bread rising in WFO

[salilah]

I've had 3 or 4 goes now - what I'm finding is that the bread seals very quickly (even the slashes) so that the rising is not as good as it should be (though last one looked rather like a rugby ball, rose from the base a lot!)

If I was doing this in a conventional oven, I'd be thinking "need to increase the steam for this" - so what do you do in the WFO? Do you add steam? If so, how and when?

Any suggestions much appreciated!

[h12rpo]

I've not yet baked in a wfo however, sounds like the oven is too hot .?

[faz]

I have seen reference to including a bowl of water in the oven with bread to increase the humidity.

[DuncanM]

I've seen many a video where people rake the hearth clean to remove the coals, then brush it clean with a damp cloths to remove any further traces of ash and to also add steam. I've not actually tried it yet.

[matt]

Hi Salilah,

I do as DuncanM describes, I 'scuffle' the oven floor with a damp towel fixed to the end of a broomstick. This gets it super clean, I don't want ash on the bottom of my loaves, and fills the oven space with moisture.

I also soak my oak door in water for the duration of the firing, so that is also emitting moisture during the bake.

I find I get bigger oven spring in my wfo, contrasted with the kitchen fan oven.

Happy baking,

Matt

[turkey]

I think the rise and spring is from the air in the dough expanding with the heat, so after you form the loaf you do need to let it have another rise prior to the oven to get as many air pockets (bubbles) formed in the dough as possible, its these expanding that will cause the rise.

[nickynoo]

The best result I had was with placing a small roasting dish (about 5" x 3" - large individual yorky tin) with a wet tea towell in it at the back of the oven and just after loading the bread I also gave about half a dozen squirts from a spray bottle into the air above the bread and got the door back on as quick as possible.

These were 68% hydration and went in at about 260c air temp (from probe in the door) so I would guess the hearth was maybe 10 deg higher if you're using a gun.



My oven is only small; 590mm dia so I can only get 3 loaves in. From what I understand the more bread you can get in the oven the more moisture is introduced from the bread itself so if only doing one loaf you may need to add more.

I've had loads of failures - plenty of croutons in the freezer It's only since building the oven that I've taken an interest in making sourdough bread and there seems to be so many things to take into account when cooking in these ovens, together with all the different bread techniques, that the process almost becomes specific to your recipe and your oven and it just takes lots of experimenting. Which I think is great, any excuse to fire it up! ;D

[h12rpo]

Nice loaves there mate !

[cannyfradock]

Nicky

Great looking loaves and some brilliant advice for Sali ....(me too). I feel so guilty having a WFO out my back yard and I don't use it. (it was built without the knowledge and help from the guys on the forum so a re-build is on the cards.

Terry

[Fat Bob]

Breadtastic loafs!!

[petec]

great looking bread nickynoo

I can almost hear that crust !!

Pete

[salilah]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Yes I'll try the scuffle - we've got one improvised, and it would probably be better not to have lumps of charcoal on the bottom of the loaf! It needs a good wash through though...

Good idea re the small tin with a towel - I don't do that in the fan oven as I use either La Cloche or a pyrex, which retains steam really well - so I'll give that a go!

Thanks Turkey for the comment - yes my loaves do get the second fermentation (proof) before going in - the challenge is that the "skin" cooks too quick and so I get break-outs in interesting places! The usual solutioon to this is steam...

Nicky - stunning looking loaves!! Very nice slashing - and they've expanded beautifully!! I like the idea of trying to do more - our oven is about the same size, and I've only tried one loaf to date - hmmm, maybe tomorrow??? and I'll try to get hold of a small tin... I started the other way round - started doing sourdough a year and a half ago, and use loads of different recipes - the idea of the WFO came a lot later!! I love doing sourdough - but yes it is a bit of a challenge - and having BOTH the bread AND the oven varying their performance certainly adds to the complexity!! <grin>

thanks again everyone, I'll let you know how I get on
cheers
S