After I bake, I shut off the oven, crack the door open a bit (3 inches, 10cm), and leave the bread in another 20 minutes. Bread is Soooo crispy and never goes wimpy soft. Love your channel xo
That pencil is behind his ear ... all is right with the world. High heat and steam ... once l listened to Jack's suggestion I started producing bread better than anything that can be bought in a bakery. Jack ... have any of the Windsor's invited you to high tea yet?
I have a deep dish cast iron skillet made for frying chicken. Tossing the dough into a regular cast iron skillet and covering it with the deep dish one, upside down, gives me enough headroom for the loaf to fully puff up and the finished bread comes out perfectly shaped because it wasn't dumped 8 inches into the bottom of a dutch oven. Thanks again for a great video!
Yes! My late great Southern-born USA mum called it the "chicken fryer." She also used it for making cornbread and upside-down cakes. And now thanks to you it 🙌🏾will be bread baling dutch oven.
mike shivers Yes, I have a cast iron 2-pan set that actually is sold together for this kind of thing (shallow pan covered by deep one). Gets nice and hot, too, and retains that heat.
Good info. I don't like to brag, but..... I just finished three loaves and are cooled. All ears and crispy, small bubbled blistered skin. I have an apartment size (18 inch width, normal depth) electric oven. Leaks like a sieve and temps on dial are not even close (got an oven temp gauge), and temps were uneven. Solved all with a stone (evens temps), pan with lava rocks steams longer and fuller. I also get great rise on my starter (MS Sourpuss), thanks to Jack (rye 😉). If I want a more all white loaf, I take Mom out of hibernation. I do 10g starter, 10g h2o, 10g white flour. I double every 5 hrs (use my microwave as a proofed), till I have the amount needed for baking. I live in a high rise of elderly, low income folks I give my loaves to. Thank you Jack! You helped me to be able to do this. God bless you and your family. 💛
Hi! Would you mind explaining what you mean by a pan with lava rocks? My oven is very very leaky so anything to increase steam production would be great...
@@wytstriped I bought the lava rocks that are used in gas outdoor BBQ grills (they are food grade use). They are honey combed and hold heat well. When I pour boiling water into a broiling pan with a layer of lava rocks carefully not to get steam burns. The rocks boil steam for the first 15 minutes which is required for great spring. I have that steam pan in the lowest rack, then the bread rack with a 12 × 14 baking stone ( evens your heat) on the highest rack that accommodates that spring. Hope that helps.
@@rodleyeriffe9149 haha, no, I'm glad you did! It's a great tip I'm going to try. I also recommend a pizza stone, which is also good if you take the bread out of the tin for the last ten minutes (which I do)
I brought back successfully my bread’s crust with your suggestion! It was so important to me since friends were waiting to try the bread and they loved it. Thank you so much Jack!
There’s no other baking channel, this is all I’ve needed. Making sourdough and baker boy loaves for over a year and after some trails and errors they’ve become delicious. Dear jack Thanks for all the tips and tricks and guides along the way! -grateful subscriber luis
I always use the 'enclosed method' to get steam and a crispy crust. For a round loaf, a dutch oven works great. For a regular loaf, I use the 'poor man's dutch oven'. Pop the dough into a greased loaf tin, place another loaf tin on top to enclose it, and hold them in place with binder clips on the side handles. Remove the top loaf tin halfway through and keep baking. Works beautifully. Thanks for another great video Jack! Good to see you on the semi-regular again.
Mind blown to return the baked loaf to the oven to rebuild the crust. I knew this with other food but didn't consider it for my bread! I'm actually excited to have my crust get soft so I can try rebuilding it
You thanking us???... i feel like I should be THANK YOU all over again! This is so helpful! My desire to become a professional baker has doubled since I found your Channel. Thanks again Jack.❣
Thanks for the tips of returning to the oven after the loaf's cooled down. Never thought of that. I think it'll solve the problem of losing crispy crust because of the humid environment.
Just started making bread and running up against this exact problem, your point about practicing with an appreciation for the long-term is probably the best advice anyone can take out of this. I've been making the same loaf out of Peter Reinhart's Bread Bakers Apprentice and every time coming away with stuff that's disappointed me, so thanks for the morale boost 🤘
Hi Jack, I've commented on one of your videos before asking if it was possible to make a loaf without an oven. Well, it turns out, you can! I tried your yeasted loaf recipe and adjusted it with what flour I have at hand (which is risky considering it's the first time I made bread). Then, I heated up a soup pot on my stove on high for about 30 minutes, popped the baking tin inside, and closed the lid. Baked it for 40 minutes. Glad to report it ended up perfectly okay!
Thanks for this info. As usual your delivery was perfect. I absolutely love your hints and tips and now I'm back at work I'm telling everyone about you. Still proud of myself...no bought baked goods since March....all thanks to finding you!!!
I bake a yeasted loaf evey 3 days following Jack's recommendations and recipe. After cooling I store my loaf in a large brown paper bag[from my local butcher,great fellow],loaf stays crisp crust and soft bread till the last slice. Took a while to discover the combo but was worth it in the end. Thanks Jack.
The Dutch oven method is great! I tried it for the first time recently and was amazed at how well it baked my sourdough loaf. Impressive oven-spring rise, and the best ‘ear’ I’ve ever achieved. Didn’t splash out mega bucks on an expensive one either. I found online a large oval cast iron casserole dish with a flat lid, and use it upside down. Works a treat!👍🏼
Found another alternative to the Dutch Oven online, forget where. He suggested using steam table trays w. the binder clips They are cheap and come in many sizes/depths You can get the 2" deep for the bottom and 4" deep for the top for about $25. And tops are available too in case you want to use for other purposes. I'm looking at this size on Amazon Winco 1/2 Size Pan, 4-Inch @ $14.35, 25 gauge.
