The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Experiment: Rosemary Sourdough in the Instant Pot Omni Plus

loaflove's picture
loaflove

Experiment: Rosemary Sourdough in the Instant Pot Omni Plus

Comments

GlennM's picture
GlennM

Are you pleased with the performance?  What DO did you use?

loaflove's picture
loaflove

Surprisingly pleased! I used my le creuset (approx 7qt?) oval DO.  I removed the knob and stuffed the hole with foil.  I wish LC made a small heat proof plug of some sort for the hole. I had to put the DO in diagonally. I was quite pleased with the oven spring.  I was afraid it wouldn’t be hot enough the first 20 min.  After I removed the lid I turned temperature down as I’ve always had my food cook faster than usual with his oven.  Even with that I think it was done in 23 min after the lid was removed. 

 I had a hard time handling the hot lid with oven mitts and actually dropped one end of the lid into the pot, luckily it didn’t touch the loaf.  

Best Buy had the wolf counter top oven on sale until sep 2.  It was too good of a deal to pass up. I didn’t have time to do my experiment with the Omni until after sep 2.  So I picked up the wolf before the sale ended.  I haven’t opened it. My plan was to return the wolf if the omni worked for the bread but I’m pretty happy with how my loaf turned out.  So it makes sense to return the wolf.  But it’s such a beautiful oven.  I think I have serious FOMO 

Benito's picture
Benito

Wait, you baked this in an Instant Pot, so cool.  The bread looks perfect LL, well done.

Benny

GlennM's picture
GlennM

But “loaflove” used an instant pot air fryer/oven 

I made a loaf yesterday in my toaster oven and wanted a batard so instead of my lodge I used a clay baker. Came out just fine!

 

Benito's picture
Benito

Beautiful Glenn, I’m always impressed when bakers bake such gorgeous loaves in a toaster oven.

Benny

GlennM's picture
GlennM

I have a large Wolf toaster oven and my lodge DO fits in perfectly. Using convection with the lid on the results are as good as our wall oven 

loaflove's picture
loaflove

My goodness what a gorgeous loaf!  Look at that ear! Can I ask what you use to score with?

GlennM's picture
GlennM

I scored it cold with a razor blade. I had some time issues with this one so I proofed it overnight in the fridge, shaped it in the morning and put it back in the fridge until late afternoon. The ear surprised me.


loaflove's picture
loaflove

It looks really good 

loaflove's picture
loaflove

Thanks Benny! BTW, have you ever heard of anyone putting their SD into a loaf pan then putting it into a DO?  I was thinking of doing that to get more uniform slices.  I supposed the sides of the loaf wouldn't benefit from the steam because it's up against the loaf pan but what about the top of the loaf.  Do you think the top will be much better with some steam? That's a nice updated drawing of yourself!

Benito's picture
Benito

I have heard of some bakers steaming the early part of the bake of their pan loaves.  I think I’ve only done it once or twice, now instead I usually have an egg wash on it and don’t find it needed steaming.  I cannot recall anyone baking their pan loaf in a dutch oven, however, I do remember someone placing a second pan inverted on top of their pan loaf to trap the steam.

Benny

loaflove's picture
loaflove

Yeah, I've heard of the "poor man's" DO too.  I tried to clip two loaf pans together over the lips of the pans but the clip went flying across the room lol.  I suppose you can also spray the top of the loaf with water too.  I'm thinking with the Omni plus having that air fry type heat, being inside a DO might make it more even baking environment.  

fiftydollarburrito's picture
fiftydollarburrito

I have one of these and was thinking about baking sourdough in it.  What temp and settings did you use on this if you don't mind me asking?

loaflove's picture
loaflove

The Omni Plus?  Ok I started out preheating my DO at Bake at 450.  I had an oven thermometer inside (which may or may not be  accurate).  Even though the oven itself said it reached 450 my thermometer registered way lower so I kept preheating it.  I think it was on the high convection mode as well.  I then switched it to the roast setting in hopes of speeding up the preheating.   I kept preheating until my thermometer reached almost 450.  Then i loaded the loaf inside the DO , threw in a couple of ice cubes and put it back in the oven for 20 min.  Then the moment of truth, I removed the lid, the loaf looked pretty pale except for some browning at the edge of the ear .  I was quite happy with the color of the crust and the oven spring.  I was worried it wouldn't be hot enough to produce good oven spring yet worried it'd be too hot and brown the crust too quickly.  After I removed the lid, I believe I dropped the temp down to about 425 and set my timer for 25 min.  I kept an eye on it because this oven has been known to cook faster than normal.  I might have turned it down to 420 at some point.  After about 23 minutes i felt it was dark enough so I took it out.   I'm making another loaf today.  I'm thinking, if this is consistent, I may never have to turn on a big oven to make bread again.  Hope this helps . Good luck!  Please post pics. I'd love to see how it turns out

fiftydollarburrito's picture
fiftydollarburrito

Do you have dutch oven that fit in this thing?

loaflove's picture
loaflove

I have the 6.7 quart or something like that, Le Creuset DO oval that will fit only diagonally and only if I remove the knob. .  Whatever DO you use, i think the only problem will be the knob because there isn't enough clearance , width and depth wise should be no problem.  You can use a knobless DO like Glenn's Lodge double dutch oven ( read back in this thread) . 

fiftydollarburrito's picture
fiftydollarburrito

Thanks for the info.  I have a large lodge which won't fit even without the knob.  This gives me a good idea though.

loaflove's picture
loaflove

Maybe try to put it in a loaf pan and cover it with another loaf pan like Benny said.  If you don't mind the loaf shape.  Or just brush it with egg like him.  Or spray it with water.  I just put another loaf in the omni.  Cross my fingers . Hope it wasn't just beginners luck