Ok Thanks for all the posts. I have found our dutch oven in the cupboard and will try it out tomorrow. However we haven't solved the initial query. Why is my bread ( of any kind) flopping when it goes into the oven?? Obviously I'm doing something wrong along the way. the question is...what?
I have tried several basic recipes including some of Paul Hollywoods' ( british baker and TV star) and have followed them to the letter. Usually I leave the dough to have it's first rise in the mixer bowl just covered with a shower cap. After it has doubled in size I knock it back let it rest again then shape it. If I'm making Vietnamese baguettes I will do the final rise in the baguette baking tray. Now up to this point all is well. The dough looks great and rises well but as soon as I go to snip it prior to baking .....flop. Am I using too much water given our climate here?
I have looked at oodles of youtube videos on making bread and the dough looks ok it just doesn't end up ok.?????
so the bubbles get too big, and they can't hold the gas any longer so they pop or deflate. Don't let the dough proof to the ideal height but below it, letting the oven heat up the water in the dough, create steam and finish raising the dough while the dough still has strength. Letting the dough fully proof to its limit looks nice but only for a few minutes before it falls on itself. Don't let it proof that long. :)