Deborah Thuman on mon 4 feb 08
Whooo hooo! Clayart is back!!!
I love making bread and I learned a long time ago that ceramic bake
ware is wonderful for bread. I was looking at the King Arthur Baker's
web site this morning and saw a baking cloche. It's a round, low sided
bottom with a deep bell shaped lid. You can see it here:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp?
select=C80&byCategory=C136&id=5705
Yes, I know it would probably be cheaper for me to just buy the
thing... but I'm afraid I'm not wired in that fashion. I want to make
one of these. I figure it has to be similar to throwing a covered dish.
But... what kind of clay do I use? I'm working with B-mix ^10, a white
^04 with sand, a raku ^04, and I'll be working with a white ^6 with
sand. The sand part is because I'm not that good at throwing yet and I
need the sand to be able to throw at all. Second question: do I glaze
the interior or not?
The way this cloche works is the steam from the baking bread builds up
in the cloche and turns the cloche into a steam injected oven. (Bread
bakers all dearly want a steam injected oven so we can make breads with
lovely crunchy crusts.) However.... my own experience has taught me
that an unglazed bread pan is tricky to bake with. If it's not buttered
and sprinkled with corn meal just right, you need a demolition permit
to get the bread out of the pan. That's why I glazed my bread pans -
and they work very well.
Thanks for your help.
Deb
http://debthumansblog.blogspot.com/
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