Put on Your Tin Foil Hats
For about the last year I've baked my weekly loaf in my trusty #10 cast iron dutch oven. The results have always been good, but I'm limited pretty much to baking a boule. When I saw several posts in TFL about using an aluminum foil roasting pan as a cloche, I thought I would give it a try.
I'm really pleased with the results. The bread recipe is Jeffrey hamelman's Vermont Sourdough. I preheated the oven and baking stone to 450 degrees F. Then I lightly misted the proofed loaf and the inside of the roasting pan with water and placed the loaf and roasting pan cover in the oven. The loaf was baked covered for 30 minutes covered at 450 degrees F, and an additional 15 minutes uncovered at the same temperature.
The foil pan is so much easier to handle than the dutch oven and gives terrific oven spring when used with the baking stone; plus, you can vary the shape of your loaves. Has anyone done baguettes under foil pans?
Prairie19
PS. Why is aluminum foil called "tin foil"?
Your oven spring is impressive.
Though a beginning baker, I am firmly convinced covering the loaf for the first 20 minutes of the bake significantly improves my outcomes. I started doing so after reading about Susan's(?) glass bowl and the NYT No-Knead Dutch Oven methods.
I have been using a full-size steam table pan that was dented and discarded by a friend of mine's restaurant. I added a $5 drawer-pull handle from the hardware store and it is similar to the SteamBreadMaker kit version, which is where I got the idea.
I have had success with baguettes, though I keep them at 17" to fit under the lid without getting too close to the edge.
John
I'm also enamored of baking under an aluminum foil roasting pan. Matter of fact, I have a couple bâtards that were baked that way about to come out of the oven.
David
And great creativity to boot! Was the loaf baked through? Only reason I ask is because the photos of the slices show areas which are daker than the rest of the crumb.
When I get those moist looking spots, the crumb is a bit underbaked. On the other hand, it just could be the photo is playing tricks with my eyes.
I can't find a deep enough foil pan to try with baguettes. There is a stainless steel pan at my local restaurant supply that is large enough to cover my stone, plus deep enough, but am not sure I want to pay the $30 they are asking for it.
BTW, foil was orginally made of tin until around 1910, when aluminum replaced it. The nickname stuck.
Must be my shaping technique. The loaf was baked through, but the holes in the center of the loaf are stretched differently from the holes on the edges, giving them a darker appearance under the photo flash. Thanks for your reply and for the information about tin foil. Prairie19.
That is daily bread to look forward to!
BTW, it's not JUST the foil - your final proof dough is spectacular!
Patsy
I'll have to try using a roasting pan like that.
Your loaf looks amazing!
...Looks excellent.
I tried this for the 2nd time today. The first attempt turned out fairly well but I thought the crust colour was lacking.
Today I baked two loaves from a batch of modified Hamelman's Norwich sourdough with added whole grains. I bulk retarded the entire recipe in the 'fridge for 12 hours after 2 hours at room temperature & 2 folds, since I hand knead. One was baked under foil after spritzing the loaf and foil pan with water, 45 mins covered, 15 mins uncovered at 450F
The other was baked according to Dom's manoevre to retain steam in an obligate convection oven - heat the oven as high as possible, pour hot water into a pan at the same time as the bread goes in & turn off the oven for ten minutes. The rest of the bake is at 425F, & the loaf left in a turned off slightly open oven to dry the crust.
The covered loaf had marginally better oven spring & both loaves had great crisp crust. The colour of the covered loaf was much greyer, without the red tint of the uncovered.
Has anyone else noticed this . I will try to post the photos in Flicker so people can compare.
Patsy
I posted some of the pictures of this batch on Flickr in The Fresh Loaf Group. The colour difference is more striking than it appears in the photos.
I've tried & tried & cannot load on the site. What is the URL?
Patsy
Hi, Patsy.
My experience has been that covered loaves have lighter colored crust, more bloom of the cuts but, maybe, less oven spring.
I never, ever would cover the loaf for more than half the total baking time. I generally shoot for 1/3 to 1/2 of the time. Even for a 3 lb miche that baked for an hour, I would limit the covered time to about 18 minutes. I find that, if the loaf is covered longer, I get a very shiney loaf because the starch on the surface of the loaf gets gelatinized, I think. I don't like that effect, personally.
YMMV, of course.
David
Thanks David, I'll try a shorter time for the cover next time. The crust wasn't shiny - it was duller & rather greyish - not as attractive to look at as the other loaf. It had a very nice texture. Too long an exposure to moisture sounds plausible.
I tried to post the pictures by copying the address of my set at Flickr, but nothing appeared....
Patsy
Prairie19 --
Your loaf ready for baking appears to be placed on parchment paper that's been used before, as it's browned around the edges. How many times are you able to bake with the same piece of parchment paper? Gorgeous loaf!
I can usually re-use parchment paper 3 or 4 times. It gets rather brittle after that. If you look carefully at the photo of the proofed loaf, you can see that I'm using an aluminum sheet pan for a peel. That makes it very easy to slide the parchment and loaf on to the baking stone. Prairie19