Comments on: It’s Bread Baking Season

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:16:29 +0000

Robyn, No but I have a large pan of water on the bottom shelf of the stove. And you may find 550F too hot – I made some delicious multigrain bread right after lunch today. I used 450F for the oven temperature.

And as a suggestion, you might find that making dough with less water in it and gently placing the dough in the hot containers gives lighter breads. I have even used wax paper sprayed with oil or baking spray as a sling and leaving the sling in place as you lower it dough into the pots.

I made dough for 2 pots – one was corning and the other was a heavy ceramic pot. The Corning pot was at least 3 time bigger than the ceramic pot.

Good luck and happy experimenting!

Bill

PS Just remember you can turn any failures into breadcrumbs or bread pudding… I have had a few failures along the way.

By: Robyn

Robyn — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:07:01 +0000

Bill,
Do you cover your Corning ware pots?

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:44:15 +0000

Hi Robyn,
I once took the care you do to place the risen dough into the oven. But I found a better way – but be VERY careful or you may burn yourself. The reason is that I heat my oven to 550F and then just dump the risen dough into the preheated pot. Usually within 20 minutes it is browned and ready to take out. I use Corningware ceramic pots and there is no need to grease etc as the high heat prevents the dough from sticking. You can buy a couple of the pots and Goodwill for a couple of bucks each and use several to bake the loaves of bread. The bread always comes out wonderful! Try it, you will love it!

Just remember, the oven and pots are hot as h*** so be very careful!

Bill

By: Robyn

Robyn — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:23:41 +0000

I just tried my first WW Almost no-knead bread. It was baked in my oval le creuset type Dutch oven. I added a little dry milk powder to the dry ingredients ..@2TB… Since the dough from my first loaf spread out on my baking stone (it was still fabulous by the way)…I decided to try to handle/juggle the dough less. After the quick 15 knead turns, it was turned out on a piece of parchment just a bit bigger than the finished loaf would be. Covered that with a bit of flour and a piece of plastic …braced the loaf on each side with empty glass Pyrex pans to
encourage vertical rise, rather than spread….covered it all with a slightly warm towel (my kitchen is pretty cool in winter here) and let it proof for about and hour and a half. Then when my stone and Dutch oven were heated for about a half hour I transferred the dough by
sliding ANOTHER long strip of parchment UNDER the parchment the bread was resting on. It was about 5” longer on each end and the width of the risen loaf. Lifted it up….slipped it in the pan and slipped out my
parchment ‘sling’. Floured and made slits in the top of the loaf and put it in the oven. WOW! Did this come out great. Terrific oven rise even after the nice pre- rise….Can’t wait to let it cool enough to cut into it and try it out! This loaf is about 5″ – 6” tall.

By: No knead fan in CT

No knead fan in CT — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:31:03 +0000

I’m not sure where I saw this suggested (it might have been elsewhere on this site), but here’s what I do to simplify getting the dough into the hot Dutch oven once it’s ready to bake.

After the long first rise, I take a good sized sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil and form it into a basket shape inside the Dutch oven. You have to really shape it well, paying particular attention to make sure the pot’s lid will still fit on snugly.

After the foil basket is formed, remove it from the pot (so you’ll be able to preheat the pot later) and spray it with a bit of Pam non-stick spray. After scraping the dough out, folding it and shaping it, dust it with flour and then move the dough into the foil basket with a dough knife. Then just cover the basket loosely with Saran Wrap or a tea towel for the second rise.

After two hours (and with your pot pre-heated), just remove the pot’s lid and slip the foil basket with dough into the pot. If the basket sags a bit under the weight of the dough when moving it into the pot, press the foil down around the dough with the edge of a wooden spoon once the basket is in the pot.

(Also, before I put the dough into the foil basket, I put the basket on a dinner plate or cookie sheet. That way, if I have to move the dough and basket around for some reason, I just lift the plate or cookie sheet rather than the basket itself.

This has worked really well for me, so feel free to give it a try.

By: Myron Anderson

Myron Anderson — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:07:17 +0000

I have been baking bread using the “no-knead” method for over a year and have had great success. I have taught several others this method and all rave about the taste and ease of baking. I have tried it ever which way. At first I used Eric’s method to a T, and for the most part it always turned out great, however I was having trouble droping the bread into my Dutch Oven, I have yet to buy and use a La Cloche. I stumbled upon the idea of using parchment paper, placing it in my banton before the second rise, and it worked beautifully. Also I found that my dough was too wet and I had a hard time working with it so I reduced the amount of water, and though the dough was a little stiffer it turned out fine. I have made bread for the Juvenile Detention Facility and all the boys ask for more. I have never had a “bad” loaf yet. some didn’t look too good but the taste has always been great. So a little less water, and parchment paper works fine.

Myron

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:24:42 +0000

I find that the higher you can get the oven, the better the bread turns out. If you crank it up to 500F or even 550F and preheat the bowls in the oven to those temperatures, that you get better results than using lower temperatures.

I use heavy clay or Pyrex bowls and have no problem with sticking.

By: Max Nigh

Max Nigh — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:22:50 +0000

Firrst success after 5 tries. When putting the bread in the Coche, I would turn the bowl over and plop in the Coche. The bead became a pancake, and baked about 3/4 inch high. A real dissappointment.
My solution: I used more flower for dusty the wet dough. when ready to put in the Coche, I took the dough and put it out on a board. I reworked the dough into a ball and made sure it was a ball. I pu tin the baking Coche and , wallla , I got something the looked like a loaf of bread.
there was one failure. My wife turned the oven off on me duting the 15 minute browning baking. Oh well, it came out pretty brown, but better luck next time.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:48:22 +0000

Bread sticking in a clay baker? I do what is often done in a banneton or basket: a light spray of oil and some oat bran. Spray the inside, put in a small handful of oat bran and rotate the baker so it covers the inside.

Nice outside surface + no sticking + easy to clean!

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:59:30 +0000

I use the same technique, it works great. Once or twice I’ve accidentally folded the dough over a scrap of parchment paper, though, and ended up baking some kind of weird sourdough-parchment hybrid loaf. Still tasted great, but had a bit more fiber than I had anticipated.

Have not put the proofing basket in with the loaf, though. I’ll try that next time.