March 15, 2015 - 5:19pm
Dutch oven EMERGENCY!!!
I just baked a bread with a wet dough. The bread is baked, I turn over the dutch oven - and the bread will not come out. IT IS STUCK!!! Stuck to the bottom of the dutch oven.
I thought the whole point of a dutch oven was to bake wet dough.
Please help!!!
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Was the cast iron well seasoned?
It's Emile somebody, very highly recommended. Other breads have slipped right out.
gently around the sides and see if it will pop out. Otherwise you'll have to give up in it and soak it with water until it dissolves.
I found that the only Dutch Ovens that work for me are enameled cast iron and I have never had any bread stick to them, from very low to very high hydration (I have had sticking with the make exact recipe in non-cast iron pots and casserole dishes).
I've tried with and without a dusting of flour on the outside of the dough just before it goes in, and it just dow not seem to make any difference to my breads.
I always Preheat the Dutch oven throughly and I always make sure that its thoroughly cleaned after each use even if it looks clean.
Good luck.
Cut cooled loaf in half, if the centre is raw, wrap in micro wave wrap and give each half several minutes in the microwave on high. Let stand a few minutes before unwrapping to cool.
:)
Last night, I took a deep breath, realized that the fate of the world did not depend on removing the lovely bread immediately, and let the bottom of the dutch oven cool overnight. I figured it was better not to burn myself in an attempt to liberate a loaf.
I woke up exceptionally early to read, and then heed, the directions posted here. Thank you for responding. I really had no idea what to do because the dutch oven had performed perfectly each time.
I followed both pieces of advice: (1) using a wooden spatula to loosen the edges where bread met oven; and (2) cutting the loaf in half. Both worked, though not enough. I cut the loaf in half again, not evenly, to see if I could at least remove a part of the loaf where the edges were loose. I was making some headway when my husband, back from walking the dog, asked if he could try. I hate when this kind of thing happens, but he took the knife, then a wooden spoon and he got that loaf out in 30 seconds without any damage. He would not concede that I had at least loosened the loaf. I am amazed and appreciative, but wish my hands were stronger. The bread looks beautiful, if slightly squeamish after surgery.
The bottom of the dutch oven had some small bits of crust on one side encrusted, but other than that, it was perfectly fine. I consulted the Emile Henry directions that came with the dutch oven and I could not determine where I went wrong. Later today, I will go to the website and contact them for advice. Thanks again for responding to an emergency call.
on the bottom? Was it completely baked at the very center? Did you taste some of it to see how it came out? How long do yo preheat your DO for.
to me the first time i baked in a dutch oven, now as long as its hot enough when i put the bread in i have no problem and getting very consistent results.
I have a Lodge cast iron 4.7ltr crockpot. Actually never clean the pot just blow off the dust and put away, seems to like it this way best
Forkish recommends the use of parchment paper in the DO, which IME works beautifully. Perhaps you should give that a try next time?
-Dave
is that the parchment doesn't completely conform to the shape of the DO, so the loaf shape ends up having small creases and/or indentations around the sides. The more your dough weighs, the more it will press the paper in, and the better the shape will be, but it won't look quite the same as it would without using the parchment.
Correct, baking parchment is flat/2D.
One approach is "just do it" and jam a sheet into the bottom of the DO. Yes, it leaves some marks on the final loaf. Forkish suggests using the parchment to lift the dough and place it in the DO, so I guess he supports the "just do it" camp.
Another possibility is to merely cut a circular disc of parchment that is enough to only cover the bottom flat of the DO. Of course, the dough may stick to the sides.
Another possibility is to cut a disc and then a ring ... the ring covers the side of the DO. By cutting a strip and then slits on either end the strip can be made to interlock and form a self-supporting structure.
