Roaster lid for baking loaves on stone

I have a fibrament stone I’ve used for years, but was envious of the crusts I was seeing from Dutch oven loaves, so this is my improvisation. I’m happy with my set up, and can bake two loaves at once.

  1. Lid over loaves
  2. After lid comes off (usually 25 minutes). It’s a bit tricky but the lid at least is lightweight and has a handle!
  3. Finished loaves after another 20 minutes uncovered.

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Excellent improv.

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Thanks, Breadninja! Fantastic work-around. I appreciate your sharing. Your loaves are stunning. What’s your oven temp for these? You’re baking longer than I had read and done (17/15).

Thanks! I usually bake at 450° F.

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This is inspiring me to try my Fibramint again. I didn’t have much luck when I got it a few years ago. I think the problem is that I did not wait until it got hot enough. The oven registered as hot enough, but the stone wasn’t when I used an infrared thermometer. Do you know how long it takes for your stone and oven to get to 450F? Do you have a gas or electric oven? Mine is gas. I was going to try using the broiler for a while to heat the stone (they said it’s ok to do that) to see if it goes faster. I, too, have a roaster cover and would like to try again as it seems a great way to bake two loaves. Your scoring is beautiful, by the way!

I guess I usually give it a half hour to preheat, though sometimes it goes longer (if the loaves aren’t ready yet). When the timing works out I like to bake loaves after dinner when I’ve used the oven as it feels more efficient, but I don’t notice a huge difference in loaves after a longer preheat.

I have a gas oven and my stone is fairly low, because the roaster lid won’t fit otherwise! Once in a while I move it higher for pizza etc, but mostly it just lives on the oven shelf.

Thank you. My instructions had read 500*, and my crust was getting to brown for my liking. I bumped back to 475. I’ll do 450*. :blush:

If someone wants to try this but doesn’t have a roaster; I’ve used my all-aluminum 8 Qt Soup Pot & Lid for many years, which works very well. I preheat the pot/lid to 500F and roll the bread in. Lid on for 20-25 minutes, then off until the bread is done. Gives a great crust. I will have to try the roaster lid too! Thanks.

This sounds like a great idea for doing more than one loaf! By the way, it usually takes a good hour to get things hot enough, and I only use it for pizza and bread. It sits down near the bottom of my gas oven and waits for use, but I find I just don’t use it like I had thought I might.

Get yourself an infrared thermometer and check the temp of the stone. I use fibrament also in an electric oven and takes almost an hour to get to 500F if set at 550F. Also use the fibrament in a gas grill and find it takes a little less time.

Lots of good options! I improv’d with a few things around the house and then kept my eye out at the goodwill store for an old roaster. I like the size and that it’s lightweight for handling when it’s hot!

As for preheating, I figure as long as I’m happy with my bakes I don’t worry too much about precise measurement of the stone temp. I haven’t noticed a huge difference on loaves where I preheated longer.