I've only started baking bread a month ago and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm happy to say I haven't had to throw anything away, yet:) Your videos are very informative and entertaining which has made bread baking less intimidating to me. I'm going through your previous videos and looking forward to the next one. Thanks!
Thanks again for the tips Jack. I have also found it useful to pop a frozen loaf that has defrosted overnight n the oven for 10 minutes to help with the crust.
I got _CHOCOLATE_ over the weekend, Jack! _WHY_ did I get chocolate? The people in whose huge farm garden in which I have my caravan went to visit family over the weekend and I gave them two of my Sourdough loaves to take with them. The people they visited _loved_ the bread! And Gerda sent me a bar of chocolate. It is true I would have preferred a 5kg box of Lindtor but chocolate is chocolate and I _ain't_ complaining! Thank you for teaching me to bake, Darling Jack!
I've been baking my bread in a Dutch oven for quite some time. I spotted it at a French car boot sale and knew exactly why I wanted it. They cost well over £100 new and I got this for £2 I even use it bake bread on my bbq (Weber with a lid on) Fabulous results with a Dutch oven.
Weekend by weekend I bake my SourdoughBread, and every Sunday I come across another question. And like magic you just upload the answer the following week... scary, but very much appreciated. Thanks a lot and please keep on going!
I love what you said abt experience is repetition. I practised so much with cheap flour n slowly move up the scale.. my focus was to improve my skills.. n consider one factor at a time.. till I know how the dough shd feel like even at mixing stage..
I bake all my bread in a dutch oven inside my BBQ grill. (I started doing this because I live in Burbank and I hate heating up the house in the summer, plus I get the high temps.) The water sprayer works perfectly for the steam. That and the tips from BWJ equals success every time!
This is going to help me so much. I just started my first sourdough starter 11 hours ago and this will surely help me on my baking day! I do also watch your sourdough making tips and looking forward to apply those when i start the dough itself. Wish me luck on my first sourdough 😁😁😁
awesome, thankyou! This is the one (for standard loaf baking) issue I've been not fully satisfied with after watching tons of your videos. I've googled a lot to try and find the answer and couldn't get any real answer and certainly not one that worked. I'll give this a try tomorrow
I bake my bread on 220c and leave it in for an extra 5 minutes than what the recipe calls for. Result-lovely crispy crust. I initially worried that the bread would burn and go tough,but it comes out lovely. Another great informative video, Jack. Thank you! 😀
I get good crust results from a cold dough inside a Dutch oven on high heat (230C/450F) spritzed with water at 30 minutes, and baked another 10 to 15 minutes until the internal temp is 99C/210F. Your basic sourdough recipe was my starting point, and I switched to a rye starter after watching your videos.
Practice. That's what I did during Covid!!! To practiced ...I ÷ my dough in to roll sizes. With 8-10 rolls in the oven you can delay baking a few to test something, take some out of the dutch oven sooner, extend the overall time, add steam, etc. and not end up with a 100% fail. Some HAVE to end up good, ah? And, since I started using a dutch oven I've had 100% success. I LOVE BAKING IN MY DUTCH OVEN. I find it foolproof. Artisan Bread, Sweet Bread rolled with cheese and cherry pie filling, Crusty Bread with sauteed onions, garlic, parsley, parm & mozzarella stuffed in the score. That one was a big hit. Thanks Jack. Thanks to you, I feel graduated to the next step instead of my palms sweating at the thought of baking. Rather, I look forward to adding to my Covid 10 lbs. 😅
Dude, I like the way you talk about making bread: simple, efficient and repetitive, so beginners like me understand the concept of repetition. By the way I am in US, I am retired and I started making bread a year ago or so, and I think I'm doing OK. I still have a lot of room for improvement. Your videos are inspiring and also entertaining. Please keep up the good work.
I get the best results with a dutch oven. Small blisters and crispy crust. I recommend the Lodge combo cookers (they come in various sizes, so be careful about picking an appropriate size). With a combo cooker you actually bake with the whole thing upside down. The bread is placed on the inner surface of the lid/frypan, and the larger piece of the dutch oven goes over the bread. Bake approximately the first half of bake time covered, then remove the cover to finish the rest of the time. Whatever dutch oven you choose, be careful that it is made to withstand your baking temperature. Some products will have handles or coatings that cannot withstand your baking temperature. Solid cast iron with no other materials is the safest choice in this regard.
Good job Jack. I got the crust and the chewy in my loaf. Sourdough bread white. Flour water salt yeast. Perfect foot long loaf. SPray water on loaf in she goes at 435F. 30 min. ... had to add more flour about 20g so it wont collapse. Used tsp instant yeast. To many fails without it. Door stoppers. 2 days to make. The secret is ********* ***. 445g bread flour, 1cup water, 1cup starter 100%, 10g sea salt. Mix all together. Cover for 30 minutes. Fold n turn in bowl about 4 times in 2 hours. So tops I do 20-30 secs work or less each 30 minutes. Then in pan for 12 hrs in refrigerator, rise n bake. You get the principal down as Jack said. You’ll have bread bread. You’ll have fails as I did. But you will learn from them. Thanks Jack!,
I live in a higher humidity area just above sea level (446 ft) and my kitchen is usually 67 F so it stays fairly humid. One method I picked up was to leave the bread in the oven to cool and crack the door about 2 inches. This works pretty well. I also tried letting the bread cool completely on the counter and a couple hours later I put it back in the oven on about 200 F for long enough to remove the softness from the humidity. Not science but it appeared to work. I will try it again when necessary.( current humidity 75%)
After the bake has finished, I turn the oven off, leave the bread in the oven and open the oven door open an inch or so for 20 minutes; before placing the bread on a cooling rack on the bench. This has given me an extra period for the crust to dry in the open oven and give an extra crunch to the crust. I read this method whilst looking into baking baguettes and it works nicely on my sourdough. Thanks again Jack for your insight!