Cheers-
Dave
I used a piece of parchment (back when I was trying to solve my sticking problem and although the loaf did not stick, it came out weirdly shaped and did not rise well. I had used a whole square sheet, which made it very easy to transfer, and when I put it into the DO I just pushed down the excess paper on top of the dough. Apparently this kept the dough from rising as much as usual as well as preventing one side fro rising at all. If you go with parchment, I would cut sections of paper out to form a disc (for he bottom of the dough) and two wide straps (one on each side) to be able to grab then to pull the dough out after baking.
Parchment is made of paper and is coated with silicone, which is not toxic to humans (which is why its common used in medical implants).
You can see in this picture how warped my loaves were coming out (ignore the extreme amount of flour on this loaf, I had been trying to solve the sticking problem with massive amounts of flour at that time, I don't use any flour or parchment now at all).
Using parchment paper is no problem at all and does not stop the bread dough from rising.
You wraped it over your bread while baking, that was the problem, not the parchment paper.
I do not use a large piece of parchment paper but large enough to lift it in the DO.
My bread is never deformed, it has some indentations but not like your bread in the image, it looks as if you wrapped your dough tightly in the parcment paper, very strange looking.
honestly, I didn't. I left the paper alone (pointed straight up) and just slowly lowered the lid on it. Fortunately my skill level is now at the point where I just don't use the parchment paper at all.
using parchment paper or not has nothing to do with skill levels though, parchment paper is just a guarantee that the bread dough we put so much love in making, does not stick, that is all.
I have a good DO, enameled and would not really need the parchment paper but, and that is a big thing for me, I do not want to drop my bread dough from the banneton in to the DO.
from my perspective it has everything to do with skill levels. I've practiced now enough that I don't use any sling method whatsoever and I don't drop my dough into the DO, I place it in there very gently, without any paper, and it never ever sticks. What I learned is that I used to have sticking because I hadn't learned enough details about baking yet. I realized when I made that weird loaf with the parchment paper that I could focus my time on learning how to work with parchment paper or I could focus my time on learning how to fix my mistakes. Since I can't eat parchment paper and can't reuse it (which I think is not nice to the environment) I chose to focus on learning ti transfer without parchment, so for me yes, it was all about improving my skill level.
I think we have to differ on that one :)
I use my parchment paper up to 3 x so that is fine, it lasts me a long time:)
So how to you place a wet dough in your DO?
fwiw - I re-use it too. until it disintegrates. however I prefer re-usable/washable silicone sheets now.
-Gordon (not the starter!)
came out burned every time and would fall apart if I tried to use it again. I did have silicone sheets laying around that never got used to for anything else so I tried those and they work great so I often use those if its an extremely high hydration tough. Since they last forever and don't stay in the DO, its a good compromise.
after one use the parchment paper is partially burned and when I try to reuse it the dough fall through before I can get it to the DO.
This pic shows the one time that the parchment did not burn, it was in my largest but it looks very crowded in there to me and this produced that weird looking loaf I previously posted to this thread. Although the parchment does not look burned in this pic, it fell apart when I lifted it out of the DO.
I now use the smallest DO that I can because that seems to give my Einkorn a better rise, so its possible that there is just not enough room for the dough and the paper at the same time.
The ways that I do it now is firstly to be confident, keep my eyes on the center of the DO and calmly just place it in there then pull my hands out quickly but without panicking (for those that haven't done it, the DO is 500 degrees F so if you don't move quickly your natural instinct will be to drop the dough (which might mess up those lovely bubbles you worked so hard to build up) or it could land sideways (I've done that lot, and baked a lot of rather amusing loaves).
Next is to use a silicone baking sheet, I oil it extremely lightly (trust me, the dough can fly right off of it if you aren't careful). My 100% einkorn loaves are so sticky that they are the only substance known to to humankind to be able to stick to silicone but with olive oil on the silicone sheet the Einkorn dough just slides around like a blob of Mercury in the bathroom sink (and I showing my age with that reference? LOL). I lift and carry the dough into the DO very calmly and very slowly because the silcone sheet provides my hand a lot of protection against the tremendous heat of the DO. I do remove the DO from the oven and place it on the stove so I only have to transfer the dough a few inches (trust me, its extremely slippery and the dough will fly off the oiled silicone sheet). If your dough is not as sticky as mine then you might not need to oil the sheet.
