The question post by this blog post is actually quite tricky. It’s a loaded question if you think about it. If you wrap your mind around the question within this question, the bottom line is there’s an assumption that bread cloches somehow in some way make typical bread recipes taste better. This is not always the case.
There’s a big difference between texture and taste. Bread cloches are bake ware or baking equipment that traps steam so the bread you are making has a uniform crust. Bread cloches are typically used for bread recipes that produce bread with thick or uniform crust.
Bread cloches enable you to produce the right crust texture. This has nothing to do with taste. Taste is a matter of the ingredients you use for baking the bread. You can go to the grocery and buy the cheapest ingredients you can find, slap them together, put them in a baking pan and out comes a mediocre piece of bread.
As you probably already know, if you tried your hand at any type of cooking or baking, the quality of the food you end up with is more than the sum of the parts of its ingredients. This is why you cannot produce excellent food with lousy ingredients. It’s simply not going to happen. You’re not going to be able to do it.
By the same token, even the best bread cloches can still produce lousy bread even though you have produced the right crust texture. If you cut corners on the ingredients or you’re cheap or lazy, whatever the case may be, if you hold back and the ingredients aren’t the best, you’re not going to get a high-quality bread regardless of how nice its crust may be. Keep these two factors separate.
Taste is all about raw ingredients’ quality. Maybe they were processed right. Maybe they had the right components. Maybe they were stored or handled right. There are many different factors that impact ingredients’ quality. This impacts overall taste. Now, while ingredients play the primary role in determining a loaf’s taste, cooking process also has an impact.
For example, if you were to get the ingredients out of order or if you mishandle the ingredients during the baking process, you can bet that this will have an impact (probably negative) on the final product. With all the above said, there’s still a big difference between ingredients and texture. The former has a direct connection with taste, the former not so much.
The source of the confusion
The source of the confusion when it comes to equating texture with taste is that a lot of people automatically assume if a piece of bread has a right texture, then it would taste really nice. This assumes too much. You also have to pay attention to the ingredients.
If you use substandard flour, it’s going to show. If you use weak yeast, it’s going to show in the quality of the bread you end up with. Focus more on the ingredients. The recipe will take care of itself. If you use the very best ingredients to create a high-quality dough, and you put it in a bread cloche, you are assured of a really top-notch quality bread with an amazing texture.
By the same token, if you do not use a bread cloche but use a typical baking tray, you still end up with a nice loaf of bread, but it doesn’t have an even texture. It still tastes great, but it may fall short on the texture department. Don’t get these two confused.
A lot of artisanal bread requires a tight correlation between the combination of taste and texture. In that situation, bread cloches do make your bread taste better because of the ingredient requirements of the particular recipe you are using as well as its texture requirements.
Authenticity complicates things
If you throw away the added factor of authenticity, then you’re left with no choice but to use bread cloches. There are certain bread recipes that tell you in no uncertain terms, you have to make sure that it has an even crust. Otherwise, it’s going to suck. It’s not going to be a good specimen of that particular type of bread. Certain pieces of bread are all about the crust and not much else. In that fairly limited situation, authenticity is crucial, and you are required to use bread cloches.
Authenticity often arises from the psychological effect of extra cosmetic or textured touches that can go a long way in making the right impression. These impressions count for a lot when it comes to perceptions of authenticity. You should also take a look at our guide to the best bread machines!
While you’re here, be sure to check out our kitchen product reviews!