I usually bake my sourdough in a Dutch oven or my Challenger cast iron baker. I have had a Baking Steel for several months that I use for pizza and it’s amazing at those bakes. I tried hearth breads on the steel two weeks ago and it didn’t work well at all. First off, I have a gas oven. Steaming it was very unsuccessful and my bread never opened up. It’s a Blue Star brand and the burner is in the rear wall, not underneath. This caused burning issues with the loaves last time. It needs a cover over the dough for some period of the bake, and to hold steam.
I purchased a hotel steam table pan (about 12 bucks) drilled a small hole in it and used it as a lid today when I injected steam from a inexpensive steam cleaning handheld device. I did use parchment paper until I took the lid off (20 minutes of steam). They opened up very nicely in my opinion and the bottoms looks great without being too dark.
I wanted to add, these loaves are 30% whole wheat, 6% rye.
I’ve read so many times that people aren’t able to steam their gas ovens. You have obviously found a very good solution, your loaves look great.
Benny
Michael, nice looking loaves. I have a Bluestar RNB , and rarely use it for baking bread , due to the way it vents. There used to be someone who sold a hotel pan with the hole drilled into it and a steamer, under the name steam bread baker, but the site is not longer live. Glad to see it is working for you.
I saw the steering method on a website called Breadcetera. Works great for us gas oven folks. The steam pan cost 12 dollars so I figured it was worth it. I wished I could do two loaves at once but it will be tight on the steel I have. Also considering getting a fibrament stone.