Sometimes I do the traditional carry on a kitchen cloth. It works fine but since my Einkorn is so sticky I can to dust my kitchen cloth with cornmeal, which always gets all other the center and inside the oven. I like a clean kitchen at all times so I don't use this method too much any more.
My last method is for when I am baking an Einkorn loaf that has crazy high hydration levels (75% to 85% hydration). That dough is so soupy that it more closely resembles oatmeal (porridge) than it does a bread dough. So I place the soupy dough into an with or nine inch stainless baking (cake) pan instead of a banneton, then when I'm ready for the transfer I simply lift the cake pan with one hand place it halfway inside the DO (So the dough does not fall) and the other hand uses a bowl scraper to get the dough moving. Obviously this is not conducive to slashing but I stopped slashing a while back when my loaves started to crack nicely on their own, so thats not a problem for me. I use this method a surprisingly high amount of the time, probably most of the time, and I like how my loaves come out.
I've already learned that there are advantages and disadvantages to each method so I just look at the finished product and whichever method gives me the prettiest loaves is the method I select (for the hydration level that I'm using on that particular dough).
Personally, if I had the time I would
Have a look at one of my breads.
Baked with the lid on at 250C for 30 min. at at 200C without lid for 20 min. no burning, just the very edge of the parchment paper, the bits that stick out from under the lid.
You must be doing something wrong because it looks as if you put the dough on the parchment paper, put the top endes togehter and carried it like that to the oven, it looks molded to the folds of the paper and covered with the paper.
I do not use such a big sheet of parchment paper for starters and I carry it to the dutch oven quick, the dutch oven stands right beside me on my counter , still hot from the oven.
My parchment paper does not at all cover my loaf, it stays clear of my dough.
Your parchment looks wet and burned , mine just colours at the top edges where it is out from under the lid.
Maybe after the 3rd time using the same sheet of parchment paper the edges get realy dark brown, but never the bottom that the loaf sits on or the sides...
I do not put any flour or anything on the parchment paper before I put the dough on it.
I don't use a dutch oven and currently I only use baking parchment in one of my ovens when I'm using smaller trays. Never had them scorch and I usually put the breads in at 250C. I'm using a somewhat cheap parchment at the moment too...
Oh, with one exception - my coal cooked bread experiment, but that was somewhat different. Lots of actual burning then...
-Gordon
Hi Gordon,
I only use cheap parchment paper and never had mine burnd like that , never on the bottom anyways, only , as in the picture , at the very top bits that look out from underneath the lid.
Mine DO preheats with the Oven to a 250C, once the heat is reached I take it out and place the dough on the parchment paper in the DO.
By the looks of BobBoules image, maybe his DO is also to small for the loaf?hmm
Oh , I can imagine the burning.
with only a 3 1/2 quart capacity, as I stated earlier I chose to use as small a DO as possible because my 100% Einkorn dough, at high hydration, is very runny so when I use a large Dutch the soupy dough runs instantly and creates a wide flat loaf. A Narrow DO actually gives me 30% more rise (I measure these things and document them in my spreadsheet).
I use my DO for every dough , high or low hydration.
