If you want a good crust, put a Dutch oven in your oven as it’s warming up, so that it also gets hot, then take it out, drop the dough into it (has to be low hydration to keep shape), cover with lid and put it back into oven. This will keep the steam inside the Dutch oven. In my experience, it actually makes it so crusty that I take it out of Dutch oven halfway to not overdo it.
Yes, I'm using this method. The downside is I can only bake 1 loaf at a time, limited by the size of the Dutch oven, and no baguette. :(
Re:Food security and the coming storm
by hunter-gatherer on Sunday May 29, 2022 @12:43PM
(#31550520)
Did this for a while but also wanted to do two loaves at once. I started baking on a steel plate and added a tray with water soaked lava rocks in the oven. It turns out pretty much the same as baking in the Dutch oven for me.
This is why you buy a second Dutch oven :-) maybe a slightly different size, so it’s convenient for eg smaller dishes, if your first is on the big side.
Hear hear! I bake once a week, sourdough is my white whale, I've never made a good one, the lean crusty breads need a good commercial oven to turn out a good crust. The home ovens (even with crazy modifications for steaming) don't do as well. Alas, if anything is most anti-adapted to time-saving automation it's cooking and baking. I can spend 8+ hrs a weekend (yes, that's right, 8+) for food prep or spend that on more technical endeavors. I think about that trade-off frequently. It's not the cost, it's because the alternative is terrible nutrition.