Frederick
Try preheating the oven for 30 minutes then when your bread comes out of
the oven, check to see that the bottom of the bread is browned. If they
aren't, then preheat longer. I found that when I switched from quarry
tiles to thicker firebricks the bottoms of my loaves were no longer
browning, even though the rest of the bread was fine, so I had to increase
the preheating time to1 hour. Use a thermometer to tell you when the oven
is at the right temperature, then let it heat a little longer to make sure
the stone is hot enough..
I bake almost all my breads on the middle shelf of my oven and I throw
water into a firebrick filled grilling pan on the bottom rack. You can put
the water in before or after loading the breads. I do both, a half cup
before and a cup after loading the breads. If you put water in before you
load the breads in, you have to be careful to not get hit with the steam
when you open the door.
I also have a layer of quarry tiles on the top shelf which absorb heat
and radiate it back onto the tops of the bread. The extra tiles also help
to recover heat when the oven door has been opened.
On another list I was warned that when you add bricks and stones you have
to be careful not to increase the mass of the oven too much or you may heat
the oven walls enough to cause a fire in an adjacent wall or cupboard. My
oven is an electric self clean oven and therefore well insulated. Just
check the walls of the oven to see they don't become too hot.
I turn my oven on as soon as I shape my loaves and set them to proof. If I
am retarding the loaves in the fridge, I start the oven a half to one
full hour before removing the loaves which usually take at least a half
hour to warm up and finish proofing, often longer. I do this because it is
so easy for me to forget to turn the oven on later. With the bricks and
stone in the oven, it does not lose much heat and so does not cycle on and
off as often. Slashing the loaves comes just before putting them into the
oven. So I slash, put water in, put the loaves in, the put more water
in. I close the oven door between each operation to retain heat.
Cheers
Dave