If it spreads it is ok because the oven is hot, it will start to rise asap.
the dough runs so quickly that it completely reaches the sides of the DO (no matter how narrow or wide it is) within two or three seconds, which is why I believe that my large DO gives me flat loaves.
one of the most common and the largest kitchen supplier for foils and papers, its not cheap. It is paper ad silicone, I don't know if anyone still sells any other combination of materials. I start the bake at 260 degrees C and drop it after a short while to 232 degrees C, the thermostat was accurate the last time I checked it. Mrs Boule threw out the oven thermostat because it was covered with splatter (its seen lot of action) and she thought that it didn't look pretty any more. I'll have to buy a pink one next time. LOL
For how long do you bake your bread at 260C and how long do you keep the lid on, when do you take the lid off and how long do you bake a 232 C ? Is 232C with the lid on or off.
depending on the specific recipe. Right now I am not taking the lid off at all (but thats only because Mrs Boule has a hard time cutting the thick crust if I take the lid off, if I go back to removing the lid I will remove it with 15 minutes left to bake) so depending on the recipe I will bake 1 minute at 260∘C then 59 at 232∘C at one extreme and at the other extreme I bake at 260∘C for 15 minutes then drop to 232∘C for 45 minutes. The total with of my loaf before baking is 1,010 grams so although these seem like long bake times, its what it takes to make my 100% Einkorn reach 96.1∘C in the center.
That is LONG baking time on a high temperatures.
Would you mind sharing the recipe so that I can try my hand on it.
I am curious now.
Einkorn / Spelt, yep, I can get it here, I shall try a recipe with it on the weekend.
at very high temperature but thats where I am now after a year of baking only with Einkorn.
I do it at 67% hydration, 1.5% salt, 1% yeast in a 260 degree C oven for 5 minutes, then 55 minutes at 232 degrees Cm if it hasn't caught fire by then.
I would LOVE to have the recipe to give it a go and see how it turns out for me:)
for my 100% Einkorn boules in the DO. Eight hours on the counter, then three days in the fridge. 67% hydration, 1.5% salt, 1% yeast 260∘ C for 5 minutes then drop to 232∘ C 55 minutes, if it hasn't caught fire by then. Good luck!
to post pictures of the dough, the loaf and the crumb please. You should get a noticeably colored crumbs, sort of yellow, mores than with regular wheat of any kind that I have ever seen.
I will.
I do the bake over the weekend if I can.
Start a new thread and let us know how it goes. Good luck to you!
to bake your Einkorn this weekend?
No, I could not do it this weekend, we where busy in the garden, but I do it coming weekend, I have all I need here.
over to the DO, I lift each side with my respective hand. I do place the lid on the paper so the entire paper is inside the DO. It looks like you allow the paper to remain outside and be pinched by the lid. At the time that I still used parchment paper (I no longer do so) I did try this leaving the paper outside and pinching it as you do however the pieces of the paper that was outside burned and would just flake off and litter the oven, Mrs Boule was not happy about that. LOL
I just do not understand why the parchment paper cuts into the sides of your dough, and it looks as though the top part of the parchment paper was almost twisted so that you have kind of bag for your bread in the DO.
I am sure you did not do that, but that looks to me as though you are using a DO that is to small for the amount of dough you put in there and the paper has no other way than to cut in to the bread.
with both my small and large DO. If I use my large DO, my 100% Einkorn dough spreads out too quickly (even at low hydration) and gives me a flat loaf.
My wet dough does the same, it will flatten on my parchment paper, but once in the DO it can not spread any further and will rise well.
It depends on the recipe and how much starter you have used in the first place I guess.
Einkorn. My dough is the stickiest, loosest, runniest, hardest to handle dough I have worked with. I have experimented with stretch and folding it until it gets super tight and I just can't stretch it any more (which is greta for scoring because its also the hardest dough to score I have ever worked with) then I place it in the DO with out resting and before I can get the lid on its already run all the way to the edges of the DO and I get a flat loaf. Its very challenging to work with and I'm glad that I get loaves as good as I do now.
I've done this with cake batter and that is to wet the parchment and then shape it into the form and press another bowl in on top of folds or use my thumb nail to press the folds flat against the pan. Then let the parchment dry. The folds then don't dig into the cake or bread. Or use a scissors and cut a sunburst for the sides, straight cuts from the edge stopping when the parchment hits the bottom of the pan. The sides overlap enough to prevent dough slipping between to the pot, I'm using a cold pot too.