Steam, so simple advice yet i've never heard it before... thanks a lot m8. My oven is not fit for purpose so i'll try putting the bread inside a big all metal pot in the oven.
I have found that heating the oven to 250c, turning it down to 225c when the dough goes into the oven, using steam, turning on the oven fan and baking for 40 minutes achieves a really crusty loaf which remains crispy after cooling. It evens remains crusty if I freeze and later thaw out the bread.
Like the idea of two water trays, maybe one above and one below. Will try returning to the oven for second blast if that doesn't work. Yes my oven has vents to let out steam! 🤪 Thanks for your ongoing tips and advice always useful. Peter - moving from Barnsley to Spain and will try and build a bread oven. 😎👍
Is the RUclips picture, behind your right shoulder, an award of some type? If not....it should be, your videos are so well done! I did love the blooper one the other day too. Have a great day and thank you!
Instead of a tray to pour the boiling water on, I'm using a big roasting tray filled with pebbles from the garden. I also try to not forget to turn off the fan (switch to top/bottom heating) when opening the door, or all the steam ends up in the kitchen instead of the oven ;-) make sure to turn the fan back on after closing the door!
Hi Jack, great to have you back. Thanks for this video, especially about the alternative baking temperatures which is the thing which I never seem to get right, and tend to under bake my bread. I have used a metal casserole dish as a Dutch Oven fairly successfully, but feel very nervous about a baking stone having head stories about them splitting. Maybe I’ll give it a go - wife permitting :-) Stay safe and keep going. Best, Peter
Thanks Jack, good information here. I’ve been baking cold. Cold dough, cold vessel, cold oven using either clay or porcelain roaster. Works great. I learned this from one of your Countryman, Elaine Foodbod Sourdough. Regards, Rob from NJ
I bake my free form loaves in a Emile Henry Cloche. Crust results are nice but I need to to keep an eye on it as the bottom comes out more well done than the rest of it. I have to figure out why and how to correct it. We love a crusty bread and like your tips on spraying and returning it to the oven for a bit.
Mike F Could the position of your oven racks have anything to do with it? (I use my countertop oven, and rack positioning is a little limited, so this comes to mind! 😏)
Hi jack, great to have you back making videos and sharing your knowledge with all the like-minded enthusiastic home bakers. Just wanted to ask if there is a possibility that the there is too much steam injected during the baking process, causing the crust to be soft out of the oven? Thank you in advance!!
I was just going to bake my bread when I saw your video. And it did help a lot. Can it help by opening the oven a bit half way of the baking time and go on like that too let escape the steam?
Jack!! I made your fruit bread and it's wonderful! I've swapped out the candy orange peel for candied pineapple, and oh my God it's amazing. If you haven't tried this you really should.
Thank you very much Jack. As always a really helpful lesson. I thought that large amounts of oil/butter also prevents the crust from staying crunchy, too? True? Cheers from Germany 😊🙏
1. One hack to increase steam in a Dutch oven. As you put the lid on, spray the loaf inside the Dutch oven. Some toss in an ice cube. Pretty much the same result. You've increased the water inside the Dutch oven and that will produce more steam. 2. I almost always notice a couple bananas and an orange on the shelf behind you. Are those artificial or do you enjoy keeping good looking fruit handy. Either way, it looks great.
Funny, I just make sandwich loafs and don't want a really crispy crust. Still loved the video of course. When I can find a nice professionally crusty loaf I do really love it and understand why so many people prefer that style. To each his own...... Keep em coming Jack.
can you show the difference between a loaf baked with no steam vs one baked with a tray of water vs one baked with spritzed water vs one with both styles of steam? that would be super helpful, I may have to do this one myself.
Hey Jack, hope your good. I have followed your sourdough method (I just use a Costwold plain organic flour for the starter instead) and want to thank you as it’s so simple and tastes great. My question is, when I bake two loaves same day (Sunday), the problem I have is storing it without it going so hard by midweek. I’ve tried baking one on the Sunday and leaving one in fridge until Tuesday and then baking the second. I still find after a couple of days the crust is so hard, it is a potential tooth breaker, it helps to pop into toaster to warm and soften bread a bit. I store the bread in a linen bread bag on the kitchen side. Do you have any other methods of storing to try and keep the crust going so hard? And also I have noticed the longer I leave the dough in the fridge before baking the second loaf the less it rises but the better it tastes, it is more sour. Any tips would be great, thank you 👍🏻
Thank you so much for your tutorials! I've baked your basic sourdough loaf for 8 months now and will never go back to store-bought bread. I would love some advice on how to store bread so it doesn't lose that crust. I've tried linen bags, but the bread dries out too quickly. Now I'm using plastic ziploc bags, which keeps the bread fresh, but loses the crust and gets soft. Any advice on sourdough bread storage?
Steam works a treat for me, but I ended up killing my oven. My new one is bigger, gets hotter and has a vent to release the steam, so when I turn the loaf at the halfway point, I add more water to the tray. Still working on the ear tho......
Hiya Jack have been baking your recipe sourdough weekly for the last five months ( yes blame it on lockdown) . I use a Le Creuset pot and was wondering what oven temperature you would use and how long to cook the loaf for. Thanks. Love your videos, so easy to follow and enjoyable to watch.
