Cloche baked bread

All right everyone! I have found a new way to cook bread. It is by far the coolest thing i have ever done with bread baking. A friend of mine at the bbq brethren showed us this technique. I was in the mood to go and buy a new bread cloche for my artisan breads i bake. I posted a thread asking where to get one and low and behold, a buddy of mine, jumps in and tells me what to try. Prepare yourself!...



A freakin flower pot! I was like WTF no way really? So with that in mind he continued to show pictures of how this little pot of clay can produce such awesome results. I was SHOCKED. Here is what i did. I started off with my recipe for the basic boule.

Once i mixed the dough,by hand i might mention, i let it rise till double. That took about an hour since i was using that fast yeast. Once doubled, i shaped and placed onto a corn milled pizza peel, which is the best tool ever, and let rise till double. Once it has risen to the level your want, slash it if you so desire.

Ok, here comes the cool part. Follow the baking instructions in the basic boule recipe except cover the bread with your flower pot. After the bread has cooked for 15 to 20 minutes, remove the pot and let it brown and finish cooking. Some people install handles on the pot but i have not. I just use my cool oven mets my wife gave me for my birthday last year. Check em out

The pot i used is roughly 8-10 inches in diameter and stands about 10 inches tall. Only cost 5$ or so. I will tell you this, it does take a few hours for the pot to cool off so handle with care. Here are the finished results of the bread cooked in the pot. Please enjoy and have fun making it. I know i did.

(all pictures are of my own work. Please respect that.)