The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [165]
Best choices for use for baking are food cans of sauerkraut, pineapple juice, or tomato-based juices: these have the most durable tin linings, and no varnish coating. Coffee cans are good, too, for special-size loaves.
Ovens
Every oven has its own peculiarities, and bakers learn, usually by error and trial, how to work with the challenges presented by the ovens that bake their bread.
Typically, the hottest place in the oven is the bottom, with the heat rising up the sides, across the top (next hottest), and down into the middle. The evenest heat is in the middle. Modern gas and electric stoves have thermostatic controls but most thermostats have a wide range between their on and off temperatures. When you preheat to 400°F, the burner goes on high and heats the oven to 500°F. Then the thermostat registers, and the big burner goes off, leaving a tiny “holding flame.” Gradually the temperature goes down to 400°F. You put the bread in with efficient speed because you know that leaving the door open causes loss of heat. Even so, the inside temperature descends to 350°F. The relatively cold loaves further cool it to 300°F, and the thermostat registers. The burner blasts on again, raising the inside temperature to 450°F.
Because of its very uneven heat, a “flashy” oven like this bakes poorly. If your oven performs this way (one of ours does), try to preheat well, and be sure to put the bread in when the temperature is up. This is one place where an oven thermometer is useful: let it help you chart the pattern of your thermostat’s ons and offs.
One way to even out oven heat is by putting quarry tile on the bottom rack. These are clay tiles about 6 inches square and ⅜ inch thick, which you can get cheaply at any building supply store. Nine of them would do the trick for most small household ovens. Be sure to allow at least 2 inches between the sides of the oven and the tiles so that the rising heat can circulate. Preheat for at least half an hour to get the tiles hot. Since they hold the heat, if your oven is insulated well, it will use less fuel to maintain the temperature, so the extra preheating shouldn’t mean much extra fuel.
Given that no oven is perfect, do what you can to use the one you have to best advantage. For example, the thermostat on the top of the oven should be allowed to do its job: let the heat reach it. Don’t use an 18-inch cookie sheet in an 18-inch oven: the heat will be trapped below, the bottom will burn, and the top will never get hot. Allow at least 2 inches around the edges, and 1 inch between whatever loaves you have inside. Since a lot of heat is lost when the door opens, arrange the racks before you turn on the oven—and allow an extra five minutes of baking time for each opening of the door. Never open the door during the first 15 minutes of baking. Another tip: black pans or cookie sheets concentrate heat, making things brown fast where they touch, so never use them on the bottom rack.
CONVECTION OVENS
For breadmaking, the convection oven has the advantage of recovering very quickly the heat lost when the door is opened; for this reason, loaves should have a fuller proof than those baked in a normal oven. The heat is very dry, though, and if the dough is soft and even slightly overproofed, a characteristic long tubelike hole may form just under the crust. Slashing the loaf before you put it in the oven will help, but being careful not to overproof is the best protection.
Small, relatively inexpensive convection ovens for home use are available everywhere. Our experience with them is limited to one breadmaking demonstration we gave at a local community college. Two loaves were rising in their pans on top of the oven while the demonstration progressed: it seemed like a nice warm place, but the bread rose with agonizing slowness. Later we figured out that the oven was vibrating the bejabbers out of those poor loaves! It did bake them beautifully, however.