I use Jack's sourdough recipe and bake it in a Le Creuset 5 quart Dutch oven. I preheat my oven to 450F/232C. I've had the same success with preheating the pot and using it cold, so now I use a cold pot to avoid getting burnt. I like to place my dough on a piece of parchment paper (baking paper) directly out of the fridge. After I score my dough, I carry it by the parchment paper and place both in the pot. I spray the top of the scored dough liberally with water before covering with the lid and placing in the oven. I used to bake for 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for 5-10 minutes longer. Lately I've been baking for 50 minutes, leaving the lid on the entire time because I prefer a golden crust rather than a dark one. I wish my Dutch oven was a bit smaller because my bread spreads sideways a bit and I don't get as much oven spring as I would like. Maybe I should bake a larger loaf in the Dutch oven? When I I baked last weekend I decided to try the "poor man's Dutch oven" and baked in two loaf pans held closed with binder clips. The oven spring was amazing! The crust had big crispy ears and the bread had a beautiful crumb. I thought it might be an anomaly, so I tried it again with the same results. Baked at 450F/232C for 45 minutes and didn't remove the cover. I'll be baking with the loaf pans from now on.
Hi Jack I made 2 loaves same dough different size proofing both baked in cast iron Brunswick Baker separately, one had great rise the other one justa little I just don't know what I did? Could the temp have not been hot enough for the second one?
You know what's ironic? Here I am, trying to make the crustiest bread... and my husband hates crispy crust. LOL. He likes his soft so when I fail, he thinks it's a win. They say opposite attracts.... no? :D I love your quote: "Practicing.... is what separates the professionals from the amateurs." And "Experience is repetition." I might have to make a t-shirt or a poster and put it up in my music studio so that my music students can gain wisdom from you too. :D
Got to disagree... Experience only comes through failure, everything else is taught. Give me a doctor who has been taught well and who hasn't learnt from experience 😉
@@bignose8614 I respectfully sorta-agree and sorta-disagree with you. :) Experience is BOTH successes and failures in REPETITION in a craft. :) As you fail, you do it again (the very definition of repetition) so you can try something else so you can succeed one day. I think it was implied that one learns from failures as one repeats and gains experience. :) And that it didn't need to be spelled out explicitly. As least, that's how I thought it.....
I have an AEG Steambake oven. To me it seems to have a drawback in this system. Just 100ml water into depression in oven bottom, turn on, press steam button, set temperature, preheat 5 mins. to then bake. It certainly gives an initially steamy oven but not up to temperature and at 100ml, the water won’t last long - I think the water reservoir has its own element. Today I'm going to try a simple white loaf with a tray of water (as I used to do) and full preheat, but for the first time in many years of baking, proving in a banneton. I'm brushing up on Jack’s it excellent advice and looking back at his relevant videos. Remember folks, write everything down and the outcome it isn’t what you wanted, next time only change one thing. That’s the way of science 🙂 Just checked out video 24, there’s a lot of tension building here 🤪
@royksk. I bought an AEG electric cooker this summer. My arthritic knees stopped me lighting my old gas oven, at the back, so I'd stopped baking. I was interested by your use of the steam oven recess. I did my first bread bake switching to steam but putting 1/2 kettle of boiled water in a tray but none in the recess. Steam poured out of the vents. 2nd bread bake, used tray on fan oven setting. Steam poured out. 3rd bake on conventional setting (top and bottom). Didn't notice steam as much. I've read a bit more of AEG troubleshooting in its manual. Does the steam function need to be triggered with that splash of water in the recess? Does it close the vents? My 3 batches of bread all looked pretty good and were more than edible. Probably due to 'Bake with Jack' rather than AEG. How are you getting on with your AEG 3 years later?
After I bake, I shut off the oven, crack the door open a bit (3 inches, 10cm), and leave the bread in another 20 minutes. Bread is Soooo crispy and never goes wimpy soft.
Love your channel xo
That pencil is behind his ear ... all is right with the world. High heat and steam ... once l listened to Jack's suggestion I started producing bread better than anything that can be bought in a bakery. Jack ... have any of the Windsor's invited you to high tea yet?
Not YET 😏
@@Bakewithjack for what you're doing for Queen and Country ... at least an OBE.
I completely missed the pencil. He's back. lol
I have a deep dish cast iron skillet made for frying chicken. Tossing the dough into a regular cast iron skillet and covering it with the deep dish one, upside down, gives me enough headroom for the loaf to fully puff up and the finished bread comes out perfectly shaped because it wasn't dumped 8 inches into the bottom of a dutch oven. Thanks again for a great video!
Yes! My late great Southern-born USA mum called it the "chicken fryer." She also used it for making cornbread and upside-down cakes. And now thanks to you it 🙌🏾will be bread baling dutch oven.
mike shivers Yes, I have a cast iron 2-pan set that actually is sold together for this kind of thing (shallow pan covered by deep one). Gets nice and hot, too, and retains that heat.
Good info. I don't like to brag, but..... I just finished three loaves and are cooled. All ears and crispy, small bubbled blistered skin. I have an apartment size (18 inch width, normal depth) electric oven. Leaks like a sieve and temps on dial are not even close (got an oven temp gauge), and temps were uneven. Solved all with a stone (evens temps), pan with lava rocks steams longer and fuller. I also get great rise on my starter (MS Sourpuss), thanks to Jack (rye 😉). If I want a more all white loaf, I take Mom out of hibernation. I do 10g starter, 10g h2o, 10g white flour. I double every 5 hrs (use my microwave as a proofed), till I have the amount needed for baking. I live in a high rise of elderly, low income folks I give my loaves to. Thank you Jack! You helped me to be able to do this. God bless you and your family. 💛
Hi! Would you mind explaining what you mean by a pan with lava rocks? My oven is very very leaky so anything to increase steam production would be great...
@@wytstriped He might mean: a deep baking tray lined with those pebble things you use in a gas BBQ. That is how I read it anyway.
