I hope you don’t need me to remind you why brick ovens are so awesome when it comes to baking. If you love great pizza, you have to insist on brick-oven-baked pizza, preferably using real wood. There’s just something about any kind of bread baked in a brick pizza oven. It’s just crunchier, tastier and fluffier inside. You get really the best of both worlds. The reason why people prefer bread baked in brick ovens is that a nice combination between the really thick crunchy external crust and the fluffy, warm, steaming bread inside. What’s not to love?
There’s just something about the fresh baked goodness of hot steaming bread and the crunchy texture of certain bread recipes that evoke all the rustic and bucolic charms of Southern provincial France. You get all that… thanks to bread cloches and bread machines.
Things are a bit more complicated when you use bread cloches. Bread cloches are devices that produce a nice even crust for a wide variety of bread recipes because they handle steam the right way. Usually, when you put the dough on a baking tray, the steam briefly materializes and evaporates almost as quickly as it appears. This should not be a mystery because the baking tray is open. The moment the steam arises, the tremendous heat inside the oven vaporizes the steam. It evaporates very quickly. Not surprisingly, the crust you get with typical oven-baked bread leaves a lot to be desired as far as crust texture goes.
If you want a nice and even crust, you really need to use best bread cloche. Bread cloches are devices that look like small pots. You put the dough inside, and then you put on the lid. As the dough heats up inside the baking chamber, the dough releases steam. Since the bread cloche prevents the external heat from evaporating the steam, the steam is trapped within the baking chamber. This results in the dough developing a really moist exterior that is steamed to perfection. Once the steam runs out and the heat sinks into the chamber, the rich exterior crust of the bread turns into a crunchy crust. You get the best from both worlds because the center of the bread is still nice and fluffy while the exterior is nice and crunchy. Bread cloches produce very nice crusty bread. If you are using a brick oven, does it make sense to use bread cloches? Here is the answer.
Bread baking is all about heat
The reason why people like brick ovens is because it produces the right crust texture, although it’s quite uneven. If you have ever baked a pizza in a wood-fired brick oven or pizza oven, you would know that in many cases certain parts of the crust are burnt. However, if you are a big pizza fan, you really wouldn’t care all that much because the bubbling effect on the crust produces a nice pizza crust that tastes like a slice of heaven. While the bubbles make for an uneven crust and there are some burned marks from place to place, overall you’re holding an awesome pizza slice in your hand. If you’re the type who’s going to use bread cloches to bake loaves of bread, you’re not exactly a big fan of uneven or partly burnt crust. You’re looking for a nice and even texture. This is why brick ovens can be a good match for bread cloches.
It all depends upon the heat involved. If you are loading too much wood on your brick oven, it might produce too much heat so that the bread cloches might not handle all the heat well enough. It’s important to make sure you have enough heat to let bread cloches manage the steam of the bread they are baking properly. This is not always easy. Accordingly, pay attention to the bread recipe you are using. If it requires a high temperature, then you probably can use a bread cloche with brick ovens.
If you have a recipe that doesn’t require that much heat and has a short duration, then it’s probably a bad idea to bake using bread cloches in brick ovens. You’re probably better off using a conventional oven. Pay attention to these details. They count for a lot because brick ovens in of themselves produce amazing bread. Bread cloches in of themselves can produce great bread. However, if you put both into play, this might not necessarily mean you will get a better piece of bread. It might just end up burnt, or you might be committing overkill. It all depends on the recipe, and the timing required.
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