Humidity versus Steam

I indeed do use a small pressure sprayer in addition to pouring water into a container in the bottom of my (gas) oven, not on Ms Glezer's recommendation, but from what I learned working with a wood fired oven.  I spray my baking stone pretty liberally after loading (being carefull to avoid the bread...). 

I live in a very dry climate and I am happier with those loaves where I have done this kind of steaming than with the ice cube method (which I did try a couple of times).  I can pump quite a bit of water into the oven in a short period of time.  Much escapes, but much does not.  Hot water will use less energy than cold water to turn to steam, thus having a smaller impact on the temperature of the oven (As if opening the door wasn't bad enough!)

I might also add that I have an old oven and no longer fear committing oven abuse in the name of good bread.  The oven has needed to be replaced for some time, but I have been putting this off because I don't know if I could be so callous with a shiny, new oven (Of course I could get that steam assist oven, heh!)

Humidity can exist at any temperature.  At higher temperatures water contains more kinetic energy (which is why we see subliming ice create little wisps of moisture at the freezing point of water and vaporization create billows of steam at the boiling point.  Think of it, have you ever heard of a sublimation powered turbine?)

Certainly I have heard a very qualified teacher recommend that one steam an oven before loading a levain bread and also steam it after it was loaded because of the slower rising time for levain breads. 

I have heard the same teacher argue that the home baker should use ice cubes so they will sublime. This will not actually occur.  Sublimation occurs in arid environments at near freezing temperatures.  In an oven an ice cube will briefly turn to water and then the water will vaporize. There is a potential for only a small amount, if any, of the ice to sublime.  But the teacher in question seemed to be in love with the word "sublime" and I declined to argue my point.

What we are doing is to try and pump enough water vapor into the oven so that the surface of the loaves will be moist at the beginning of the bake, but not so much that the atmosphere remains moist after those first few minutes when the bread is expanding.  Steam is a very active form of water vapor.  Is that "better" than a less active form?  That way madness lies. There are many variables involved with this and each baker must find the right balance for his/her breads and oven. But I am forced to wonder: if steam weren't the best way to deliver moisture to the bread, why aren't there high priced professional "vapor" ovens?

What I find is that there is much art to baking and our teachers sometimes like to inject a little personal poetry into what they advocate.  No harm done.  I like a lot of steam.  For me the bread is the final arbiter.

Long answer.  I have obviously spent too much time thinking about this. Hope this helps.

I think I've tried all the methods mentioned for steaming up the oven, but I discovered, on reading The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking, that just soaking the crust, either with a sprayer or a brush, before putting it into the oven, works just fine.

This subject has been visited many times here. The only thing new I can add is that I can not see a noticeable difference between my French Baguettes and Sourdough Boules when baked in a humidified and steamed oven or baked without steam and added humidity, under a cover. The cover shields the dough while it is warming and creating moisture inside the cover. The surface of the newly expanded crust is then gelatinous and becomes shiny. Once the cover is removed it browns up as usual.

If I had a gas oven I would cover everything and never steam. IMHO there is no benefit to steaming over a bowl or some kind of cover like a roasting pan. Use a sheet pan or a stone as the base, again it doesn't matter much.

Eric

Subfuscpersona, I like the size of your roaster pan and it fits inside a sheet pan. There are two other things I do to give a slightly higher humidity level. I sometimes will spray a little water around the perimeter of the dough on the paper. The small amount of water applied to the baking surface will quickly turn to steam when placed in a hot oven.

I have a small steam generator you can find on ebay that I use to spray super heated steam into the chamber through a drilled hole near the top. This creates the best high humidity environment for perfect baguettes and batards. You get a very nice thin crust that has that authentic French sheen on the surface when every thing is perfect. Search here for my T-55 flour test. This is the method I used for those breads. Hope this helps.

Eric

I don't like things to get fussy and have to do several "procedures" while baking bread. In my electric convection oven, I have what we call a lèche-frite (a metal pan that collects meat juices that spill from broach cooking) in place in the bottom of the oven which is the same thing as putting a cast-iron pan I guess. I throw in a cup of very hot water in it, close the door, grab my bread, throw it in and then let it bake. I have been followiing the instructions in my books about doing it again two minutes later but that doesn't really make any difference at all.

I think in the end, it really depends on the type of oven and what the goal is. I like my bread to burst at the incisions so I don't want to keep the dough too oiled or damp. I don't spray directly on the bread. The steam created from the hot water gives a beautiful, golden, crunchy crust. So, I figure why complicate things?

