December 29, 2021 - 3:13pm
Gas Oven, steam, batard?
In the absence of a DO for longer batards, looking for adequate steaming the first several minutes as the crusts are very matte and dull. These are my first sourdoughs in a few months so maybe I'm forgetting, but I don't recall that even pre-steaming the oven (per Tartine - tightly rolled kitchen towels, soaked, in pan during pre-heat; steam on load-in) and steaming plentifully initially, I'm not getting a shiny crust.
Anyone have a good solution for anything from longer batards or boulots to baguettes?
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if you make up a cornflour and milk boiled paste and apply with a brush prior to going into the oven it will give you shine and also help your seeds to stick even egg white and water will do similar good luck and kind regards Derek
Welcome back, Paul! Glad to see you with us and baking!
Steaming and shine may be two different things when you bake at home.
To steam, I cover my oblong or long loaves with one of my two enameled roaster covers, spayed with water inside (the inside surface of the cover is sprayed with water). Brushing raw dough surface with water is optional and not always feasible if it has dry flour decorative patterns.
The oval one is 19"
The square one is 21", longer if diagonally placed.
For the shiny crust brush the crust with water five minutes prior to the end of baking. Then finish baking your loaves. The crusts will be glossy if your dough had enough diastatic malt in it (0.5-2% depending on flour)
After baking you can brush them hot crusts as well, this time with light syrup if your breads are enriched or sweet to taste (some plain sourdough rye breads are sweetish tasting, for example), Floyd gave the proportions here once: 1/4 cup sugar+1/4 cup hot water. It's not sticky once it dries and very glossy, nice. Or with neutral tasting starchy solution: 1/4tsp starch +1/4 cup cold water, microwave to boil.
Not sure of the exact dimensions you are looking for but I purchased this glass roaster a few months ago and it seems to be working quite well. It's longer than my other clay bakers that I use. I like the fact that the bottom is shallow, which makes it easier to transfer the longer loaves just before baking, plus you can watch the oven spring which is fun. It can also do double-duty as a chicken/turkey roaster as needed ;-)
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MF3S5JK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I was just looking at that, almost hit the buy button but then had a second thought about it. Did you use the whole thing as a "Dutch oven"? I was mostly interested in it as a cover on a stone or a steel but I guess I could use it as a DO. How did the bake compare to the clays?
Yes, I used the whole thing as a DO. I found that the glass DO worked the same as my other clay DOs. I know sometimes glass can scorch things but I always use parchment under my dough for baking anyway so it hasn't been a problem. It's got more clearance at the top than my other long clay baker, which I appreciate as I've had a couple breads peak to the top of the clay baker before (when the oven spring was particularly perky). I thought the price was reasonable compared to other options out there and I figured if I didn't like it I could use for other cooking purposes. It also does duty as a bread keeper sometimes. Before I purchased this, I toyed with buying an enamel ware roaster but settled on this because of the dimensions, price and availability. Let us know what solution you settle on! Good luck!
Thanks Leigh for the feedback. What attracts me to this glass baker is the see through, nothing else, and I am glad to hear that it works great as a DO. I might have to hit the buy button this time arond :). I got the clay baker from Breadtopia as a result of your previous feedback, I seem to like it so far.
How about a broiler pan and a heavy duty foil tent? Merry Christmas!
Hello all - sorry for the delay in responding. Response to meds not perfect and feeling pretty weak, other odds and ends. FF's knock me out! But I've a Rubaud batch working, so life is good.
First just want to say how warm it is to see all of you again here. This, and another online culinary community are hands-down the greatest and kindest groups I've been fortunate enough to know.
Want to also thank you all for your fantastic suggestions. (wish there was a "AWESOME - THANKS!" emoticon for every post). I have what amounts to basically a cast iron fish poacher, but it's dodgy to handle in the oven and it's easy to get burned. So thanks, these are all much better solutions.
Yozzause, thank you and Mariana, thanks so much as usual for your detailed help. I want to be a bit more precise - not looking for the shine of a Riga or Russian loaf, just the nice sheen of a straight up levain done properly. Today I'm doing boules and I use the deep cast iron skillet (can't remember the name - uneven heights, great as a DO). I'll try your recommendations on spraying the top (lid) surface. I leave the DO in for an hour, pre-heating along with the oven (gets to about 465). Is this what you do, or do you place the bread and spray the DO cold? I'll also try the water brushing, looking forward to it today.