Subject: Re: Baking Cloches?

From: [email-masked] (Roland J Saldanha)
Date: 6 Jul 1994 01:39:46 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Calvin Wong <[email-masked]> wrote:
>I'm a novice to sourdough bread and have been intrigued by the
>different methods that people come up with. One that I read about
>was proposed in his no longer regular food article by Raymond
>Sokolov in Natural History (4/93).
>
>Sokolov was extolling the virtues of Cloches in turning out an
>awesome crusty bread with perfect texture, etc. etc.
>
>Now ... What is exactly a cloche, how does it work, and what happens
>if you don't use it?
>
>thanks
>cheers
>the wongster
>
>Calvin Wong
>[email-masked]
>

A cloche is a a stoneware baking device that has a stoneware bottom and a
hemispherical top.  You can bake round free form loaves in it.  They are also
sold in other shapes - to acommodate long french bread and the like.

The principle that makes these so wonderful (as the theory goes) is that they
can be soaked in water and are thus very effective in generating steam during
the early part of the baking cycle.  Steam is introduced by some means
frequently in any baking regimen so as to delay the onset of the formation of a
crust which allows the bread to rise a little bit further - go through "oven
spring" to the maximum possible extent.  Towards the end of the baking cycle
the stoneware is bone dry and is believed to help absorb extra moisture and
thus provide a very fine crackling crust.  References to this approach to
wonderful crusts may be found in Laurels Kitchen Bread  Book, Elizabeth Davids
book on English Bread and Yeast Cookery and Breadtime stories among other
sources.

I own one.  It costs a pretty penny and is very effective as advertised.  I
have found however that a cheaper solution is almost as effective - simply bake
your bread in a covered casserole at very high heat - I use 450 degrees
fahrenheit for about an hour (cold start because most of these gizmos are
sensitive to thermal shock).  My feeling is close proximity is a surface that
retains heat well - glass/stone is what does the trick and steam etc are
incidental - not vital.  I made a similar post a while back and somebody
replied that they thought this was ineffective  and a simple metal loaf pan did
a better job.  I could'nt diasgree more.  I have baked in every form of vessel
known to man and truly beleive this is the only way a home baker can
approximate the perfect crust saught after in french bread and the like.  In
relation to this I should point out that the kind of dough you use has a
dramatic impact on the crusting etc of the bread - it is very hard to get a
hard crust on bread with oil - it is impossible to use high temperatures on
breads with sugar - the sugar caramerlizes and burns at the high temperature
before the loaf can bake.  Thus the glass casserole/furnace like baking 
conditions work best for doughs with flour, water, sourdough (yeast if you 
must) and salt.

Roland Saldanha

P.S. In relationship to my old post I pointed out that the surfaces in closest 
contact to the glass crust the best - bottom and sides.  You need an extremely 
well risen loaf for the loaf to touch the top of the casserole dish (mine are 
quite deep) and so the top is undercrusted unless you remove the top halfway 
through the baking cycle.  If you loaf is close to the top of the casserole 
make sure to grease the top since oven spring is quite likely to push the top 
off and cement it to the loaf.