Thread: Who bakes bread?

Originally Posted by Christian1

Made my first sourdough bread, turned out okay but happy with my first go round. Was not picture worthy haha but maybe next week, big thanks to Boz for giving me some nice sourdough starter

We all have our failures. The only thing that really matters is does it taste good and did you learn anything.

I've been doing a lot of experimentation with baking sourdough bread in the Lodge
multi-cooker:



and here's my best result to date:



The recipe involves an overnight (12 hour) retarded proof in the refrigerator, which really
makes scoring a lot easier. Also, I put a few small ice cubes in the cooker, along with the
bread, hoping to improve oven spring, since the dough may have been slightly over-proofed.

The recipe came from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlJEjW-QSnQ&t=53s

The crust is crunchy, the crumb is chewy, and the taste is moderately sour...just the way
I like it!

If the dough is really wet you shouldn't need the ice cubs. Also don't know if you put the dough in a cold over or cold pot or you preheat the pot or oven then put the dough in.

I use a ceramic pot and I preheat the pot and oven. I find that combo works best for me.

I bet $1 that it was cold dough in a preheated Dutch oven.

I've heard of people spraying the dough right before putting the lid on for a bit of extra steam, but never ice in the Dutch oven.

I've also heard cold dough will get extra oven spring because the colder air in the dough will expand more. I'm not sure there would be a noticeable difference, though.

Originally Posted by planeden

I bet $1 that it was cold dough in a preheated Dutch oven.

You win!

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I use a ceramic pot and I preheat the pot and oven. I find that combo works best for me.

I have a clay baker (Romertopf), and I intend to try baking in that. My guess is that you have one
of those French pots, made especially for bread baking, right?

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

If the dough is really wet you shouldn't need the ice cubs. Also don't know if you put the dough in a cold over or cold pot or you preheat the pot or oven then put the dough in.

I use a ceramic pot and I preheat the pot and oven. I find that combo works best for me.

Could you please post a picture of your ceramic pot? Hopefully in action

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

If the dough is really wet you shouldn't need the ice cubs. Also don't know if you put the dough in a cold over or cold pot or you preheat the pot or oven then put the dough in.

I use a ceramic pot and I preheat the pot and oven. I find that combo works best for me.

My experience is that the loaf is less likely to stick if the pot is preheated. Every time I have tried using cold cast iron, I’ve had a struggle to get the finished loaf out without tearing it up. I try not to use extra flour that I have to brush off after the bread is baked.

I don't have any handy pics but it's an Emil Henry. You can see great pics of it on Sur La Table or one of those kitchen supply sites.

It's actually ceramic made for high heat. What I do is, the dough stays outside for 18-24 hours to rise in a covered container. Then it goes into a rising bucket which I line with Parchment. After a two hour second rise and the pot is preheated I just pick it up by the parchment and it goes right into the pot. Then I cover it and it bakes for 30 minute. Then I uncover it and it gets another 20 minutes or so until it's golden brown. Then I take it out with the parchment and there is no sticking of any kind.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I don't have any handy pics but it's an Emil Henry. You can see great pics of it on Sur La Table or one of those kitchen supply sites.

It's actually ceramic made for high heat. What I do is, the dough stays outside for 18-24 hours to rise in a covered container. Then it goes into a rising bucket which I line with Parchment. After a two hour second rise and the pot is preheated I just pick it up by the parchment and it goes right into the pot. Then I cover it and it bakes for 30 minute. Then I uncover it and it gets another 20 minutes or so until it's golden brown. Then I take it out with the parchment and there is no sticking of any kind.

What temp you baking at ?

Going to start making another bread today. Needed to get rid of a bit of starter still so I made some pretty good biscuits.