@@wytstriped I bought the lava rocks that are used in gas outdoor BBQ grills (they are food grade use). They are honey combed and hold heat well. When I pour boiling water into a broiling pan with a layer of lava rocks carefully not to get steam burns. The rocks boil steam for the first 15 minutes which is required for great spring. I have that steam pan in the lowest rack, then the bread rack with a 12 × 14 baking stone ( evens your heat) on the highest rack that accommodates that spring. Hope that helps.
@@rupertmcleod4198 😂😂 I didn't see your response before I got all "wordy" 😂
@@rodleyeriffe9149 haha, no, I'm glad you did! It's a great tip I'm going to try. I also recommend a pizza stone, which is also good if you take the bread out of the tin for the last ten minutes (which I do)
I brought back successfully my bread’s crust with your suggestion! It was so important to me since friends were waiting to try the bread and they loved it. Thank you so much Jack!
There’s no other baking channel, this is all I’ve needed. Making sourdough and baker boy loaves for over a year and after some trails and errors they’ve become delicious.
Dear jack
Thanks for all the tips and tricks and guides along the way!
-grateful subscriber
luis
I always use the 'enclosed method' to get steam and a crispy crust. For a round loaf, a dutch oven works great. For a regular loaf, I use the 'poor man's dutch oven'. Pop the dough into a greased loaf tin, place another loaf tin on top to enclose it, and hold them in place with binder clips on the side handles. Remove the top loaf tin halfway through and keep baking. Works beautifully.
Thanks for another great video Jack! Good to see you on the semi-regular again.
Wow great idea. I wanted to dutch oven my rectangular loaves but they won't fit inside my D.O. thank you!
Hoping this will help both my burnt top of bread and lack of crunchy bread when cooled. Thanks so much Jack. Absolutely enjoy your videos.
Mind blown to return the baked loaf to the oven to rebuild the crust. I knew this with other food but didn't consider it for my bread! I'm actually excited to have my crust get soft so I can try rebuilding it
Useful bits in here, thanks Jack I usually go for the dutch oven method. Good to hear your rhythmic eloquent chatter again.
You thanking us???... i feel like I should be THANK YOU all over again! This is so helpful! My desire to become a professional baker has doubled since I found your Channel. Thanks again Jack.❣
Sashel O'Brien he is always so helpful🥰
Thanks for the tips of returning to the oven after the loaf's cooled down. Never thought of that. I think it'll solve the problem of losing crispy crust because of the humid environment.
Just started making bread and running up against this exact problem, your point about practicing with an appreciation for the long-term is probably the best advice anyone can take out of this. I've been making the same loaf out of Peter Reinhart's Bread Bakers Apprentice and every time coming away with stuff that's disappointed me, so thanks for the morale boost 🤘
KEEP IT UP 🔥
Hi Jack,
I've commented on one of your videos before asking if it was possible to make a loaf without an oven.
Well, it turns out, you can! I tried your yeasted loaf recipe and adjusted it with what flour I have at hand (which is risky considering it's the first time I made bread). Then, I heated up a soup pot on my stove on high for about 30 minutes, popped the baking tin inside, and closed the lid. Baked it for 40 minutes.
Glad to report it ended up perfectly okay!
Geofanny Yohanes Good experiment!
Glad you tried it and had success. I've seen people bake in frying pans! What did our pioneers use???
Thanks for this info. As usual your delivery was perfect. I absolutely love your hints and tips and now I'm back at work I'm telling everyone about you. Still proud of myself...no bought baked goods since March....all thanks to finding you!!!
I bake a yeasted loaf evey 3 days following Jack's recommendations and recipe. After cooling I store my loaf in a large brown paper bag[from my local butcher,great fellow],loaf stays crisp crust and soft bread till the last slice. Took a while to discover the combo but was worth it in the end. Thanks Jack.
Fantastic video Jack. Made perfect sense. Each loaf is an experience and a joyful creation!
The Dutch oven method is great! I tried it for the first time recently and was amazed at how well it baked my sourdough loaf. Impressive oven-spring rise, and the best ‘ear’ I’ve ever achieved. Didn’t splash out mega bucks on an expensive one either. I found online a large oval cast iron casserole dish with a flat lid, and use it upside down. Works a treat!👍🏼
Chris Stevenson what oven do use?
Found another alternative to the Dutch Oven online, forget where. He suggested using steam table trays w. the binder clips They are cheap and come in many sizes/depths You can get the 2" deep for the bottom and 4" deep for the top for about $25. And tops are available too in case you want to use for other purposes.
I'm looking at this size on Amazon Winco 1/2 Size Pan, 4-Inch @ $14.35, 25 gauge.
I've only started baking bread a month ago and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm happy to say I haven't had to throw anything away, yet:) Your videos are very informative and entertaining which has made bread baking less intimidating to me.
I'm going through your previous videos and looking forward to the next one. Thanks!
Jack is back on his game. So glad, it gives me hopeful for the rest of the world. The dutch method oven works great for me.
Thanks again for the tips Jack. I have also found it useful to pop a frozen loaf that has defrosted overnight n the oven for 10 minutes to help with the crust.
I got _CHOCOLATE_ over the weekend, Jack! _WHY_ did I get chocolate? The people in whose huge farm garden in which I have my caravan went to visit family over the weekend and I gave them two of my Sourdough loaves to take with them. The people they visited _loved_ the bread! And Gerda sent me a bar of chocolate. It is true I would have preferred a 5kg box of Lindtor but chocolate is chocolate and I _ain't_ complaining! Thank you for teaching me to bake, Darling Jack!
I've been baking my bread in a Dutch oven for quite some time. I spotted it at a French car boot sale and knew exactly why I wanted it. They cost well over £100 new and I got this for £2 I even use it bake bread on my bbq (Weber with a lid on) Fabulous results with a Dutch oven.
