On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 04:11:32 -0800, Taxed and Spent wrote:

> On 12/6/2020 2:36 PM, Graham wrote:
>> On Sun, 6 Dec 2020 14:23:38 -0800, Taxed and Spent wrote:
>>
>>> On 12/6/2020 2:19 PM, Taxed and Spent wrote:
>>>> On 12/6/2020 1:05 PM, cshenk wrote:
>>>>> Graham wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, 06 Dec 2020 12:42:02 -0600, cshenk wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Lets hope some here respond!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I got myself 4 'toys' for Christmas, all bread related. 2 just
>>>>>>> arrived and 2 arrive later this week.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A 7QT Lodge Cast Iron with lid
>>>>>>> 2 Boule bowls for rising (have cloth liners)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Later another Boule riser comes with a patterned bottom and 2
>>>>>>> alternative inserts and another piece of cast iron from Lodge with a
>>>>>>> sort of deep frypan and a domed lid.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I plan to play later but my one question is how hot would a baker
>>>>>>> recommend for the Lodge cast iron (obviously a long preheat)?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My normal is 400F but that is open to the oven.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The later arriving cast iron is more optimally sized for smaller
>>>>>>> loaves but this is what I have today and 'Mama wants to play'.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I usually heat my Lodge to 450F. Plop the dough in and put on the
>>>>>> lid. Bake for about 25minutes then remove the lid and bake for a
>>>>>> further 15-20 minutes. This would be for a 750g-800g loaf.
>>>>>> You don't need to put cornmeal or anything in the pot, the bread won't
>>>>>> stick. However, I've had too many instances of the dough sticking a
>>>>>> bit on one side of the banetton that it has gone in lopsided. So I
>>>>>> now tip it onto a piece of parchment using it to lift the dough into
>>>>>> the pot. You won't have quite the same problem with the deep frypan
>>>>>> Lodge.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ok, dough about to go in the bannetton pot. I'll start preheating to
>>>>> 450F same time and it's pretty much a 1KG load. Crossing fingers!
>>>>>
>>>>> If it fails, hey, it will be fun to try then I'll learn how to adjust.
>>>>>
>>>>> THanks!
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It will work fine. In fact, I no longer use cast iron and no longer
>>>> preheat. I make small free formed loaves and rounds, about 8 oz. raw,
>>>> and use hotel pans with lids (then uncover). It works fine.
>>>>
>>>> The reason I preheat is that I do a lot in one batch, and reuse the
>>>> hotel pans a couple of bakes. This process is long enough without more
>>>> preheating.
>>>>
>>>
>>> The reason I don't preheat . . .
>>
>> Dick Adams on the sourdough group is an advocate of baking from cold. I
>> tried it several times and it didn't work for me.
>>
>
>
> I just do it because it is convenient, and it works for me. For a one
> loaf at a time, I don't know that I would advocate it. I wouldn't
> belittle the idea, either.

Whenever I tried it, two things happened. There was a major split along the
base and a huge tunnel in the middle of the loaf. The split affected
"free-form" loaves and the tunnelling also affected tinned loaves. I gave
up after several tries.