April 11, 2007 - 7:22am
Baking with a Cloche ...
Those who also use 'La Cloche' ... have you tried soaking the Cloche in water before baking (or spray the inside with water) ?
I do not use the base that came with it but a hot baking stone, combined with the 'cold' Cloche ... I am getting great results but I could imagine that a wet Cloche could create for the dough a setup with even more steam in the first minutes. What do you think ?
BROTKUNST
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I've never soaked mine. There seems to be plenty of water available for steam in the dough itself. I once got a painful faceful of steam after opening the cloche to set the bread back into the oven for the final bake!
Do you use the base that came with it or the baking stone ?
Maybe because I use the baking stone I never experienced the surge of steam you described. For an average bread I'd leave the Cloche on for about 30 minutes or so and continue baking for another 4-8 minutes (with the oven a crack open, depending on what kind of crust I want to create)
BROTKUNST
Yes, I do use the base. It wasn't a huge cloud of visible steam, but it was certainly enough to cause me to wince in pain when it hit my face.
I'm more careful these days.
I appreciate your feedback, Jmonkey. I think I will try a little 'misting' on the inside of the Cloche and just see what happens ... I'll keep you posted.
Tonight we'll have Pain a l'Ancienne and Pizza, so the Cloche won't see the heat before tomorrow or so ...
BROTKUNST
I use my cloche as is, the base and the cover, no misting, soaking whatever.
before I bought my cloche I use a home made one that I used over a pizza stone, but still no misting , soaking etc....
qahtan
You'd think it would crack if it was soaked in water then put into a blaazing oven.
my pizza stone did the other night. I use it for baking all my bread and I flick water into the oven with a pastry brush to get some good steam, I must have hit my baking stone with it a few times as when I pulled out my bread my stone was cracked all the way through....is in two halves now. :S
So, yeah I doint think wet stoneware is a good idea in a blazing oven.
thegreenbaker
Originally I was thinking about 'soaking' because of the way you use a 'Roemertopf' .. a stoneware that is soaked in water and then bakes your chicken and vegetables (bottom with lid) . This is a traditional German way of cooking. However it is true that the baking stone is very sensitive to temperatures shocks ...
I value everybody's input. Thank You ... and since it does not seem to be a widespread idea to mist or let alone soak the Cloche, I better don't gamble with the $50 piece. After all about 20% of the water in the loaf has to turn into steam ... a 'misting' may just be pale compared to that.
Brotkunst
I'm with jmonkey on this. There is plenty of moisture in the dough. If you spritz the hot top it will break and if you soak it cold I think the moisture will be trapped inside and if the bell doesn't break the bread will not have much of a crust. Imho
Eric
I do not soak. According to Rose Levy Beranbaum who wrote "The Bread Bible" soaking the dome for 60 minutes increased it's weight by 10 grams, less than 1/2 ounce of water. She preheats the dome. There are more tips in her book for La Cloche use.
Can you imagine how tricky it would be to remove the dome when it is hot really hot and then have to get the dough into the base also hot and put the dome on .... qahtanI bought King Arthur's cloche then phoned their customer service and was told NOT to preheat the empty cloche. Put the dough in the cold cloche into a preheated oven or put the dough into a cold oven and bring the tempt. up with the oven and filled cloche simultaneously? I haven't used it yet. Comments welcome b/c I would surely hate cracking the new cloche and hate wasting good dough too. Thanks for "Help"!