Weekend by weekend I bake my SourdoughBread, and every Sunday I come across another question. And like magic you just upload the answer the following week... scary, but very much appreciated. Thanks a lot and please keep on going!
I love what you said abt experience is repetition. I practised so much with cheap flour n slowly move up the scale.. my focus was to improve my skills.. n consider one factor at a time.. till I know how the dough shd feel like even at mixing stage..
I bake all my bread in a dutch oven inside my BBQ grill. (I started doing this because I live in Burbank and I hate heating up the house in the summer, plus I get the high temps.) The water sprayer works perfectly for the steam. That and the tips from BWJ equals success every time!
This is going to help me so much. I just started my first sourdough starter 11 hours ago and this will surely help me on my baking day! I do also watch your sourdough making tips and looking forward to apply those when i start the dough itself. Wish me luck on my first sourdough 😁😁😁
awesome, thankyou! This is the one (for standard loaf baking) issue I've been not fully satisfied with after watching tons of your videos. I've googled a lot to try and find the answer and couldn't get any real answer and certainly not one that worked. I'll give this a try tomorrow
I bake my bread on 220c and leave it in for an extra 5 minutes than what the recipe calls for. Result-lovely crispy crust. I initially worried that the bread would burn and go tough,but it comes out lovely.
Another great informative video, Jack. Thank you! 😀
Great advice cool down spray and reheat
Have been looking for remedy for crusty bread for years, tried everything
and you’ve nailed it
Many thanks
I get good crust results from a cold dough inside a Dutch oven on high heat (230C/450F) spritzed with water at 30 minutes, and baked another 10 to 15 minutes until the internal temp is 99C/210F. Your basic sourdough recipe was my starting point, and I switched to a rye starter after watching your videos.
I EXACTLY needed this tip! I baked some Ciabatta and wanted how to keep the crust crunchy as it got soft after time.
Practice. That's what I did during Covid!!! To practiced ...I ÷ my dough in to roll sizes. With 8-10 rolls in the oven you can delay baking a few to test something, take some out of the dutch oven sooner, extend the overall time, add steam, etc. and not end up with a 100% fail. Some HAVE to end up good, ah? And, since I started using a dutch oven I've had 100% success. I LOVE BAKING IN MY DUTCH OVEN. I find it foolproof. Artisan Bread, Sweet Bread rolled with cheese and cherry pie filling, Crusty Bread with sauteed onions, garlic, parsley, parm & mozzarella stuffed in the score. That one was a big hit.
Thanks Jack. Thanks to you, I feel graduated to the next step instead of my palms sweating at the thought of baking. Rather, I look forward to adding to my Covid 10 lbs. 😅
Dude, I like the way you talk about making bread: simple, efficient and repetitive, so beginners like me understand the concept of repetition.
By the way I am in US, I am retired and I started making bread a year ago or so, and I think I'm doing OK. I still have a lot of room for improvement.
Your videos are inspiring and also entertaining. Please keep up the good work.
I get the best results with a dutch oven. Small blisters and crispy crust. I recommend the Lodge combo cookers (they come in various sizes, so be careful about picking an appropriate size). With a combo cooker you actually bake with the whole thing upside down. The bread is placed on the inner surface of the lid/frypan, and the larger piece of the dutch oven goes over the bread. Bake approximately the first half of bake time covered, then remove the cover to finish the rest of the time. Whatever dutch oven you choose, be careful that it is made to withstand your baking temperature. Some products will have handles or coatings that cannot withstand your baking temperature. Solid cast iron with no other materials is the safest choice in this regard.
Silent Protagonist I agree. No fuss at all. Just one downside, it’s so heavy😆
i really appreciate this video, this was really clear!
Good job Jack. I got the crust and the chewy in my loaf. Sourdough bread white. Flour water salt yeast. Perfect foot long loaf. SPray water on loaf in she goes at 435F. 30 min. ... had to add more flour about 20g so it wont collapse. Used tsp instant yeast. To many fails without it. Door stoppers. 2 days to make. The secret is ********* ***. 445g bread flour, 1cup water, 1cup starter 100%, 10g sea salt. Mix all together. Cover for 30 minutes. Fold n turn in bowl about 4 times in 2 hours. So tops I do 20-30 secs work or less each 30 minutes. Then in pan for 12 hrs in refrigerator, rise n bake. You get the principal down as Jack said. You’ll have bread bread. You’ll have fails as I did. But you will learn from them. Thanks Jack!,
Thanks, Jack. Really wise advice: Keep baking! Keep testing!! Enjoy!!!
I live in a higher humidity area just above sea level (446 ft) and my kitchen is usually 67 F so it stays fairly humid. One method I picked up was to leave the bread in the oven to cool and crack the door about 2 inches. This works pretty well. I also tried letting the bread cool completely on the counter and a couple hours later I put it back in the oven on about 200 F for long enough to remove the softness from the humidity. Not science but it appeared to work. I will try it again when necessary.( current humidity 75%)
After the bake has finished, I turn the oven off, leave the bread in the oven and open the oven door open an inch or so for 20 minutes; before placing the bread on a cooling rack on the bench.
This has given me an extra period for the crust to dry in the open oven and give an extra crunch to the crust. I read this method whilst looking into baking baguettes and it works nicely on my sourdough.
Thanks again Jack for your insight!
Steam, so simple advice yet i've never heard it before... thanks a lot m8.
My oven is not fit for purpose so i'll try putting the bread inside a big all metal pot in the oven.
Im all about the spray bottle and dutch over method
Nice ☺️👌🏻
I have found that heating the oven to 250c, turning it down to 225c when the dough goes into the oven, using steam, turning on the oven fan and baking for 40 minutes achieves a really crusty loaf which remains crispy after cooling. It evens remains crusty if I freeze and later thaw out the bread.
