41st bake. 03/16/2021. Inverted bowl. 2 kg miche.

March 16, 2021.

I didn't get around to taking pictures of the loaf. But I wanted to share the baking set-up.  This was the first time that I've used an inverted bowl to steam.

I used a 15" Lodge cast iron skillet. 15" is the outer diameter at the upper rim. It has a 12-1/4" inside diameter at the inside bottom.  I bought it new on Amazon when it was on sale for $40, including shipping. https://www.amazon.com/Lodge-L14SK3-Skillet-Cast-Black/dp/B00063RWUM?tag=froglallabout-20

The Lodge 15" skillet fits in my American 30" outer-width oven. Inside oven width is about 23".

I used a 14-7/8" diameter cordierite pizza stone to shade the skillet from the radiant heat of the lower electric heating element.  I use this same pizza stone with my Lodge 3.2 quart combo cooker. I always put it on a rack one position lower than the baking vessel, so the baking vessel is not sitting on the stone.

The banneton is 11-7/8" outside diameter at the rim, and 11-1/4" inside diameter at the rim. Bannetons are listed by outside diameter on Amazon, so figure that the inner diameter is  5/8" or about .6" less than outer diameter. https://www.amazon.com/Agile-Shop-Banneton-Brotform-Proofing-Handmade/dp/B01FXA5K3S?tag=froglallabout-20

The steel bowl is 12-3/8" outside diameter at the rim, and 11-3/4" inside diameter at the rim.  So it sits on the sloped sides of the skillet, just barely above the flat inner bottom.  The bowl surface is shiny/polished (not the dull "burnish" if that's the word) inside and out. I likely purchased it at Big Lots or an Indian grocery store. 

My dough did not fill the inner diameter of the banneton. So comparing the dimensions, I figured if the dough did not spread too much, it would not touch the sides of the steel bowl.

As usual, I didn't get  the vertical loft that I wanted but the # style scoring opened well, and the crumb was decent.

The dough mass weighed 2040 grams, 4.497 pounds,  right before putting it in the banneton. It picked up some rice and bread flour from the banneton, and I sprinkled some durum semolina onto what would be the bottom of the loaf. Though it lost moisture during final proofing.

The loaf weighed 1847 grams, 4.140 pounds, about 1/2 hour after baking. 

It was my biggest loaf so far. I now wish I had photographed it.