May 17, 2020 - 4:37am
forgot to add steam
oops, forgot to add any steam this morning.
Shame as it would have risen to a nice size :(
As I dont use a dutch oven I usually just add a tray and fill it with boiling water but seen adding water to rolled up cotton towels makes much more steam.
Anyone else use rolled up towels?
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I think the towels are meant to be used in conjuction with a tray/skillet of boiling water. My oven is tiny so the last time I tried I was only able to fit in 1 rolled up towel and I don't think that small of an amount of steam made much difference. If you have a bigger oven, you might have better luck. I've found that my baking sheet + lava rocks set up works fine for me.
I was using soaked rolled towels in a pan on a lower rack in the oven. I hated messing about with all the wet towels afterwards. Eventually I gave up entirely on adding steam with water in the oven. Any batard or boule goes into the oven inside a closed pot, pan, or roaster. The pan loaves do their oven spring thing down on the sides, against the pan surface, and don't get externally steamed. If I had a big enough covered roaster I would put them inside it.