Had a little experiment last night with two portions of the same dough.
The one of the left is baked with the steam-oven. I just used the standard bread recipe in the oven's settings. The one on the right is baked with a Dutch oven.
Tried to get the variables (like scoring etc.) as consistent as possible. What a different.
Any thoughts? The only thing I can think of is that the Dutch oven wasn't the same temp as the oven, so that stopped the rise of the loaf on the right.
You should preheat the Dutch oven for around 1hr before baking. Also you should do the last 1/3 of the bake with the lid off.
Some people toss ice cubes into the dutch oven with the dough to increase the moisture. It never made any difference for me.
A steam oven is superior. That isn’t debatable. The dutch oven is the next best method - steam ovens are expensive.
@markr @Dontbesourdough Yes, Dutch ovens are great for baking bread, but I wish someone would make one with a 'bread pan' shape so I could make sandwich-style bread in it, not just boules.
You can use a Terrine. I have family that prefers regular loaves, whenever they visit I do a lot of my bread baking in that.
@Cheradenine I was thinking more of a square cross-section like a bread pan has. I'd have to buy a terrine, which would be expensive and I'd have to justify the costs and find a place to put in among my already-crowded kitchen tools, pans, and appliances.
Do you put parchment paper in the Dutch oven? I use it to lift the loaf and keep it from sticking when baking.
Instead of ice cubes, spritz water on the dough before closing the lid. Seems to help the spring.
I picked up my terrine at a flea market pretty cheap, and it has straight sides, so I do use parchment paper. I have tried ice cubes, but didn't find that they did much.
Another vote for parchment. Made everything much easier.
They do. I have both types.
Do you know about the loaf tins that have a slide on lid? You can leave the lid on for the initial part of the bake (or the entire bake if you like your bread perfectly rectangular).
@desGroles Yes, these are called Pullman pans. I've not used one but I'm aware of them. often used to make Japanese milk bread loaves.
My bread machine makes a loaf with a similar square cross-section, albeit with rounded corners.
What’s your go-to method right now? Did you do the comparison between a Dutch Oven and just a oven with a tray of hot water on the button?
I never tried the steam tray. I have two Dutch ovens, both made of clay, one for round loaves and one for ‘batard’ oval loafs. I generally only use the batard. The only recent change I’ve made in my baking is to minimize the amount of starter I keep. Basically I went from saving 150g to 25g. Much less waste. Back on Reddit there were posts from ‘the German guy’ that covered in massive detail how to minimize starter waste and the science of starter proportions.