The bread came out so well. Well done Jack
Thank you for this video Jack it is a problem I had so now I can chance my manner of working so thanks👍💞
Thank you for these tips especially respraying the loaf and putting it back in the oven.👍
Very helpful
You only have thumb up and no thumb down every time I watch your video. Incredible but you deserve it !! Great advices.
Like the idea of two water trays, maybe one above and one below. Will try returning to the oven for second blast if that doesn't work. Yes my oven has vents to let out steam! 🤪
Thanks for your ongoing tips and advice always useful.
Peter - moving from Barnsley to Spain and will try and build a bread oven. 😎👍
Is the RUclips picture, behind your right shoulder, an award of some type? If not....it should be, your videos are so well done! I did love the blooper one the other day too. Have a great day and thank you!
Yes.. it was for when he got 100K subscriber. I was 80K something.... hehe. :)
Jake always gives the best info for cooking
Hi Jack
Great as always..I will love to learn your way on making a perfect burger bun
Hi there Jack. Love your information I always learn something. This one especially informative for me. Take care and thank you 🙏.
I'm doing so well now thanks to you.. it was a slow n painful progress seeing other ppls bake was soo good n wondering y my loaf kept falling flat..
Wow this was so useful and interesting!!! Please keep these informal videos coming they have helped me tremendously ! Thanks
Instead of a tray to pour the boiling water on, I'm using a big roasting tray filled with pebbles from the garden. I also try to not forget to turn off the fan (switch to top/bottom heating) when opening the door, or all the steam ends up in the kitchen instead of the oven ;-) make sure to turn the fan back on after closing the door!
Hi Jack, great to have you back. Thanks for this video, especially about the alternative baking temperatures which is the thing which I never seem to get right, and tend to under bake my bread. I have used a metal casserole dish as a Dutch Oven fairly successfully, but feel very nervous about a baking stone having head stories about them splitting. Maybe I’ll give it a go - wife permitting :-) Stay safe and keep going. Best, Peter
Just don't get the stone wet. Brush off as much as you can and if needed, clean with water very sparingly. Baking stones hate water.
Thanks Jack, good information here. I’ve been baking cold. Cold dough, cold vessel, cold oven using either clay or porcelain roaster. Works great. I learned this from one of your Countryman, Elaine Foodbod Sourdough. Regards, Rob from NJ
How long? Temp? Anything else you can share? You got my attention.
thegiftlady1 40 minutes lid on @500F, 10-15 minutes lid off @ 450F. I haven’t done it in cast iron, only enamel or clay bakers.
Thanks
Jack thank you hope you are doing well ☺️💓
Good information as always. Thanks!
Thanks for the tips on baking
Thank you, Jack, as ever loads of things to think about!
You and yours stay well. Thanks for the video.
I bake my free form loaves in a Emile Henry Cloche. Crust results are nice but I need to to keep an eye on it as the bottom comes out more well done than the rest of it. I have to figure out why and how to correct it. We love a crusty bread and like your tips on spraying and returning it to the oven for a bit.
Mike F Could the position of your oven racks have anything to do with it? (I use my countertop oven, and rack positioning is a little limited, so this comes to mind! 😏)
@@jvallas I'll fiddle around with it and try your suggestion and see if it makes a difference. Thanks!
Mike F Good luck!
Hi jack, great to have you back making videos and sharing your knowledge with all the like-minded enthusiastic home bakers. Just wanted to ask if there is a possibility that the there is too much steam injected during the baking process, causing the crust to be soft out of the oven? Thank you in advance!!
Excellent advice as always - thanks Jack
I was just going to bake my bread when I saw your video. And it did help a lot. Can it help by opening the oven a bit half way of the baking time and go on like that too let escape the steam?
Jack!! I made your fruit bread and it's wonderful! I've swapped out the candy orange peel for candied pineapple, and oh my God it's amazing. If you haven't tried this you really should.
Oh great idea! Sounds delicious!
@@Bakewithjack it's a stunning combination, actually. It's like eating sunlight
Just what I wanted to know. Enough info, not too much info. Thanks.
Thank you very much Jack. As always a really helpful lesson. I thought that large amounts of oil/butter also prevents the crust from staying crunchy, too? True? Cheers from Germany 😊🙏
1. One hack to increase steam in a Dutch oven. As you put the lid on, spray the loaf inside the Dutch oven. Some toss in an ice cube. Pretty much the same result. You've increased the water inside the Dutch oven and that will produce more steam.
2. I almost always notice a couple bananas and an orange on the shelf behind you. Are those artificial or do you enjoy keeping good looking fruit handy. Either way, it looks great.
Thank you for those excellent tips.
I have the opposite problem. Mine are often 'too' crisp so I wrap them in a tea towel to cool down. Otherwise we can't cut them!
@@SimonWoodburyForget If I bake it any less, the middle isn't properly done.
Thank you! Just the video I’m looking for. Informative as always.
Great info as always. Thank you Jack
Thank you for your tips
Thanks Jack, sounds so obvious when you say it. So my next goal is crispy loaves.
Thank you Jack!
Funny, I just make sandwich loafs and don't want a really crispy crust. Still loved the video of course. When I can find a nice professionally crusty loaf I do really love it and understand why so many people prefer that style. To each his own...... Keep em coming Jack.
So nice to see you back! And great, helpful content, as always. :)
can you show the difference between a loaf baked with no steam vs one baked with a tray of water vs one baked with spritzed water vs one with both styles of steam? that would be super helpful, I may have to do this one myself.
When done baking, turn oven off and leave the door open a crack with bread inside for about 10min.
Can you bake in a dutch oven with a bit of water on the bottom of the dutch oven and the bread elevated above the bit of water.
Sure!
As always, great info!
Another awesome video. Thanks!
