Baking Bread in Cast Iron Pot - Homemade Sourdough Bread
Cooking and baking with cast iron have a millennia-long tradition in Japan. Using cast iron cookware is particularly advantageous when high temperatures are needed for a longer time for cooking, roasting, and baking. Due to their high quality and durability, cast iron products are increasingly finding their way into European kitchens.
For those who have already delved into the art of baking bread at home, they know how challenging it is to bake the perfect loaf. The heat distribution in a home oven is often too uneven to harmonize the crumb and crust of the bread. For a good crust development, professional bakers often use steam, created by introducing additional water vapor into the oven. The condensing steam settles on the surface of the dough through the heat, promoting crust formation. Wood-fired ovens and bakery ovens, with their even heat distribution and steam functions, are specialized in baking bread, putting them far ahead of the home baker with a household oven.
Why baking bread in a cast iron pot also works at home
The cast iron pot with a lid takes on the role of a professional oven in a compact form. The confined space inside the closed pot is small enough to retain the moisture escaping from the bread. Therefore, there is no need to add steam. The even heat distribution provided by cast iron significantly benefits the baking process and crumb development, ensuring that the bread is baked uniformly from all sides.
Recipe for sourdough bread
For the following recipe, you will need the following ingredients: sourdough, flour, salt, and water
Depending on your taste, you can enhance the recipe with bread spices. For beginners, we recommend trying the basic recipe first, perfecting it if necessary, and only experimenting with variations in the second step. There are three options for sourdough: you can buy it fresh or in dried form. You can also start it yourself, which is particularly useful if you plan to bake sourdough bread regularly.
1kg
flour (for example wheat type 550 or spelt type 630)
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100g
sourdough (this should be prepared a few days in advance)
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25g
salt
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600ml
water (a little more if using wholemeal flour. The finished dough should always be soft and tender)
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flour cooking piece (20g flour, 100ml water)
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