# gas oven baking



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I need some help.
I got a smallish gas oven with only bottom heat. I bought it third hand or so. Till now, I've almost always only used an electric oven with bottom and top heat.
I'm slowly getting the idea. Focaccia went fine, puff pastry quiche as well.
But bread!!!!

I pre-heated Dutch ovens (with lid) and that's what I baked the bread (sourdough) in for about 30 minutes. Then removed the lid for 10 minutes.
No colour at all yet on top. I couldn't put them any higher to the top of the oven due to the height of the pots.
I decided to take them out and brown them out if the pot. It worked, but it is a bit of a mission.
There got to be a better way!

I'm thinking of a simple solution of removing the lid earlier? How long should I leave it on as a minimum to get oven spring?
Other idea is to use the pot upside down. That way, I can remove the pot and maybe get the bread higher to the top of the oven (hopefully without burning myself)?
Any other ideas?


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## JohnDB (10 mo ago)

A Dutch oven is the way to trap steam from water placed on the bottom of the Dutch oven. So you end up with a great crust. 

And yes you have to remove the top so it browns...the steam has to escape for browning. And use a high high heat....like 450 or better.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Thanks, but that's what I described I did.
And that didn't work.
So looking for other suggestions/input.
The bread tastes good, but I need to find a way to brown the top


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Bread after a session of browning out of the pot








Oven


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## JohnDB (10 mo ago)

butzy said:


> Bread after a session of browning out of the pot
> View attachment 71805
> 
> 
> ...


That's not the same type of Dutch oven I'm talking about.

However this one is...


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I've not seen that style before. Interesting.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Same here
That looks more like a cloche


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Very nice but too rich for my purse!

https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/kitchen/best-bread-cloche


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Yeah, think the lodge or equivalent is more my style.
Plus I got likewise ones


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

But I think I am going to try this


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Actually, I'm not.
Too big for the oven...


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## JohnDB (10 mo ago)

Then you probably will want an oven like this....
Stone hearth on each deck, 
Steam injection on each deck. 
3 zone control (top, bottom, and front) 
Sealed chambers and venting individually controlled on each deck. 
Holds four sheetpans on each deck.

But it will bake an amazing loaf of bread.


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## JohnDB (10 mo ago)

Steam is how we turn the crust into jello before its actually browned...it's cooked but just unable to brown because of the moisture. 
Now if you are using a Dutch oven and bricks like I seen in the top picture....the are going to take a while to heat up before you start baking....like an hour at least. 

That's going to help with heat loss from opening the oven door. But even the top of your Dutch oven needs to be at 400° before you put the bread inside of it. 

Then such a small oven is going to have severe issues with heat retention and heat loss from opening the door. Radiant heat vs ambient heat is the problem now....you don't have either. And that's the whole issue as you have described.


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Actually, I'm not.


butzy said:


> Too big for the oven...


You were wise to try or measure first. I got a new roasting pan and found out last minute, as I had a houseful of guests and started to roast a ham, that the new pan was 1 inch wider than the oven rack. Dang, did I feel a bit foolish.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

@JohnDB 
The bricks/tiles are not in the oven.
They are on top of the gas cooker, just to insulate the heat that comes from the uuni (ooni) pizza oven on top.

I baked another sourdough bread, using cold oven method. It seems to work.
I'll still need to do some fine tuning, but I will manage to get a decent bread out of this oven!
Somehow


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Getting there, slowly


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## kylew (Aug 14, 2000)

As long as you're confident that your oven reaches temperature, and stays there, I'm thinking you don't really need all the extra hardware. I good stone is all you really need. Dutch oven bread baking is a relatively "new" phenomenon. People were baking all kinds of delicious bread before, and will continue to do so after. 😊


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## cookbot (May 13, 2014)

Wait a minute... you have a pizza oven?

Why aren't you just doing your second (i.e., lid off) baking phase in there to capitalize on the high heat?


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Because the pizza oven is small (it's the uuni 3) and the heat is by gass, like a flame thrower!
Believe me, I have thought of it, but it would burn instantly.
Great for flat breads, but not for anything else.