Thank you🙂🍞
Hey Jack, hope your good. I have followed your sourdough method (I just use a Costwold plain organic flour for the starter instead) and want to thank you as it’s so simple and tastes great.
My question is, when I bake two loaves same day (Sunday), the problem I have is storing it without it going so hard by midweek. I’ve tried baking one on the Sunday and leaving one in fridge until Tuesday and then baking the second. I still find after a couple of days the crust is so hard, it is a potential tooth breaker, it helps to pop into toaster to warm and soften bread a bit.
I store the bread in a linen bread bag on the kitchen side. Do you have any other methods of storing to try and keep the crust going so hard?
And also I have noticed the longer I leave the dough in the fridge before baking the second loaf the less it rises but the better it tastes, it is more sour. Any tips would be great, thank you 👍🏻
Jack, love you vids. Would be nice if you did a video on baking in a dutch oven
You are very good---- Thankyou
Thank you so much for your tutorials! I've baked your basic sourdough loaf for 8 months now and will never go back to store-bought bread. I would love some advice on how to store bread so it doesn't lose that crust. I've tried linen bags, but the bread dries out too quickly. Now I'm using plastic ziploc bags, which keeps the bread fresh, but loses the crust and gets soft. Any advice on sourdough bread storage?
Awesome as always
Steam works a treat for me, but I ended up killing my oven. My new one is bigger, gets hotter and has a vent to release the steam, so when I turn the loaf at the halfway point, I add more water to the tray. Still working on the ear tho......
Hiya Jack have been baking your recipe sourdough weekly for the last five months ( yes blame it on lockdown) . I use a Le Creuset pot and was wondering what oven temperature you would use and how long to cook the loaf for. Thanks. Love your videos, so easy to follow and enjoyable to watch.
I use Jack's sourdough recipe and bake it in a Le Creuset 5 quart Dutch oven. I preheat my oven to 450F/232C. I've had the same success with preheating the pot and using it cold, so now I use a cold pot to avoid getting burnt. I like to place my dough on a piece of parchment paper (baking paper) directly out of the fridge. After I score my dough, I carry it by the parchment paper and place both in the pot. I spray the top of the scored dough liberally with water before covering with the lid and placing in the oven. I used to bake for 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for 5-10 minutes longer. Lately I've been baking for 50 minutes, leaving the lid on the entire time because I prefer a golden crust rather than a dark one. I wish my Dutch oven was a bit smaller because my bread spreads sideways a bit and I don't get as much oven spring as I would like. Maybe I should bake a larger loaf in the Dutch oven?
When I I baked last weekend I decided to try the "poor man's Dutch oven" and baked in two loaf pans held closed with binder clips. The oven spring was amazing! The crust had big crispy ears and the bread had a beautiful crumb. I thought it might be an anomaly, so I tried it again with the same results. Baked at 450F/232C for 45 minutes and didn't remove the cover. I'll be baking with the loaf pans from now on.
Hi Jack I made 2 loaves same dough different size proofing both baked in cast iron Brunswick Baker separately, one had great rise the other one justa little I just don't know what I did? Could the temp have not been hot enough for the second one?
You know what's ironic? Here I am, trying to make the crustiest bread... and my husband hates crispy crust. LOL. He likes his soft so when I fail, he thinks it's a win. They say opposite attracts.... no? :D
I love your quote: "Practicing.... is what separates the professionals from the amateurs." And "Experience is repetition."
I might have to make a t-shirt or a poster and put it up in my music studio so that my music students can gain wisdom from you too. :D
Got to disagree... Experience only comes through failure, everything else is taught. Give me a doctor who has been taught well and who hasn't learnt from experience 😉
@@bignose8614 I respectfully sorta-agree and sorta-disagree with you. :)
Experience is BOTH successes and failures in REPETITION in a craft. :) As you fail, you do it again (the very definition of repetition) so you can try something else so you can succeed one day.
I think it was implied that one learns from failures as one repeats and gains experience. :) And that it didn't need to be spelled out explicitly. As least, that's how I thought it.....
I am using the dutch oven method, but my crust is too hard. What can I do about that?
I have an AEG Steambake oven. To me it seems to have a drawback in this system. Just 100ml water into depression in oven bottom, turn on, press steam button, set temperature, preheat 5 mins. to then bake. It certainly gives an initially steamy oven but not up to temperature and at 100ml, the water won’t last long - I think the water reservoir has its own element.
Today I'm going to try a simple white loaf with a tray of water (as I used to do) and full preheat, but for the first time in many years of baking, proving in a banneton.
I'm brushing up on Jack’s it excellent advice and looking back at his relevant videos.
Remember folks, write everything down and the outcome it isn’t what you wanted, next time only change one thing. That’s the way of science 🙂
Just checked out video 24, there’s a lot of tension building here 🤪
@royksk. I bought an AEG electric cooker this summer. My arthritic knees stopped me lighting my old gas oven, at the back, so I'd stopped baking. I was interested by your use of the steam oven recess. I did my first bread bake switching to steam but putting 1/2 kettle of boiled water in a tray but none in the recess. Steam poured out of the vents. 2nd bread bake, used tray on fan oven setting. Steam poured out. 3rd bake on conventional setting (top and bottom). Didn't notice steam as much. I've read a bit more of AEG troubleshooting in its manual. Does the steam function need to be triggered with that splash of water in the recess? Does it close the vents?
My 3 batches of bread all looked pretty good and were more than edible. Probably due to 'Bake with Jack' rather than AEG. How are you getting on with your AEG 3 years later?
Unfortunately the ambient humidity where I live is between 85% and 95%. I don't stand a snowball's chance in Hades of holding a crispy crust.
Mmy main issue is the crust on the part thats in the tin that stays pale and gets soft. i have to rest it on its side so it doesnt collapse on it...