Clay pot bread!

[Ellp]

What do you get when you put these together?

1 Medium sized Romertopf clay baker pot

This recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/di...mrex.html?_r=2

24 hours

You get this:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...p/IMG_1632.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...p/IMG_1631.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...p/IMG_1634.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...p/IMG_1633.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...p/IMG_1635.jpg

It was kind of stuck to the baker because of the ridges at the bottom, but I used a knife to pop it out. The crust is hard and crackly and it looks and smells like the finest artisan bread out there. I have no idea how it tastes yet but I CAN'T wait!

The recipe really does take 24 hours to work but you don't need to strain yourself kneading anything, time does it all. Its a bit of a pain to have to wait that long though and I wouldn't mind kneading a little while if it meant having bread the same day I start it.

Oh, and contrary to what the recipe says, I don't recommend letting the dough rise on a floured towel. It stuck like glue despite me putting tons of flour down! I'd definately let it rise in the pot next time.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Nutrition and Good Eating

[CookiePie]

I'm going to HAVE to try that, that bread is making my mouth water!!!!! How did it taste? Did you soak the pot top & bottom?

[Ellp]

Well, I let the bread cool down for a couple of hours and I lost the crisp, crackly, shatter at the point of a knife crust. Is there a trick to it?

Anyways, it still had a decent thick crust, and when I cut into it there were "bubbles" throughout the interior! Unlike conventional bread which has streaks of air pockets, this bread had actual bubbles! You could definately tell that there was something different about this bread. I guess the streaking comes from the kneading process.

The interior is really tender and slathered with butter it was great!

I did soak the top and bottom parts of the baker just so it would give off enough steam to make the bread really rise. At the halfway point of baking, I removed the top half of the pot just to let the bread brown. I'm not sure if leaving it on would have browned it but next time I'll give it a try.

One thing I did notice was that my kitchen got really smokey while the bread was baking. So much so Dh noticed and turned on the fan. I don't know what that was all about. It could be the pot as it was a hand-me-down from my parents and hadn't been used in at least a decade. It didn't leave any taste in the bread though.

[serenbat]

I no longer use clay to bake in and I have better luck keeping bread crispy without it.

I add two 13" X 9" baking dishes filled with ice & water when I bake the bread. I put them on the lowest rack and bake the bread that way, when done, I open the door, turn off the heat and keep the bread in until I can pull it out with my hands. You could try that and still use the clay pot. I get a crispy crust and it does last. I don't wrap the done bread in plastic, I use paper and that also seems to keep the crust crispy.