Doug Cutler asked about cooking in a Clay Cooker? Since I have 5 and one
of them is a LaCloche, I just want to tell him he going to LOVE using it!
I use mine in many different ways. The easiest is to sprinkle (heavily) a
coating of flour on the bottom of your LaCloche. Place the dough (either
by-hand dough or dough out of a bread machine) on the bottom. Cover it and
let it rise about and hour and a half to two hours. You want it nice and
high without touching the top of the LaCloche. Slash the top of the dough.
Then place the covered LaCloche into a COLD oven. Turn the temperature to
450=B0 and let it bake for 45 minutes. That's ALL there is to it!
...Except a recipe is also important! I good French or Italian loaf will
make you "dream" you are really eating the wonderful crusty bread in
Europe! If you have a bread machine, there is an excellent recipe in The
Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints called French Bread
Extraordinaire. It calls for 3-1/2 Cups of unbleached white flour, 1-1/2
teaspoons Salt, 1-1/4 C. Water, 2 teaspoons of Red Star brand active dry
yeast. Although it isn't in the recipe, I also add 1 Tablespoon of Vital
Wheat Gluten to give the dough extra body.
Bev in Mn (aka Claycooker @AOL and bjjan on the Net)