baking with terra cotta

[MommyTorf]

my mom gave me a terra cotta (at least that's what it looks like) bread pan that she found in her cabinet. i cleaned it up and it seems to already be seasoned, but i've been coating the inside with oil/shortening and sticking it in the oven whenever it is hot (like what i do with my cast iron stuff).

the question: how do you bake with this sort of stuff? do you ajust the temperature and/or the baking time? i usually bake bread/quick breads in a glass bread pan.

TIA!

[wanderinggypsy]

Wow, cool. I really don't know altough my mom has a terra cotta casserole that she immerses in water for a long time prior to using to cook anything in it... it soaks up water and then releases it while cooking. I don't know for a bread pan though. But maybe it will act like a baking stone, which as I know from all my cookie sheet type stones, produces some great results.

I say experiment and let us know. And now I want one too. Darnit.

[MommyTorf]

well, i tried to bake banana bread in it and it was a DISASTER! now, banana bread is something that i don't usually screw up, so i'm assumming that this bread pan needs some sort of special attention/adjustments. the outside of the bread was dark and hard, and smooshy/uncooked in the center. i'll try googling it, i suppose.

[mama_daba]

i have an earthenware baking bowl. i never did much to season it just cooked something oily in it the first time and i coat it with a thin layer of oil when i use it. i make bread in it all the time i have never tried banana bread though only regular yeast rising wheat bread. it comes out really well. i recently tried a no knead bread recipe and it worked really well in it.