I tried to make my first boule today (still baking) in a Lodge Cast Iron dutch oven. It's VERY heavy and I don't like the way it sags the oven wire racks. Secondly, the bit about it rusting at the drop of a hat and the seasoning is something that I don't want to have to do.
Can you recommend something that would be as effective and lighter to help bake my sourdough boules? Are there non-cast iron dutch ovens that work?
I'm not sure it's really an alternative, but I use Lagostina enamelled cast iron casseroles. They are a lot smaller than Dutch ovens (2.5 quarts) and therefore a lot lighter. Being enamelled they don't rust. I just wipe them out after baking with them. Cast iron really holds the heat well, but the objective of baking bread in a pot is to keep the moisture in as well as providing a mass to retain even heat so you can always bake on a piece of stone (granite or a pizza stone) with an upturned pot on the top. Still heavy though.
Here is the pot I use: http://lagostina.ca/html/productDetail.asp?idstore=&idpro=525&idcat=24&idsubcat=0. I also use non-enamelled pots. As I bake for customers, I need to be able to bake more than 1 or 2 loaves at a time. Here's my set up to bake eight at once:
when you bake so many breads at the same time, how long is the baking time and do you alter the temperature?
Hi Ingrid
I don't really alter anything from a two or four loaf bake, for an eight loaf bake. I preheat the pots for at least half an hour or 45 minutes at 475F, then load them all with dough, cover them and back in the oven which I turn down to 450F. I do this because I've had the loaves burn on the bottom before (regardless of how many are in the oven at once). After 30 minutes I take the covers off and rotate the pots, so the ones from the top shelf are now on the bottom. I bake for another 20 minutes usually. Internal temperature of the finished loaves is usually over 200F and the bottom crust is usually quite dark.
for the quick replay. That sounds a great regime for baking more than one or two loaves!
will both work but you have to use a method to get steam into your oven. The reason that the dutch ovens are an "easy" solution is that they trap moisture inside during the bake to keep the crust from hardening too fast. I never went down that route as my oven sits a little low and I don't want to wrestle a heavy dutch oven with my 68 year old back! I have a baking steel and use two damp towels in a metal baking pan right below the steel to deliver the moisture for the first 15 minutes of the bake; you can also use lava rocks, steel bolts or other alternatives as well but I find the towel pan quite light and it works every time.
I tried a shiny silver aluminum D.O. It was a lot lighter but it worked pretty poorly. I then gave my big, heavy 5-quart cast-iron D.O. to a friend and got a 2-quart one. It is much lighter and easier to handle than the big 5-quart was. If you're making boules it might be the right size.
Thanks...yes the size would be better, but I'm still stuck w. the cast iron!
I'm going to give the Lodge ceramic cast iron 4.5 quart a try.
I use a domed pyrex casserole lid and it works really well. While the oven is preheating ( stone insitu ) I preheat the dome with boiling water. Once everything is ready I pop the dough on the stone and cover it with the still wet dome, works a treat.