Video calls for pre temp temp of 500 degrees but La Cloche bread baker instructions says do not exceed temp of 475 and only 275 to 300 for placing dough on base…can I do 500 to preheat and place dough on base at 500?
I was wondering about that also. Just to be on the safe side, I placed the dough in the cloche at 275 and then heated the oven up to 475. I removed the top after 20 minutes, and removed the bread when the thermometer said 200. It didn’t take long for the oven to go from 275 to 475, and the bread turned out well.
Why is it that friends come over when the bread just happens to be coming out of the oven?
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[quote=“jerrygusm, post:1, topic:3689”]
can I do 500 to preheat and place dough on base at 500?
[/quote]Someday I’ll get around to redoing some of the old videos on our site. In the mean time I added the following note below a couple of the older ones. It’s easy to miss.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In the above videos, I preheat the oven and cloche to 500ºF. Different baking vessels may have different heat tolerances. Please refer to the manufacturers instructions for the baking vessel you are using. Bread baking cloches are made by several different companies and while they may look alike, their usage instructions may vary.
The cloches that I say to preheat to 275 before putting the dough in (and raise the temp after that), are a different manufacturer than the ones in the video.
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.
Aside from being conservative, I’m also finding that starting off at 300º allows for more oven spring before the crust sets and the yeast dies. So this method may be more preferential anyway.
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I have the newer cloche from Eric and followed the manufacturers instructions. The result was just ok with disappointing oven spring. I did the exact same method in a LeCreuset smaller oval pot at the recommended higher temps and the result was on awesome loaf (sourdough cranberry pecan) with excellent oven rise.
I will be watching closely for the newer cloche test results as I was disappointed and want to make it work.
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Hello. I really like the instructional videos. I have been feeding my starter for a couple of weeks now. Today is the first day it passed the float test so I’ve now mixed the no knead recipe. I got my la cloche from yall a few days ago and was wondering the same thing about the oven temperature. I will try the 300 preheat and increase to 475 and see what happens. Thanks!
Tee
I have the breadtopia clay baker and for at least 20 loaves made since I bought it a few months ago, I preheat it for 30 min at 500’, no problems. And I often put cold dough straight from the fridge into it. This is just one person’s experience and I can’t promise you will have the same luck, but figured I’d share my experience.
I am careful to place a dish towel on my cold stone counters and place the hot baker on that. Beware of dishtowel tags that are plastic and melt 
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Different clay baking vessels are made from different clays and have different thermal properties. Of the ones that Breadtopia sells, the Romertopf’s, the Breadtopia Clay Baker, and the Emile Henry’s tend to be able to withstand pretty extreme thermal fluctuations without cracking. Like @Fermentada, I routinely put cold refrigerated dough into a 500f pre-heated Breadtopia Clay Baker and have never had a problem with it. But I have heard of several people cracking their “La Cloche” bakers by pre-heating too high and then putting in cold or even room temp dough. So my advice is to follow the directions that you received with your particular baking vessel if you want to be sure not to crack it.
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Thank you for the reply. I’m looking forward to baking my first loaf. Still waiting to get that first rise on my dough. It’s been 9 hours and doesn’t look like it’s doing much. 
I received my new La Cloche recently and after several loaves, my results have been disappointing. They have little oven spring and don’t have the hard crust like loaves baked in my Romertopf. As others have noted, I’m reasonably certain that the cause is the relatively low temperature used to pre-heat. Following the instructions, I pre-heat to 275 F, place the loaf in the oven and increase the temperature to 475 F. Experimenting with a longer initial bake time before removing the lid has made little difference.
So unless I risk cracking my new La Cloche by raising the pre-heat temperature, it seems that it will not deliver the same results as a clay baker that can withstand 500 F.
I have the La Cloche oblong for long loaves and though I don’t use it as often as my wider shaped clay baker (because I like the bigger slices), I haven’t had problems using it the way you described - with a half hour pre-heat to 275 and then increasing the temp to 475 after putting in the dough. Here’s the last loaf I baked in it. Decent spring for mostly whole grain, nice crust.