Mini, thank you. I have also done this for cake and never though to do it for bread. Right now I'm so focused on continually adjust my Einkorn recipe and learning as much technique as I can that I'm not using parchment at all, but one day I will and will try your method.
But can one sprinkle some coarse semolina or cornmeal on the bottom?
I sometimes sprinkle a bit of something like cornmeal or wheat bran in the DO just before putting the dough in. It doesn't take much, and may even be unnecessary. I've never measured, but I'd guess no more than 1/2 a tablespoon if the bottom surface of dough already has some on it, a bit more if it doesn't.
Yes, you can do that.
I prefer using parchment paper though, I feel it does protect my DO and it is much easier to put the dough in, I do not like to * drop * my dough in the DO.
I went to the website to see what the Emile Henry bakeware is made from and it is a ceramic. I have found that most of the ceramic manufacturers make the same claim that the smoothness of their ceramic precludes the need for any form of oil or lubrication for pan release. I beg to differ! I use a different brand of bakeware and I have found that I get the best results when I use a pan release (Homemade) of oil and liquid lecithin.Some of the spray pan releases have lecithin in it. A coating of cornmeal, oatmeal (tends to burn easily),flour or other seeds seems to help,also, break the suction between the pan and dough.
It is usually just one small spot that can hang up with the releasing of the whole loaf-unless the loaf is undercooked as Mini suggested. If we looked at that hold on spot with a high power lens, we would probably see some minute scratching on the pan there. Over subsequent bakes, these are inevitable and will cause more sticking.
I use ceramic pans often and have found pan release is essential. Parchment would work as well.
Bake delicious fun!
Does anyone grease and flour the inside of a Dutch oven prior to baking? I have been using baking parchment but I would rather not as it an extra expense plus I'm not sure what chemicals are on it.
my Pyrex (before I switched to DO), but it just changed the problem from sticking, to sticking in random unpredictable places. I had success when switching to cornmeal, never having a loaf stick with that (but it doesn't make sense to me because the cornmeal covers the bottom even more irregularly, I suspect that its actually an improvement in my skills that did it. I now find that preheating throughly and leaving the loaf in there to be completely baked before I try to remove it ensures that it just falls out with no sticking whatsoever.
Imho is the best. It seasons to perfection over time. I have cooked all my boules that way and even the wettest doughs release. However, my DO is not the Lodge, but an old old one that I've been using for years and years (like 30 years).... so it's well seasoned. I use no oil or anything. Only rice flour on the loaves to facilitate release from the brotform.
I agree w Arjon about the parchment paper. The 2 times I used it the loaves had some delightful but weird indentations where the parchment met the side of the DO. Just my 2 centimes.
In my experience, fresh seasoning easily burns off, so you end up with smoked up kitchen, and unseasoned DO.
iron is a very laborious process. I did it with a new skillet I had. It must be done before being used for cooking if you want to prevent what you accurately describe.
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/
I'm afraid to copy and paste b/c of copyright laws, but you have to do this at least 6 times, with flaxseed oil... I did it 10X before my skillet was properly seasoned.
Doesn't flaxseed oil go rancid when subjected to heat.
Copying and pasting 3 paragraphs is okay legally
Here you go:
Go to your local health food store or organic grocery and buy a bottle of flaxseed oil. It’s sold as an omega-3 supplement and it’s in the refrigeration section because it goes rancid so easily. Check the expiration date to make sure it’s not already rancid. Buy an organic flaxseed oil. You don’t want to burn toxic chemicals into your cookware to leach out forever more. It’s a fairly expensive oil. I paid $17 for a 17 ounce bottle of cold-pressed, unrefined, organic flaxseed oil. As it says on the bottle, shake it before you use it.
