Bread - steam in the egg

bjadams

Anyone baking good Italian or French bread in their egg? Just wondering the best way to add steam to the baking process. Boiling water in a pan? Ice cubes? spray bottle? I'm a little nervous using water around very hot ceramic cookers.

Mama Roneck

you could add a drip pan full of water or bake in a dutch oven (the no-knead way).  I guess it's hard to do a baguette in a DO though! 

gdenby

I don't know if my bread is any good, and not in any particular style, altho I did do ciabatta once. I have used very little extra water when baking in the Egg. I brush some water on the loaf just before putting it in, and then give a couple of squirts from a spray bottle on top of the pizza stone/'setter combo.

My bread has turned out well, better than in a stove w. a water pan for steam. My guess is that the Egg's water retention works as well for breads as it does for meats.

FWIW, I've been using a ceramic cloche for stove baking. Not much way to get steam into or out of that. I'm getting a much more reliable oven spring w. it than the bread straight on a stone with a water pan simmering below.

As far as getting water on a hot Egg, I can tell you the ceramic is pretty resistant to heat shock. I spilled a couple of cups of liquid from a drip pan into a heated Egg, and other than a huge cloud of steam, and some doused coals, nothing happened.  Likewise, have opened them during drenching thunderstorms w/o harm.

pezking7p

I recommend a cast iron skillet on the plate setter. Then boiling water just after you put your bread on the baking stone.

Curious to see how this works. I just finished my bread phase and never could convince myself it was worth it in the egg. But the above is what I liked best in my oven. Nothing else seemed to give the same blast of steam (or oven spring, or crust).

CigarSmokinEgger

I've not done baguettes in the egg, I don't think my loaf pans will fit in the medium.  I have done country loaves and I use a cast iron combo cooker; shallow ci pan topped with a tall ci pan.  This is for the first 20 minutes, then carefully lift off the top and cook till desired color.

For my bauguettes I use a sheet pan loaded with wet towels placed in the oven prior to cooking to develop a steam bath for the first 15 minutes of cooking, should be able to do the same thing in the egg.  Good luck!

Rvtech

I do raised grid with a pizza stone on grid for indirect cook, Dutch oven with 2-3" of water on pizza stone. Grid above that (ceramic grill store raised rig)). Pampered chef clay pan with lip on top grid high in dome. Stabilize at 500° with clay pan in for 30 minutes. Remove pan, sprinkle with corn meal. Dump prepared sour dough loaf on pan, cook 45 minutes at 500°. Makes a beautiful artisan sour dough.

rturner223

Do have a pic of this setup?

Rvtech

No, just did one last night. Pics on the next loaf

fishlessman

i set it up with an empty pan and get it hot, then on goes the bread dough and a quarter cup or so of water that flashes into steam. seems to not need the steam later in the cook as much as in the beginning

TheCub

BJ,

I have yet to bake bread on my LBGE....will do so in a few weeks.

However, when cooking in a conventional oven, my recipe calls for using a dutch oven to obtain the steam effect.  You place the dough in the dutch oven, and place the lid on top.  Then put the dutch oven in the conventional oven. For the first half of the cooking time, I bake it with the lid on the dutch oven.  This gives it the steaming effect.  Then for the 2nd half of the cooking time, I cook it in the dutch oven with the lid removed.  This will brown it.

Works great!

Cubster

Little Steven

fishlessman said:

i set it up with an empty pan and get it hot, then on goes the bread dough and a quarter cup or so of water that flashes into steam. seems to not need the steam later in the cook as much as in the beginning

Is that lobster bisque in there?