artisan bread and parchment paper

[ginnyinWI]

Instead of the cornmeal under the bread on the baking stone, I tried parchment paper. But the bottom didn't get very crispy or brown. Is that to be expected, or did I do something wrong?

Cornmeal is messier, but I don't want underdone bottoms on my bread. Advice?

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Stones do a few things ......

..... first, they act as a heat sink and "store" heat. When you put a cold loaf on them, they transfer their heat pretty quickly, but stop the rapid temperature drop that the oven suffers as you open it. A thicker stone would make the temperature drop almost imperceptible.

They draw moisture out of the dough. The parchment paper interferes with this, resulting in a less well formed crust because the dough sort of steams instead of bakes.

[ginnyinWI]

7. ah yes, that's just what it looked like.

It looked steamed.

[hippywife]

2. Try pulling the parchment paper out

from under the bread after it's been in the oven for about 3 mins. or so. That's what the authors of the cookbook have subsequnetly suggested. I make a mess with the cornmeal, too, so that's the only way I can do it is with the paper.

[Tesha]

3. I agree...

I spend the last 5 minutes crisping the bottom after pulling out the paper... no fuss - no muss



muss? er.. mess?

[ginnyinWI]

8. I'll try that next time.

Only three minutes--I would have thought half way through. Thanks!

[hippywife]

11. You can always leave it

a few minutes longer if you want.

[Warpy]

4. I've used it in the Dutch oven

and the bottom browned just fine. I use cornmeal, though, because I like the flavor and a little extra crunch.

Maybe the stone wasn't preheated enough? That's the only thing I can think of. The stone will have to be smokin' hot.

[Lucinda]

5. What temp are you pre-heating to?

I never remove the parchment and mine brown fine. I preheat to 475-500 and then turn it down to bake.

[ginnyinWI]

9. 450.

Maybe I could start it out at 500.

[wryter2000]

6. I've been having a problem with the corn meal, too

Lately, my loaves have been sticking.

Here's what I've seen with very moist dough. (Saw someone do it on Julia Child with a bigga <is that right?>). Put the parchement paper on the top of the loaf and then invert it onto the stone. You can leave the paper in there for a few minutes and then remove it.

I'm going to try it. I don't know if it'll significanly flatten the bread or not. I'm pretty sure bigga tends to be flat.

[ginnyinWI]

10. You'd have to cut the slashes after transferring to the stone,

I'd think, if you did that. Hm. Or somehow roll it back over onto its bottom side.

[Tab]

12. Baking isn't really my area of expertise, except for my experiments with pizza

but I have to say that I like white cornmeal. It doesn't negatively impact the flavor. Yellow, however really gives it a taste I dislike.

I shifted to purely white cornmeal a few years ago.

[ginnyinWI]

13. update

I used parchment paper for ten minutes, took it out and baked for another 20. Still not brown enough on the bottom. The quest continues...

[housewolf]

14. Are you preheating your stone long enough?

They should pre-heat in a 450 - 500 degree oven for 45 - 60 minutes in order to absorb enough heat to be ttuly effective. If your stone is properly heated, you should be able to pull the parchment paper out after just a very few minutes... like maybe 3 - 5 minutes, if that long.

Also, try setting your oven rack 1 level lower than where you have it, if you can.

What size loaves are you baking?

[ginnyinWI]

15. maybe not

maybe I need to preheat the stone for a longer time. I'll try that--thanks.

The loaves aren't very big, so it's probably a preheating problem.

[housewolf]

16. I think I understand your problem better now

After baking my first loaf of ABIN5 bread, proofing in to parchment and then putting it right into the oven on the parchment.

The problem is the same problem Hippywife was having with her bread sticking to the peel - when you proof a wet dough like ABIN5, the dough is so wet that moisture migrates down from the bottom of the loaf, causing the loaf to stick. Even on my stone preheated for over an hour at 450 degrees, the loaf stuck to the parchment and the loaf came out with a soft bottom.

I solved the problem with the next loaf - I very lightly sprayed the parchment with cooking spray, then put a bit of flour down and proofed the loaf on top - I was able to easily pull the parchment out from under the bread 5 minutes (or less) after putting the loaf in to bake.

You might want to give it a try.

I was more used to turning a loaf out from a basket onto a piece of parchment and putting it into the oven within minutes, so I wasn't aware of the problem of proofing the dough on the parchment.

Good luck to you,

[troubleinwinter]

17. Amazing how many variations on this recipe. Ain5

I do not have a stone, so started with a terra cotta saucer & the water pan. Good results.

Then once had an unpleasant tough thick bottom crust and realized it was too much cornmeal, which the bread took up. Agh.

Then used TC saucer w/ a cover I rigged up. Good results. Still not crazy about cornmeal in bottom crust.

I saw Lucinda had used an enamel pot at first (thin type, not cast iron) & she explained parchment to me.

That's what I now use. Covered enamel pot & parchment. No water pan. No sticking, no spray. No soft bottom crust (because of thin metal, oven bumping up???) I am satisfied with this system for me.