That said, I do really like the fact that I can use the Breadtopia clay baker and the Romertopf without any worries at all about cracking the clay due to temperature differentials.
Hi, I think I found this out the hard way! I’ve had my round La Cloche from the Breadtopia store for only a couple of months, and have been been happily baking bread in it using the video instructions, and assuming that it was the same one used in the video (and therefore not paying attention to the manufacturer’s instruction) … and it cracked right apart last night. Lesson learned!
So now I’m assuming that it’s thermal shock, because I’m only using 450 as my maximum temperature (my oven may run hot - the 475-500 was burning the breads). So it’s either from putting the cold dough on the hot base – or from putting the base on the glass cooktop when I pull it out of the oven (is this possible? The glass top was not cold, but maybe the temp difference was too much?) So I will get a new one, and put it on a folded towel when it comes out of the oven, and use the 275 preheat method, and hope that this solves the problem…
I also have the oblong La Cloche – no problems so far, but I probably have to do the same things?
Hi Lisa,
Actually, the oblong cloche has its own unique thermal properties and you can preheat it all the way up to about 450-500º straight away.
Give us a call on the round cloche base. You don’t need to buy a whole new one. We have replacement bases.
Oh! Thanks so much!
I bought the oblong Cloche from Breadtopia several weeks ago and have bakes about a dozen loaves with it so far & love the way my bread turns out. Preheated it at 450f then put in my room temperature dough with no problems at all. I don’t take mine out of the oven to put the dough in, Just slide it out on the open door and roll the dough from my basket into the La Cloche.
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Hi Eric,
Thanks so much for clueing me in to the replacement base! I’m not getting quite the results I was before with the higher temperature pre-heat, however, and wonder if you have any suggestions? There isn’t the great oven rise that I had every time with the hotter temps. I really love the La Cloche, but wonder if I should maybe try out the Emile Henry? From what I’ve read, it can tolerate the 450 pre-heat, and putting the room temp loaf from the basket right onto the base. Is that your experience? I’d hate to crack that one, too.
Thanks!
I’ve never known one to crack at any temp up to 500ºF. Emile Henry cloche is made from the same “Flame” process as many of their other pieces with amazing resistance to thermal stress. Pricey but probably worth it. Super nice products.
I’m thinking about buying an oblong baker. Has anyone thought of using the TOP with parchment for the last rise? Then when ready to preheat, preheat the BOTTOM only, transfer dough (on parchment sling) to preheated bottom and put on the top (that has not been preheated). This would avoid the need for an oblong proofing basket to maintain the right shape. (I do a no-knead recipe and the dough is rather wet and does not keep its shape.)
Would the non-preheated top affect what’s going on inside, i.e., steam or anything else? Any other reasons to do or not do this?
I can’t really speak to the non-preheated top, though my hunch is you want everything hot hot hot for best outcomes.
How about proofing in a glass loaf pan? The corners aren’t too pointy.
Sometimes I proof in a round basket or colander, and then at the last minute decide I want an oblong loaf. I just plop the circle into the oval and it comes out a little shorter and taller - quite nice usually!
@fermentada. Thanks for the suggestion to proof in a regular loaf pan. I actually have a metal one that could be a good size. The bannetons are attractive, but I don’t know how necessary – I’m new to baking bread on a regular basis, i.e., truly as our daily bread rather than as a novelty, and I don’t want to be drawn in to buy everything that’s on the market! A colander is a great idea for proofing a boule. Now I’m seeing that some unglazed bakers should not be preheated to 450 or 500. This is getting very confusing!! What I’ve done the last few times is shape it sort of obling, let rise on parchment paper, then lift into a big preheated Dutch oven. Once it kept its oblong shape, once it turned into a boule.
For my first few months of baking, I used a huge 9qt dutch oven I got for my wedding, a colander or bowl, tea towel, spatula to scrape dough out, and knife to score. My first purchases - if I recall correctly - were a dough scraper, bowl covers, and Breadtopia clay baker. Hindsight 20:20, I’d get the bread starter kit rather than a la carte purchases because I did end up wanting everything in it… and more.