Dark pumpernickel, tried a cloche
My wife bought me a Pampered Chef set of stoneware a few weeks ago. I wanted to make some sourdough pumpernickel, so I thought it'd be a great time to try it out as a cloche. This is a dark pumpernickel with raisins, made with rye sourdough starter, molasses, coffee and cocoa powder. Yum!
I made two loaves. One I baked as I usually do, on a stone, spraying water into the oven. The other I baked in a cloche, putting the loaf in with the cloche cold and sticking it in a 450F oven.
Here's just before being slashed:
And here's what they looked like when done (left is baked on the stone, right in the cloche):
The cloche one looks darker, presumably because it stayed moister. The crust was *very* soft when I took the cover off after the bread interior reached 196F. I left it in the oven with the cover off for 5 more minutes, and that seemed to help a lot. As you can see, they both sprang beautifully in the oven. The cloche didn't seem to make a difference in that department.
I haven't opened either up yet, so I'll have some more pictures for you tomorrow!
-Joe
Joe. Nice looking cloche but is the inside glazed?
qahtan
No, it's bare stoneware.
-Joe
I should have also said nice looking pumpernickel, which it is.
I have never made pumpernickel, I should maybe try it some time.
qahtan
Thanks :) This recipe is very rich. The bread is dense, moist, and very flavorful. It comes from Bread Alone.
-Joe
By pure coincidence, I also started making this exact loaf (from Bread Alone) a couple of days ago...I finally finished baking the loaves this afternoon and cut into one of them tonight. YUMMY!!!! I must admit that mine don't look as pretty as yours (one had a major lopsided "blow-out"), but they had quite the oven spring and really are dense, moist and flavourful! I think that a piece of cheese with a slice of this bread will be a meal in itself!!!