March 25, 2015 - 5:16am
Dutch Oven?
Having never baked bread in a dutch oven before, I decided to purchase one (along with some bannetons) so I bought a Lodge which won't get here for a few days. Then I had a "lightbulb" moment. I have a Calphalon 3 qt dutch oven in anodized aluminium. Its not as thick and heavy as I expect the lodge to be, and can only be used for a fairly small loaf, but its oven safe and was wondering if it would work as well. Any thoughts?
Its a slippery slope I've put myself on as far as bread baking goes.....I'm running out of room in my cabinets...LOL
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I've never used a DO before but my understanding of it is that a DO traps in the moisture given off by the dough thereby solving the problem of introducing steam to the oven. This enables a good oven spring and a nice crust when finished off by removing the lid for the last 10 minutes of baking.
Common sense tells me that your DO substitute will suffice as long as the material it's made of produces the same effect (I am no expert in this field). some might frown upon using aluminium for health reasons and/or is it producing the same environment as a DO.
Looks quite shallow so as you say will be good for smaller breads.
techniques and recipes. We can't possibly eat all the bread I make...my freezer is stuffed and I end of giving it to friends and family. If I leave it out on the counter for too long, my husband then chops it up for bird food.
But I can't stop trying and today I'm going to give a new recipe a try. I've been borrowing bread books from the library trying to decide which ones, if any, are worth spending money on. Being that I can't stick to a recipe for very long, I view them as guides. In FWSY is a Pain au Bacon that looks extremely yummy that I'm going to attempt today.
And since I don't have the bannetons yet either, I thinking a towel lined bowl will have to suffice.
So wish me luck and hope I don't end of with a gummy doorstop or a paving brick.
And what successes have you had? I have a few recipes I can email to you. Things to look out for...
1. Gluten formation. Just because a recipe says 4x stretch and folds it does not mean that there is enough gluten formation. Go be feel! Helps immensely to give the dough a good kneading when first forming the dough till it comes together.
2. Autolyse : soaking the flour + water only for 30min before adding the levain and salt will help with gluten formation.
3. Watch that final proofing time. Many recipes advise to wait till dough has doubled. But you might over proof. Better to slightly under proof then go over. 90% is good. It's difficult to get it spot on.
4. Forkish's method of proofing with seam side down is a good idea. No scoring needed when tipping out of the banneton as the seams act like a natural scoring.
5. Becareful not to burn yourself on the pre-heated DO.
Raisin Cinnamon Bread - recipe from Food.com and believe it or not, I don't change a thing. This is hubby's daily breakfast bread.
Challahs from Ciril Hitz...got this recipe in a baking class at the high school last fall which actually was the catalyst for this path I've now taken. Weekend french toast.
Portuguese Rolls - recipe I modified and made my own..easy and ready in three hours +/-
Weitzenbrötchen from hanseata's recipe
Sour Jewish style rye - modified by me....the flavor is right on where we want it but I think I need to proof less for a bit higher rise. My husband grew up in Germany and wonder bread styles are strictly Verboten!
I'm documenting all my adventures so I hopefully won't make the same mistakes over.
So as I said I'm in the process of making the pain au bacon. I used my mixer instead of by hand and the dough is nice and supple and I'm resting between a few S&Fs over the next hour or so. Then its off to my make shift banneton.
One question: what size (weight) should I put in 3qt...I'm thinking about 900 gr. The rest I'm going to do free form. And yes, I'm wearing badges of honor from all those burns I give myself.
And yes, I'd love for you to share your recipes. My husband has always referred to my kitchen as the R&D lab so don't hold it against me if I use them as guides!
I do appreciate all the suggestions and help! I'm thinking of signing up for an artisan class at either King Arthur or with Ciril Hitz since I'm only a few hours away from each of their locations. I think it would be a wonderful experience and further my craft.
Adventuress, which recipe did you use for your sour Jewish-style rye? I'm starting to do more baking with rye and with sourdough and I'd love to know which recipe you used.
Thanks!
