Hello Melissa, thank you for the advice you offered!
I will try the parchment paper transfer of cold retarded dough into the hot clay baker method my next bake.
I got an excellent oven spring result with adding the cold dough via the parchment paper into the unheated baker and adding on an extra 15 minutes to the bake time prior to removing the lid.
I agree with you that the scoring was a lot easier and less frenetic using the parchment paper method, as was the actual placing of the dough into the bakerāI felt like I had more control, and required less finesse on my part.
I think I will utilize the suggestion of removing the ācovered-bakedā loaf from the baker and placing it back into the baker without the parchment paper for the uncovered part of the baking process to see if I can achieve a thicker, crisper bottom crust in the future.
Yes I cracked my Romertoph the first time I tried it on the 2nd bake with the vessel. @eric said he never had a problem but I did and I used parchment paper also.
Good question and I havenāt tried it, so I donāt have a definitive answer. Iād worry about the cold baker going onto 500F oven shelf wires. Maybe with an also-cold baking sheet between the two?
Hopefully someone has tried something similar and can comment.
Like Melissa, I use parchment to transfer loaves to whatever pre-heated baking vessel Iām using (except when using bread pans), and the dough is often cold, straight from the fridge ā no problem. However I usually score before moving the loaf and parchment to the baking vessel. Thatās just personal preference, wanting to keep my hands as far from the hot baking vessel as possible.
If you have an Emile Henry clay baker - or one of their Flameware clay casseroles (can even cook on open flame!) - you can proof your loaf in it and put it into a hot oven with no problem.
Very expensive, but every piece is such a multi-tasker, I just save my $ for a while until I can afford a new piece. Each comes with a 10 year warranty.
I have a 20 year old Superstone French loaf clay baker that I always do the final 1 hr. rise in the baker with the lid on and then into a preheated, 400 degree oven for an hour. No problems. Perfect every time.