I've recently started baking naturally leavened bread in a cast iron pot, using the technique advocated by SourDom of heating the pot then putting the dough from the banneton into it.
The problem I have found is how to slash the dough to get a decent finish and then transfer to the pot for baking. Initially I tried plopping the bread from the banneton straight into the pot and found that I got some good, but misshapen loaves. Then I tried slashing it on baking parchment and transferring the dough to the pot using the parchment as a sling. But that tends to close the slashes up and in addition the baking parchment causes the bread to be misshapen as it bunches up round the dough in the pot.
As I use round cast iron pots, I don't believe that it would work to try and peel the dough into the pot. Wherever the dough hits the side of the pot, it starts to stick to it and then it becomes misshapen.
Has anyone had any experience / advice on how to do this to get good results?
Thanks.
Replies
The easiest way is to rise your bread in a silicon cake or loaf pan. Then you just place the whole thing into the cast iron pot. Because the silicon is flexible it's very easy to get it into the pot. Nothing has to be tipped out, or slided in.
I put 1/2 inch (or less) water in the pot as it comes up to temperature - so it gets incredibly steamy in there. It makes the best bread, with the best crust.
My problem with it is that I can only fit one loaf in my oven if I use my cast iron pot, and I like to do two loaves at a time.
"
I started making bread after reading about "No knead bread" and the Artisan bread movement in the USA (Jim Lahey from The Sullivan St Bakery NY). The Sydney Morning Herald picked up the story from The New York Times and so the journey began.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/recipes/a-loafers-guide-to-baking/2007/01/01/1167500059999.html
From this link you can see Jim dropping an overhand dunk of dough into a dutch oven. This a good article on making this type of bread. The Recipe in the article is where i started. I also now bake a sourdough boule using this process with good results for a home baker. Jim makes it look easy! Difficult to do and not get yourself burnt.
There is some video on UTube of this process and the techniques used.
I go with the baking paper (baking parchment) sling method and ignore the creases in the resulting loaf. Peter Reinhart (p38 The Bread Baker's Apprentice) likes parchment too and also mentions Silpat silicone rubber mats for baking directly on a sheet pan.
Success in scoring a well hydrated and rustic (70-80%) dough is also difficult as the dough collapses over the score marks. It helps if you can get some semolina flour or polenta or sesame seeds into the scores as it goes in the oven. However, Jim just upturns his loaf seam side up - no scoring, and the seam tends to split giving you a random pattern. Does me.
I am in agreement with silverbeet that making bread this way is the easy way to get good results.