-Barbara
you've stumped me on this one. I'd have to go by look. As it is I'm forever trying to convert recipes to something I can understand. 900g looks about right and if your oven spring is so strong your DO substitute can't contain it then you're doing something right :)
You've got some nice recipes there. I'm going to look in the file on my computer and privately email you anything that I think you'll like. Gotta nice tomato sourdough by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou that I think you'd really like.
instead of a DO? Combo cookers are the easiest and best for bread.
that my bread came out of the Calphalon DO phenomenal if I do say so myself. Unfortunately only have one DO, I cooked the other loaf on the stone and while it came out really good...the DO loaf was better. I'll document what I did on my blog when i have a few more minutes.
As crazy as this may sound, I've tried silver-colored, non-anodized-aluminum Dutch ovens with very disappointing results. I've learned that this is due to a property called emissivity:
Emissivity is what turns the interior of a heated vessel into an oven, i.e. the amount of heat that is radiated to the interior. It's interesting to hear you had good results with your black anodized aluminum dutch oven. The black color must have something to do with it. It will certainly be lighter in weight than your cast-iron combo cooker. It would be easier to handle if you wanted to remove the lid from your 400-degree baking vessel mid-way through the bake.
Anodized aluminum has a slightly higher emissivity than cast iron. Clay and glass have an even higher emissivity, so theoretically you should get pretty good results baking in a Pyrex casserole dish.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/emissivity-coefficients-d_447.html
and was a bit underwhelmed. Although its emissivity might be better than iron, I suspect that iron has far more thermal mass so it has far more stored energy to give up to our dough.
In my case the Pyrex radioed loaves that did not have anywhere near as much rise as the cast iron loaves did using the same exact recipe. They also did not brown as much and the crush was not as impressive. I certainly would use it as a beginner (which I did) but no amount of cajoling gave me the results that cast iron did.
and every bread has turned out way better than a baking stone. In fact I have been trying a baking stone for the past month and I still can't come close to the results I get using a DO.
I also use Lodge. Their products are the best. I currently switched over to a Lodge, baked- on enamel cast iron dutch oven. I found that over time with a regular cast iron dutch oven, cooking at such high temperatures all the time with no oils or grease to make a really nice patina, the coating starting dry out and chip off.
Usually my baking times are 20 minutes at 500 degrees, then take the lid off and bake an additional 20-30 minutes at 425-450 degrees.
Heat up the DO at 500 degrees at least 45 minutes ahead of time.
The combo unit you ordered are really nice and will do the exact same thing a regular DO will do.
No additional steam required. The DO's are supposed to replicate a traditional wood fired oven. Being a small enclosed space and holding the steam that the loaf gives off itself for the first 20 minutes.
You will love it!
Enjoy and Happy Baking!
Cheers!
the cast iron with oils to keep it in shape? I would think that would be recommended for maintenance.
Never thought of it at the time.
Yes, you can use it:)
I use enamel dutch ovens and I love using dutch ovens for baking my bread.
I have an oblong one for my batards and the round ones for my boules.
I would never go back to pizza / baking stone.
...is quite normal for me. I have tried a DO, terracotta cloche, steel baking dome, baking stone and gone back to using baking trays - I can bake 4 batards concurrently on heavy duty baking trays with better results than any of the above - and it's a much more efficient use of energy.
Cheers
I started with baking trays but never had much success.
The breads where okish but never as good as in my DO's.
I am lucky, I can use 2 large DO's side by side in my Range Oven and also there is the smaller oven which can hold one oblong large DO.
Would I go back to stones or trays, no, unless the bread recipe asks for the bread to be baked on one of those.
Along with my two bannetons, danish whisk and oven thermometer! Can't wait to try them out.
Lightly spray with water, sprinkle with flour and leave to dry completely. When dry shake off excess flour. When you use it flour generously enough so dough won't stick. If dough does stick then allow gravity to do most of the work and gently tap the banneton to encourage the dough to come out. Never shake it or dough might half come out and break. After using remove excess flour and leave to dry. Sometimes excess flour only comes off after drying.
Thanks!!
https://youtu.be/O3w46Q5LBr8