Firstly, let me apologise for sending you away from this page once you read it! Different vessels bake sourdough bread better using 2 basic but different methods:
1. Baking sourdough bread using a dutch oven
1. Baking sourdough bread using a pizza stone
So, once you’ve found the things in your cupboard that you’re going to use from the list below, I will send you in the right direction for using those vessels successfully!
Making my own sourdough bread at home has become a love-story; one that’s ruined me for any other bread. Including store-bought and bakery sourdough. Recently, looking an easy Sunday lunch of salami, cheese and sourdough my husband (bless him!) walked into a bakery (in the mountains!) to buy bread so that I didn’t have to make it. He scouted the sourdough loaves, of which the pumpkin variety got my attention. But to my surprise, despite hindering the Sunday lunch plans, he took one look and said “neh. It’s not like yours” and turned and walked out!
For years I baked my sourdough bread on pizza stone with great results. Its how my bread reputation started and grew. I didn’t know anything different to using a stone. I was hesitant to try baking my little loves in a Dutch oven. What if it didn’t work as well?
Well, let me say, using a Dutch oven worked even better.
For the simple reason that the hot, circulating air of the oven was kept directly from the loaf, allowing sourdough to rise a touch more than I was used to. The Dutch oven is pre-heated with the oven, just like a pizza stone, however, instead of the one super hot surface radiating stone-infused heat, there ‘4 walls’ (including the lid) beaming with warmth and the sourdough loaves it! The crust also steams in a sealed environment, staying soft, allowing more expansion and rise during the first 10-15 minutes of the bake.
When a steamed crust dries during the last part of the bake, the hot air of the oven rushed around the surface (because the lid is removed), causing the crust to darken with a glossy finish.
Baking sourdough bread ‘naked’ on a pizza stone without any id or covering produces a rustic matte finish. For years I loved this… until the gloss of the crust looked even more interesting and professional. It certainly looks less ‘dry’.
Will I bake a loaf of beloved sourdough ‘naked’ with only a pizza stone now? Yes, but as a last resort.
All is not lost if you don’t have a Dutch oven to bake your sourdough. It will give you the best results but you can get close with some simple hacks. Below are some of the ways I have baked sourdough bread in the kitchens of friends and holiday rentals (because you can travel with Pantry Sourdough Starter!) just by scouring the cupboards to find baking items that can mimic the small, hot environment of a Dutch oven.
If you own a pizza stone – there is even a hack for you! Grab your largest cake tin or oven-proof pot and turn them upside down as a ‘lid’ over your bread while it bakes on a pizza stone! If you don’t have anything suitable, add some steam to your oven – find out more by reading ‘Baking your sourdough bread with a pizza stone’
Now back to faking it… 😉
From your kitchen cupboard…
The following bases can be used on their own but using a lid creates much better results.
BASES
Casserole dish 🍞
Heavy bottomed fry pan (oven proof)
Cast iron griddle (flat side)
Untreated terracotta tile (jump to pizza stone instructions)
Your heaviest baking tray
Deep baking tray
LIDS
Casserole dish lid 🍞
Large cake tin (turned upside down)
Large ovenproof pot (turned upside down, this is like a large cake tin)
Deep baking tray
Casserole dish
If you have an oven-proof casserole dish with a lid, which is deep and wide enough to hold a loaf of COOKED loaf of sourdough bread, you can use it to bake your sourdough instead of a Dutch oven. The casserole dish will need to be a minimum of 10-12cm deep with the lid on. Meaning the bottom half doesn’t have to be that deep. Many casserole dishes have domed lids which provide rising height inside.
When using a casserole dish please do not let water from the wet loaf make direct contact with the hot dish, as it may crack. (Wetting the loaf is part of our easy process for baking sourdough and getting better rise and crust).
Casserole dishes work well with the Dutch oven method for baking sourdough.
Heavy-bottomed fry pan or cast iron griddle (flat side) with large cake tin or pot
If you have a heavy-bottomed fry pan or cast iron griddle that can be used in the oven (including any handles) plus a large cake tin (a fair bit larger than the size and shape of your loaf) which can act as a domed lid*.
Follow the instructions for baking your sourdough bread using a pizza stone. However, instead of sliding your dough onto the frypan (because it has sides), carefully remove the heated frypan from the oven, using oven gloves, and place the dough into it outside of the oven. I put the hot fry pan on my stovetop and place the dough into it there. Place back in the oven, cover the dough with the cake tine and continue as normal.
Be super careful when taking the frying pan from the oven, it’s super hot. Try to work quickly so that the fry pan doesn’t lose too much heat while it’s out of the oven. You’re trying to mimic a super hot stone oven that holds a lot of heat.
Your heaviest baking tray with a large cake tin or pot
You can bake your sourdough bread using your heaviest baking tray with plus a large cake tin (a fair bit larger than the size and shape of your loaf) which can act as a domed lid*.
Follow the instructions for baking your sourdough bread using a pizza stone. However, instead of sliding your dough onto the baking tray (because it has sides), carefully remove the heated baking tray from the oven, using oven gloves, and place the dough into it outside of the oven. I put the hot tray on my stovetop and place the dough into it there. Place back in the oven, cover the dough with the cake tin and continue as normal.
Be super careful when taking the baking tray from the oven, it’s super hot. Try to work quickly so that the baking tray doesn’t lose too much heat while it’s out of the oven. You’re trying to mimic a super hot stone oven that holds a lot of heat.
2 Deep baking trays
If you have 2 matching deep baking trays you can use them to bake your sourdough bread.
This is my least preferred option as its the least stable. Using two deep baking trays relies on balancing the trays perfectly. If they are slightly ajar, the steam will escape too early and void the use of the lid. Depending on the design of the baking trays, this may not be as easy as it sounds.
You can not use a tea towel to protect your hands for this one. You need really good oven gloves to aid with handling.
Follow the instructions for baking your sourdough bread using a pizza stone. However, instead of sliding your dough onto the baking tray (because it has sides), carefully remove the heated baking tray from the oven, using oven gloves, and place the dough into it outside of the oven. I put the hot tray on my stove top and place the dough into it there. Place back in the oven, cover the dough with the other baking tray and continue as normal.
Be super careful when taking the baking tray from the oven, it’s super hot. Try to work quickly so that the baking tray doesn’t lose too much heat while it’s out of the oven. You’re trying to mimic a super hot stone oven that holds a lot of heat.
Heated base only
If you have a heavy-bottomed frying pan that can be used in the oven (including the handle) you can use it instead of a pizza stone. It is preferable to cover your dough with a large cake tin if you have one.* But this will still work without it.
You won’t be able to slide the bread a frying pan, like you can a pizza stone, because of the sides. So like the dutch oven method you will need to carefully take the frying pan out of the oven and place the bread into it. Different to the timing & heat for the dutch oven method, you will need to follow the pizza stone instructions to bake your sourdough.
*WHY USE A CAKE TIN TO COVER THE DOUGH?
Remember how you had to wet the dough before dusting it with flour and slashing it? Covering the loaf with a cake tin causes the moistened bread to steam. This stops the bread from drying on the surface in the hot oven air, forming a premature crust. So your bread rises more and also gets a great colour, becoming glossy on the surface. The cake tin is removed to allow the crust to form and mature in colour.
