Partnering with our another sourdough bread hack ours: wetting the dough, this easy sourdough cheat keeps the loaf moist while it rises in the oven, helping your loaf produce the good oven spring. Covering the loaf traps the small amount of water we put on the dough, causing your homemade sourdough to steam. The steam stops your loaf from drying out on the surface too early from being exposed to the hot air inside the oven and forming a premature crust, limiting oven spring.
Your bread rises more and also develops a fantastic crust colour, becoming glossy on the surface.
The cake tin is removed partway through baking to allow the crust to develop and the gorgeous colour to caramelise.
How to do it
Use a cake tin that’s a fair bit larger than your dough, so there is room for your loaf to grow. You can test the size by turning the cake tin upside down and placing it over the dough while you prepare it for baking. You don’t have to preheat the cake tin in this instance (less hot handling), but you can once you’re confident it will fit over the dough and it will increase your results even more.
Once you slide your sourdough onto the pizza stone, place the cake tin upside down over the dough and close the oven door. Remove the cake tin after 10 mins (at the same time that you turn the oven down).
It’s that easy!
For full instructions see: Baking your sourdough with a pizza stone
You can also use this method for faking it: Baking your sourdough without a pizza stone
Sourdough Bread Recipe ~ Maintenance-free – Beautiful Living
May 23, 2021[…] of the same loaf. In my pizza stone baking instructions, I’ve added some ideas for adding or trapping steam. You can of course, bake your sourdough bread on a pizza stone without […]
Reed Zars
October 31, 2022It looks like you experienced a better rise on the pizza stone alone compared to pizza stone with cake tin. Why do you think that is?