Getting the most from your Pizza Stone

[CanuckJim]

S,

There are posts here about steam and good baking in a WFO, so I suggest you do a search. Also, consult the bread baking eBook for a discussion of methods and benefits. Without steam, you will not get maximum oven spring for bread, because the steam keeps the surface of the dough moist long enough for it to occur. Generally speaking, steam should be vented half way through the bake time so the crust can firm up and crisp.

Jim

[Dutchoven]

Oh definitely spray into the oven. There are several threads on this topic if you look around. Most of us use a garden sprayer/mister and there will not be an issue with spraying water on the bricks, as the superheated air in the oven steams it immediately. The brick oven can be steamed before the loading and right at loading.
Best
Dutch

[swripley]

Jim and Dutch,

Thanks, I will search for the posts on steam and bread baking. I've been spending so much time on the oven, I haven't really taken any time to read up on everything I can do with it once I am done. I downloaded both eCookBooks and haven't even looked at them since. So much to learn!

S

[Wlodek]

Not spraying, but I tried a steam pan with my bread batch last night and it worked wonders! Fantastic crisp crust, different colour. It really made a difference.

W.
(chewing a bit of crust)

[blogan]

When I bake bread in a home oven on a pizza stone
I baste the bread with water before it goes into the oven
and I then throw 1/2 cup of water directly onto the oven floor
when the bread is first loaded

In the wood fired mud oven there is an old cast iron pot
filled with nuts and bolts, nails and pieces of rebar
which remains in the oven during firing
just after the bread is loaded
1/2 cup water is poured into this pot
the water creates a steam cloud
(be careful)
and the results are similar to a steam injected oven