Door On or Off for Bread Baking

[heliman]

When bread baking in the WFO should the door be used or is it better to go without it? Any difference in the finished product using each?

[Faith In Virginia]

All coals out , mop the floor, load the bread, Put on the door.

After my firing I rake out the coals and put on the door for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. This regulates and evens out the heat. Then I pull off the door and mop the floor then I load my bread. I start off (with most bread) about 10 minutes after closing the door and check the bread then assess how much longer from that point. Bread is done when the bottom of the bread has a nice hollow sound when you tap on the bottom or you can also assess the brownness to the crust but that all depends on oven temps

[texassourdough]

Hi Rossco!

You need lots of humidity during the first half of the bake to get a great crust which is why so many bakers talk about steaming conventional ovens. If you don't use the door you will get a pale and possibly burned crust instead of the golden or mahogany crust one normally aspires for. Conventional bread (not flatbread) in a fired oven is IMO simply awful. You like to experiment. Try it each way and post the results! I should note, however that for my 1 meter oven I need about 15 pounds of dough to get the crust the color I want. Kimmerson is doing pretty well with about eight. But it takes a lot of moisture to get the right look. One or two loaves won't cut it and spraying the heck out of the oven has problems too for it really cools the oven off.

Good Luck!
Jay