hot. When these heat sources switch on during
baking, the effective temperature temporarily
rises well above the target baking
temperature, and the bread can be scorched.
Because they are vented to allow the escape of
combustion gases (carbon dioxide and water),
gas ovens don’t retain the loaves’ steam well
during the important early stage. Electric
ovens do a better job. Some of the advantages
of the traditional stored-heat oven can be
obtained from the use of ceramic baking
stones or wraparound ceramic oven inserts,
which are preheated to the oven’s maximum
temperature and provide more intensive and
even heat during baking.
Steam Steam does several useful things
during the first few minutes of baking. It
greatly increases the rate of heat transfer from
oven to dough. Without steam, the dough
surface reaches 195ºF/90ºC in 4 minutes; with
steam, in 1 minute. Steam thus causes a rapid