Strip your pan down to the iron using the techniques I describe in my popover post. Heat the pan in a 200°F oven to be sure it’s bone dry and to open the pores of the iron a little. Then put it on a paper towel, pour a little flaxseed oil on it (don’t forget to shake the bottle), and rub the oil all over the pan with your hands, making sure to get into every nook and cranny. Your hands and the pan will be nice and oily.
Now rub it all off. Yup – all. All. Rub it off with paper towels or a cotton cloth until it looks like there is nothing left on the surface. There actually is oil left on the surface, it’s just very thin. The pan should look dry, not glistening with oil. Put the pan upside down in a cold oven. Most instructions say to put aluminum foil under it to catch any drips, but if your oil coating is as thin as it should be, there won’t be any drips.
Abe, I did it the way she describes and it worked perfectly. If you get a chance read the whole link
It is explained that it can go rancid so the author is perfectly aware of this and cautions against buying one out of date etc. So obviously perfectly ok to do this method as everything is taken into account.
you put in cold oven, set it to 500 dF and preheat pan in oven, upside down. When 500 dF is reached to set timer for 1 hour. Turn off oven but do NOT open door. Let it cool for 2 hours, in the cooling down oven. Repeat as many times as needed. Check out her site. It's phenomenal.
1. It's a slow process - I have a bottle of flaxseed oil that's been sitting on the shelf in my garage for good 3 years. It's still ok. I mean I probably would not use it for cooking, but that's why I bought it.
2. It's a slow process, that is you need prolonged exposure to medium heat and air, not one-time temperature shock.
I have some cast iron cookware and know how to season it, but no fresh seasoning seems be able to withstand being blasted at 550 F for 30 min - at least in my hands it simply burns off. But I have no problem with release so I don't even bother with seasoning my baking DO any more.
I think I see two possibilities from the comments for how the bread got stuck.
1. In an unusual move, I shaped and let this dough rest on a wet surface, instead of using plenty of flour to prevent sticking while shaping and resting. This was the first time I tried that strategy and it worked well until the dutch oven disaster. (I actually purchased the Emile Henry dutch oven because it is so much lighter than a cast iron dutch oven, and it was promoted as very easy to use.)
2. I looked this morning at the Emile Henry website. One instruction is to heat the oven to a maximum of 480 degrees. Mine was 500 degrees. I don't know if that made a difference. My oven was heating, with the dutch oven inside, for an hour.
I will have to look at what Dave Miller does. He makes his breads at 104 hydration percentage and I do not think he uses a dutch oven. I think he has a professional baker's oven; I'm just not sure how his breads keep their shape. I've been reading about him for the past few days after getting to that part of Cooked, the Michael Pollan book.
I still can't get my high hydration breads to a high enough gluten tension to prevent "splooshing" on the baking stone.
Plus, I've come to realize my previous efforts were understeamed. The DO appears to fix this problem - although it constrains me to only making boules. If you decide to skip the DO, which is fine, you'll need to make sure to make enough steam.
I'm contemplating trying baguettes soon and I will definitely have to fix my steam problem.
-Dave
I have a Lodge 2-quart cast iron "serving pot" (really a Dutch oven). I measured the inside diameter of the bottom. NOTE: it is very important to make this measurement. The bottom of this D.O. is 6 inches in diameter.
I next got a 6-inch non-stick springform cake pan: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0008D6TUY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The springform pan acts as a false bottom for the Dutch oven.
Problem solved.
Wet flour can act like glue and when it hits the heat, the steam probably helps set it . It won't release, then, until it is well caramelized or scraped off. If you bake to a bold, dark crust, it probably would unstick.
As far as seasoning iron pans: I have used them for years and "seasoned" them using oil and all kinds of different methods. Then an old timer said to me "Pah! Just use lard or any animal fat. Oil doesn't work too well". Lo and behold-coated with lard-into the 400 oven upside down so extra can drip off (over a foil), 30 minutes later -DONE.
Ceramic doesn't need seasoning but I still contend it needs oiling/pan release of some kind.
