Dutch oven AND pizza stone - Super glossy bread!

I believe I have made quite a breakthrough in my bread making. I am now getting the most perfectly risen and glossy bread. It is this gloss that has eluded me for so long! I have been unable to find any mention of this complete technique on the web. Though, since the elements of it are used everywhere I am simply standing on the shoulders of giants!

The trick seems to be to maximise the amount of steam in the container early on in the game. To do it I use a stainless steel roaster with lid and a pizza stone cut to size to fit inside and.completely cover the bottom. This allows me to pour a small amount of water (about 20 mls) down the edge of of the tin, under the stone just as I put the dough into the well heated tin+stone. The tin instantly fills with lots of steam and I get the lid on fast trapping it there until the loaf starts generating its own steam as it cooks.

The stone does three things. It maximises the available heat inside the chamber. It ensures the base of the loaf is well cooked. And most importantly since the water runs under the stone, it provides a mechanism to add water without wetting the base of the loaf. I simply cut a cheap stone to size with an angle grinder.

Overnight rise in the firidge. 20 mins covered at 250C, 20 mins uncovered at 175C and 7 minutes at 230C to colour the loaf to my preference (pretty dark!). Cool the loaf in the open (off) oven. Voila! Beautiful glossy, crusty bread as good as any (and better than most) professional bread. At least I think so! My son says it's "peak bread"!!

Hope this helps your bread making. John