But I'm slowly succeeding with the bread.
Every attempt (3 so far) has come out better than the previous.
Although the 1st one actually tasted best  Maybe because I didn't gave sourdough bread for so long!


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

I switched from a baking stone to dutch oven because cleanup is far simpler. Using an electric oven, I bake my typical french bread at 460F for 45 minutes and remove the lid after 10 or fifteen minutes of baking.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Yeah, that's how I baked in my electric oven with top heat as well as bottom.heat.
But this gas oven only heats at the bottom. Next attempt will be dutch oven and removing lid way earlier. And moving pot closer to the top, trying to get more of the reflective heat


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Slowly getting there....


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

I found that if I allowed my dough to proof uncovered, I achieved a nicer ear, a far better oven spring, and a nicer crust. And yes I know that "uncovered" goes against most directions. But......BUT.....seventeen years of bread baking taught me this approach after having tried all other combinations of proofing. Sometimes there are things that aren't taught in baking. What have you got to loose?


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I've tried both, but so far results are inconclusive as I also tinkered with baking methods
I'll definitely try again
All experiments have been very edible, so no issue there.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

butzy said:


> I've tried both, but so far results are inconclusive as I also tinkered with baking methods
> I'll definitely try again
> All experiments have been very edible, so no issue there.


Try lowering your hydration a few percentage points. Also the addition of a spoonful or so of bran will really tighten the dough.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

butzy said:


> I need some help.
> I got a smallish gas oven with only bottom heat. I bought it third hand or so. Till now, I've almost always only used an electric oven with bottom and top heat....................


Get a real "full sized" oven. Which flour(s) are you using???? Yeast and how much??


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

kokopuffs said:


> Try lowering your hydration a few percentage points. Also the addition of a spoonful or so of bran will really tighten the dough.


That's a good plan.
I'm currently using a high hydration dough. Playing around with the "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" idea. Hydration 80%
Slow rise, 1/8 teaspoon yeast on 1 kg flour.
But I think I'll soon go back to my sourdough. For that one I normally use 65% hydration (levain/starter included in percentage).
Yes, I know I should stick with one recipe for now, but this "5 minute a day" dough makes it easy to play around.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

kokopuffs said:


> Get a real "full sized" oven. Which flour(s) are you using???? Yeast and how much??


Other oven is not an option. I wish 
Yeast etc as in above post.
Bread flour, or bread flour with some brown flour, about 20% (it's not whole wheat) 
Got no other details. All we have is
All purpose flour
Bread flour
Brown flour
Cake flour
No details on the packaging other than that


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

butzy said:


> That's a good plan.
> I'm currently using a high hydration dough. Playing around with the "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" idea. Hydration 80%
> Slow rise, 1/8 teaspoon yeast on 1 kg flour......


My recipe for a 500g dough, DOUGH:

312g flour
188g water
1 tsp SAF Red Instant Yeast (dump the Fleischmanns)
1+tsp salt
1 tsp bran


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

A 60 % dough 

The taste of my bread are good. Oven spring of the sourdough bread baked in cast iron (from both cold as hot oven) is good or satisfactory.
It's really the browning on the top that I struggle with.
I'm going back to sourdough in cast iron, and see what I can do. Thinking of earlier removal of lid and a longer bake, closer to the top of the oven. Maybe even a larger bread to justify the longer bake.

Thanks for all help so far


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

butzy said:


> A 60 % dough
> 
> The taste of my bread are good. Oven spring of the sourdough bread baked in cast iron (from both cold as hot oven) is good or satisfactory.


I feel that nothing short of a full sized oven would really improve the overall appearance and spring of your loaf.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

kokopuffs said:


> I feel that nothing short of a full sized oven would really improve the overall appearance and spring of your loaf.


Fair enough
I'll just have to live with the shortfalls of my oven for now.
And revel in the fact that it is still better than anything I can buy here


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Getting better
Needs work on shaping, scoring and proofing, but happy anyway
Sourdough, uncovered bake on quarry tiles


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