I use dutch ovens most of the time, say 95 % of the time but I always turn out my bread on parchment paper first and lift it with the parchment paper in my dutch oven.
Since I only bake for my family , friends and neighbours I do not mind when the sides are not perfect, but they never looked like BobBoules though and mine always rise very very well.
anything on or in anything.... parchment paper should be used so it never ever sticks, Always better safe than sorry and the paper can be used many times - so it's not costly at all..
I agree:)
Emile Henry enameled ceramic cookware is not the same as seasoned cast iron. I did not have good luck even with enameled cast iron, so we got rid of it and just use cast iron now.
I've got a large heavy inexpensive enamelled DO. I have formed a disk of parchment in the bottom (can reuse) and under it a broad long strip to lower the proofed load in gently (also lift out). The ends just fold in under the lid.
I always get it as hot as possible before loading. No sticking problems.
I have never intentionally seasoned any of my cast iron pans (two skillets, one Dutch oven). I just cooked with them on the stovetop until they were seasoned. You know, heat oil, saute onions and garlic, etc. After twenty or thirty years, they are well seasoned :)
Of course, I never tried to bake anything in them until they were already seasoned.
Thank you for the exchange of comments and words of advice. The bread I made was well done, so I do not think extra time would have made a difference. There was one strip along the side where the bread totally stuck to the DO, or rather the enamelled DO. While I am a huge fan of parchment paper, I might try using cornmeal first. Now the darn DO probably will be more likely to stick as the are some thin knife marks on the side from liberating the loaf.
Seems that my avoidance of a heavy cast iron pot might not have been the best decision, but I see that even cast iron would need some attention before becoming truly non-stick. .
I have to say I was surprised that the bread stuck because I have never had that problem with a la cloche or a baking stone.
I have used a Lodge 5 quart since I started with my sourdough obsession a couple of years ago. I have never had a loaf stick to the dutch oven yet. I do let it heat at 500 degrees so that when the bread goes in the bottom cooks right away. In fact i often shake my dutch over around just to get the shape rounded. The bottom is done and it moves freely at that point.
From time to time I will use parchment if I'm using cranberries or something like that but I cut my parchment around my bread dough once I turn it out so that the paper is round and not all over the dutch oven. I don't like things sticking out all over the place.
So far it all works for me.
A possible tip on using baking parchment. I use foil-backed parchment. Foil one side (back) and silicone paper the other. Available in the UK from Lakeland. It's strong and you can reuse it a lot of times (which makes it cheap, although the rolls are quite expensive). My DO liner just stays in there...
Are you saying that you reuse the foil-backed parchment as a liner for the DO you bake in?
Yes -- reuse many times
I tend to plop my loafs in because the DO sends off an intense heat that even goes through my oven mitts. Might be time for a pair of oven gloves. I will try cornmeal and oil (not lard) on the enameled DO first, then use parchment if I have to. I use parchment when I bake in an oblong la cloche because that is a very narrow space to place a dough and it also gets extremely hot, though not as bad as a DO.
I do not understand why your DO is so searing hot?
I preheat mine with the oven, once my oven reaches 250C I take the DO out, put the bread with the parchment paper * as I use it * in , lid on , back in the oven, 30 min, bake with lid, lid of , heat down to 200c and 20 min. without lid.
It seems as though you might put your DO in when the Oven is already preheated and let it in there for quite a while?
Or you have a higher , maybe to high heat to start with * as seen on your scorched parchment paper *.
just dust with the cornmeal or flour if the pan is hot. A cold pot I would butter and flour first.
Another option would be to use a DO that doesn't have a handle on the top of the lid which also functions as a skillet. Three examples would be the Lodge combo cooker and their larger 6 quart DO as well as Bayou Classics oval DO. With these you can place the dough in the preheated skillet part and use larger pot as the lid. This means not having reach inside the deep pot while it is hot and also makes scoring easier. Of course it also means you get additional kitchen stuff which we all need more of anyway.
Stu