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Every loaf shown in this post has been baked in an oven that started cold.
Everything we read and are told is that the dough should go into a preheated oven, but these loaves belie that fact…it was news to me too!
It all started with this loaf baked in a clay pot…
I knew that to use the pot I either needed to soak it before use, or put it cold into a cold oven to reduce the risk of it cracking. And so I did. And I held my breath, and it worked! The loaf above proves it.
So if it worked with a clay pot, surely it would work with my enamel roasters, that was my next test. And I’m here to tell you that it does, it works perfectly, as the loaf below shows too…the crust is crisp, the crumb is even, and the cost is less!
If your question is ‘surely I need to preheat the oven to get maximum oven spring?’ Then hopefully my loaves are showing that you don’t. The oven spring comes from a strong starter, good flour and good dough.
If you’re thinking ‘won’t the dough spread whilst the oven is heating up?’ Just make sure that you prove it in the fridge for a few hours to firm up the dough. And yes, it may spread initially, but then it will rise as it bakes, as my photos show.
If you’re thinking ‘that won’t work in my cast iron Dutch oven’, I can tell you that it will. I don’t have a DO but many of the people in my Facebook group and on Instagram do and they’ve tried it, and it works. Which is why you will also find all of the recipes in my new book include a cold oven start option. Because it truly works and it works well!
Inside a cold baked loaf
So, this is the process I’ve been using: I’ve followed my master recipe, link to the left, done the final prove in the fridge for several hours, then..
put the dough into the cold baking vessel and score;
put the pot with the dough in into the cold oven, with the lid on;
turn the oven on, turn the heat up to 220C/425F fan/convection or 230C/450F non fan/convention.
Total time in the oven 55-60 mins.
Lid on the entire time.
For me that saves 20 mins of time for the oven to heat up, for others it may be longer.
So, who’s up for the cold baking challenge? You can use this process for baking any of my recipes, and pretty much any bread recipe, in fact I cook and bake everything from a cold start in my kitchen.
No more wasted power or money or time heating empty ovens or preheating empty pans unnecessarily, and no more juggling hot pans trying to manoeuvre dough into them. If you try it, let me know!
If you do have issues with dough spreading, this page will help.
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