Interesting the Romertopff. I have one and it tells me to always start with
a cold oven. My thought was placing a soaked non fired clay pot in a hot
oven will shatter it.
Have you done this in a hot oven?
I tried one time a loaf in it with a cold start and was not happy at all
with the result.


--
Ron Anderson
A1 Sewing Machine
PO Box 60
Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133
http://www.a1sewingmachine.com
"williamwaller" > wrote in message
news:mailman.7.1092839371.1141.rec.food.sourdough@ mail.otherwhen.com...
> On 8/18/04 8:56 AM, "Dick Adams" > wrote:
>
> >
> > "jason molinari" > wrote in message
> > om...
> >
> >> I'd hate to be futzing with the steam if that isn't the problem.
> >
> > One should witness the steaming process in a wood-fired- or
> > commercial deck oven. It is not something which is easy to
> > re-create in a home oven. (Kenneth could help us a lot with
> > understanding that difference since it would appear that he has
> > both an ordinary- and a commercial (steamed) oven in his
> > kitchen.)
> >
> > I could get pretty good steam in our Kenmore gas oven, but
> > it did not seem worth the inconvenience. Please left-click on
> > the line(s) below to bring up some evidence for that:
> >

> > .worldnet.att.net
> >
> > But very fine bread can be made without any "steam" at all, nor
> > preheated stone (nor preheated anything). See, for instance:
> > http://home.att.net/~dick.adams/EZSDLoaves/index.html
> >
> > Of course, that is not for the huge holes and the real thick
> > chewy crusts. That is where the heat and steam of a commercial
> > or artisanal oven comes in very handy.
>
> I had thought about buying a steam oven but it seemed:
>
> 1) too Republican
>
> and
>
> 2) too much like replicating (on a much larger scale) the environment of a
> smaller ceramic pot placed in a very hot oven. Get a Romertopff at a yard
> sale. This is what they look like...
>
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...0000DDVOY/qid=
> 1092838992/sr=ka-2/ref=pd_ka_2/103-3299965-9316651
>
>