I have friends who have a lot of trouble with gas ovens with no convection. But I don't really know WHY! 

Jane 

Using cover pans appears to be a good idea. I've been looking into ovens used to professionally cook baugettes in France and noticed that the professional ovens there have just enough height in the deck chamber to contain the bread with rise plus clearence for circulation. Steam injected into the chamber quickly fills it during the baking process. Covering the bread with a pan resembles this setup except that the steam injection is missing as is convection.

I have some questions though. Are the covers preheated with the rest of the oven or do you cover the loaf as it is inserted into the oven? I would assume that disposable aluminum roasting pans would also work. Also, what affect does this have on the spring rise? Does this method attain shiny but crispy crusted baugettes?

It just might be easier to start voicing praise on crusts of the Tuscan Dust...,

Wild-Yeast

I'm still a complete noob so I don't have a lot of loaves in my repertoire, but the few times I've made bread and wanted to steam, I've thought of dripping some water into the oven and right onto the very hot oven floor through the vent that comes up the back right cooktop element.

Alas, I only think of this AFTER I've got the bread in and the hot tiles are in place which happens to be directly under that opening and I don't dare drip water on hot tiles. I just need to remember to place then just a wee bit to the left so I can drip right to the oven floor. Next time. This way I'd be able to get water in the oven without needing to open the door at all. I suppose if I was feeling clever I could also gerryrig some maner of a spray tip on a tube and feed that down the little chute and supply vapour instead of a water drip.

Does this sound like a plausible plan? Any downside you can think of?

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Paul

I read in a book by Tom Jaine that, to replicate the baking of soda bread in a bastible, (a pot placed in the fireplace, with coals on the lid) you should cover the bread in the oven with a large heat proof bowl, largely for a more even baking.  I've yet to try this in our oven as it's too tricky to get the door open without its falling off, let alone trying to manoeuver a large bowl on top of a cushion of soda bread.

I am really intersted in this covering technique to share with my readers, but there is something I don't get. If the bread is covered, do you still steam or does the bread itself create enough? Could you follow Eric's method and right before the cover is place, throw some water to create steam and then quickly cover the bread? I'd burn myself, I think. Or is steam just no longer necessary?

Jane 

Hi Jane,

To summarize; just find a cover that will fit over the loaf that includes enough height clearence to allow for oven spring and whose edges seat well to the to the oven stone underneath. Preheating the cover is optional but recommended. I think that the closer the fit to the loaf the better the result which implies that there may be a need for more than one cover depending on the type of loaf being baked. I even thought about making a make shift tent out of aluminum foil to try out the method.

Having hovered around my oven vent during the baking I can safely say that the water content of the bread evaporates as the loaf bakes. Reducing ventilation around the cooking loaf elevates humidity using this evaporating water. It may not produce nearly as saturated an environment as a steam injected commercial oven but, compared to all the other methods we've been using, it is simple and straight forward and probably provides more humidity for a longer period than any of the other methods. It also may represent a solution for those with gas ovens. I have not tried this yet as I don't have a suitable cover yet. But intend to try it the day after tomorrow...,

Anyone with a gas oven try this yet or did I miss an entry?

Wild-Yeast

P.S. Was that baugette crust shine in Eric's photo?

cooking pot I purchased years ago.  It's stainless steel, large, and totally a misfit in my kitchen, but tomorrow it becomes the 'cover' for my baking boule.  And to think, I almost tossed this treasure after the last burnt chili episode.  What was I thinking?...oh yeah, that was BEFORE bread.  :)

This is a fascinating thread and a technique I'd like to try.

We have a large metal pan or bowl sitting on our hot stone, covering the bread. The cover is very hot and probably has no handles.

What's the trick in getting that hot cover off the bread and out of the oven without getting charred in the process?

Hey Mini,

this has been an interesting thread, but I am worried about one line in your post:

"push self (and bread) back inside [oven]."

It sounds suspiciously like baking instructions written by the Brothers Grimm.  Can this technique only be used by people named Hansel or Gretl?  ;-)

Seriously, I will have to try this technique.  Crust is the thing in our house!

I have a batch of Zopf (aka, Swiss-style challah, aka cholesterol in a loaf) rising, but with the high fat content of the dough, I think I want a softer crust...will save it for the Columbia sourdough ( don't recall the full name...a la Glezer) that's on tap for tomorrow. 

 Windi