.
I consider the main point of the dutch oven method to be trapping steam, since most home ovens are wonderful at venting.
If you are still interested in experimenting, maybe see if you have a friend who will loan you a dutch oven. Or, try preheating the bowl next time to make sure it's not blocking the bread from heat.
although I did heat the bowl first, I had to remove it while I loaded the oven. I have never been a fan of stainless steel dishes in the oven so maybe it reflected the heat, I don't know. I will put my thinking cap on and look around and see what alternatives I can find as I am keen to get the great oven spring I have seen here on TFL
I have used a dutch oven, a covered enamel turkey roaster, a clay baker, and a ceramic covered casserole. The roaster bought at Goodwill for $6. Two clay bakers at Goodwill for $8 each. I like the roaster and bakers more then the dutch oven. I also bought a cast iron griddle for a barbeque grill at Goodwill and use it instead of a pizza stone. The casserole I bought at Marshalls but I have seen them at HomeGoods.
am too cheap to spend that much on them and wait until they are a dollar each on 'Dollar Thursdays. Sometimes they don't last on the shelf that long though so it takes much longer to get them all. Now I know who is to blame - other Fresh Lofians :-)
Happy baking!
I am not in the US so these shops are not an option but I will certainly have a look in some different stores here - I too do not want to spend a great deal.
I found the "bottom" part of a cast iron DO (the large pot-like portion) without a lid at the local antique shop for $25.
Probably more than some would be willing to pay, but it was half as much as a new one.
-Dave
Called back to work to help out (I have retired) so when I can I intend to go fossicking! I would rather be baking bread than working but for a little while I can probably cope :)