Dutch Oven and La Cloche Product Warnings

Originally published at: http://breadtopia.com/dutch-oven-and-la-cloche-product-warnings/
I received an email recently from Loretta, a Breadtopia customer, who was understandably upset because her Le Creuset dutch oven lid cracked in two places while she was baking bread using the no-knead method. A half inch piece of the lid knob also broke off. I’ve read numerous internet bread forum posts relating to no-knead…

Breadtopia usually says to pre-heat the clay baker and add the dough to the baker. I have two clay bakers from Breadtopia and I follow that direction. I purchased a Emile Henry loaf baker and the instructions say to shape the dough and place it in the loaf baker for 60 minutes to rise. Preheat the oven and place the Henry baker in to the hot oven. The recipes that came with the Henry baker also say to grease & flour the baker and brush the top of the loaf with water prior to baking.

Why the difference? Is it the materials that go in to the baker or something else?

There are a lot of different ideas about how to do things. I don’t know how or why EH came up with that suggestion. It might be great but I’ve never tried it. If you end up trying it, please report back on your findings.

I’ve had great results using the Emile Henry loaf baker straight in to the 500 degree oven. I’ve not tried doing the same with the Breadtopia baker but if you don’t think it would hurt it, I’ll give it a try.