EH bread cloche tips?
Hello, I've used an EH bread cloche for sourdough 50% rye bread two times at 440F, preheated for 45 mins, and both times the bottom of the loaves got burned. The breads otherwise turned out quite good in terms of the oven spring, the crust, and the crumb. Not too big of a deal but is there a way to fix this?
I could think of lowering the baking temp, raising the cloche away from the bottom of the oven, using a baking tray underneath as a heat shield/diffuser. What is your experience?
Thank you and Best wishes, h.
P.S. Tried another bread today in the cloche sitting on a thick ss roasting pan -- again, much more browning on the bottom. The bottom tray of the cloche is barely thicker than 1/4", if any. The dome lid is thicker. Is this what they are supposed to be?
I have been using a EH ceramic tin (not cloche) for about a 18 months. It was a learning curve at the beginning and I often got burnt bottoms.
I do not preheat. I proof the loaf at room temp in the tin. I bake at a lower temperature - 200C which is about 390F is the max I would go to. I don't put it near the bottom of the oven. I also often tip the loaf out 10 mins before the end and turn it over then put it back in.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for the response! Will try lower temp next time, 420 or 410. I don't mind longer baking time at a lower temp as long as the spring is reasonable. Still wondering why the bottom burns while the completely exposed top of a loaf isn't even close to burning. Got something to do with the first few minutes of baking after the dough hits the preheated ceramic pan.
Could give the complete 45' preheat to the dome, while only 20', or so, to the bottom?
You'll find a way. I can't be doing with different preheats so just turn the loaf.
I don't use the bottom at all. I found the lip got in the way of handling the baked bread. I use the cover on a pizza stone, with no issues.
Thanks! Looks like the thicker (1/2", maybe) stone on the photo does the trick. For me, when the cloche bottom sits on a thick ss pan, the bottom crust of the bread comes out acceptable. Still, on a thicker and darker side, but not burnt.
I have baked hundreds of loafs in one - partly because I never get anything close to a burnt bottom.
I use thier bottom and sometimes I preheat the entire cloche, or like tonight, put it in cold.
I get great oven spring and super even browning. Really surprised to read this. Are your coils on the bottom and your rack at the bottom too? I have even posted on the results and consistency.
EH Cloche results
Thanks.
The breads I used the cloche for were at least 50% rye, which makes stickier and heavier doughs -- this might be a factor. On the other hand, when I baked the same boules in a similarly sized/shaped cast iron bakeware in the same oven the loaves came out perfect in terms of uniform browning. One thing to notice right away is the cast iron vessel has got thicker walls.
Whether this particular combination of dough-oven-cloche is problematic, I don't know. Stowed away the cloche on the rarely-used-kitchen-ware shelf for the time being...