I’m considering buying the Round Cloche Bread Baker. A couple of forums have noted that there are some issues with the preheat at 475 degrees that can cause thermal shock and crack. Eric mentioned this in one forum in October 2016 saying:
“I’m still testing the new cloches and it will be quite a while before I’ll know their maximum heat tolerances. Since writing the instructions, I’ve upped the preheat temp to 300º with no issues so far and also upped the maximum baking temp from 450 to 500 with no problems. There’s also a chance that the only real thermal shock issue is with putting the dough on the round cloche base if it’s too hot. There might not be an issue with the oblong one. But, like I said, all of this will take some time to work out. In the mean time, I’m being conservative in what I’m telling people so we don’t end up with a bunch of unhappy customers.”
I always preheat my clay bakers at around 475 degrees and often from dough that is in the fridge. Will this work on the round cloche? One of my clay bakers is the oblong cloche baker, and it is working fine with high preheat, no soak, and proofed dough coming right out of the fridge.
I really don’t want to preheat at a lower temperature because it might cause a lower rise as well as too much trouble. I would appreciate an update about the maximum heat tolerances for this round cloche clay baker.
I’ve never used one so correct me if I’m wrong. Where does the thermal shock come into it if you’re preheat the cloche starting with a cold oven? Sounds like the cloche is being put into a preheated oven. Are we talking about it cracking from thermal shock or it just can’t take temperatures that high even when preheating the cloche starting from a cold oven?
I’m not sure Abe. In reading past postings it appears this round cloche has an issue with cracking either due to a high temperature, i.e., >475 f or putting cold dough on the hot base of the cloche. That’s why I’m hoping for a comment from Eric that he posted 4 years ago that updates his experience about this particular clay baker.
Thanks for the link. A bit clearer now. It’s the cold dough on a hot base and it should not exceed 465°F.
It seems it’s ok to put a cold dough onto a base that’s been preheated to 275 - 300°F and then continue to heat up till 475°F.
That seems like the best solution to me to be on the safe side until you receive an update.