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