Baking in a Cloche
There are many ways to get a crusty loaf of bread, but one of our favorites is to use the tried and true method of baking in a clay cloche, here, the Emile Henry brand cloche. It is very similar to using a Dutch Oven, but the cloche was designed to bake bread, so it is an even more intuitive method. In other words, you aren’t lowering the bread into the piping hot vessel, you just lift the lid and slide the loaf onto what is essentially a baking stone. The cloche traps the steam from the dough to create a perfectly crisp and beautifully shiny crust, without having to add steam to the oven.
This loaf was made with the Master Recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day:1 pound of Master Recipe from TheNewABin5
Shape the loaf into a ball and let it rest for 40 to 90 minutes on a piece of parchment or a Pizza Peel covered in cornmeal.
The dough will rise, but may not double in size, this is perfectly normal for this method.
About 40 minutes before baking, preheat your cloche to 450°F.
Slide the loaf onto the bottom part of the cloche. Put the cover on and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the cover and continue baking for 5 to 10 minutes,
or until the loaf is a deep caramel color.
Remove the loaf from the cloche and parchment to allow it to cool completely on a wire rack. If you leave it on the parchment, the bottom crust will not be as crisp.
This loaf was rested for about 90 minutes, and you can see that it has a nice open crumb. If you are in a hurry you can reduce it to 40 minutes.
Note: Red Star Yeast (Lesaffre Corp) sponsored this post, and supplied yeast for recipe testing. Emile Henry also sponsored, and provided the cloche for testing. BreadIn5.com is reader supported–when you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.
I LOVE homemade bread and I just found your site! I’m anxious to try your recipes!
Thank you for this lovely opportunity!
Your book changed my life! I got it for Christmas several years ago and I have made bread weekly since then. Thank you!
Would love to give this cloche a try!
Wow, the cloche is beautiful…it would match my rooster theme in my kitchen perfectly.
I regularly post pics of my ABin5 on FB … I must say it is getting much better…no more bricks! 🙂
Gorgeous loaf! I love how it looks against the red.
I love making breads by your system. I tell people all the time and they don/t believe me when I say how simple it is. Using a cloche – amazing!
Jeff,Zoe
Thanks for another great recipe. We always have a bucket of your dough in our refrig. I have a Cloche I got from KA several years ago–will definitely be trying this recipe.
Dee
I saw a cloche about a week ago and have been curious about it since. So happy to see this post on how to use one. Fingers crossed. 🙂
The sticky pecan caramel rolls from your book are awesome! Just made them this morning.
That cloche is a stunner – would love to put it to work in my oven. 🙂 What a fab giveaway package. Thanks!
Oh! I’d love this as a holiday gift to myself!
I am a bit of an evangelist for your method of baking, I was stuck on the olive oil dough for ages, and am now happily in a buttermilk dough rut. (The cloche is beautiful.)
Love a crusty loaf of bread! First time seeing a Emile Henry Cloche.
I’ve never heard of a cloche, other than a great looking hat until today. I love a crisp crusted bread, and look forward to making this.
I have, and use, the original ABin5 and am looking forward to the new version. The first bread my son made was from this book.
Can you just send me a loaf of that bread? It looks phenomenal 🙂
Dear Jeff and Zoe,
Your recipes are fail proof and no matter if you are at 9,000 ft elevation in Bogota, Colombia (I once reported to you Jeff about it a few years ago), or at 430 ft elevation in Dallas, Texas, the recipes work fantastically well. Why buy bread when you can make even better bread yourself at home in pretty much zero time flat?
Best wishes,
Algis
I love home baked bread but have so far not produced to wonders taht I had hoped for. I love your site! Maybe I just need the right tools.
Jeff & Zoe,
I’ve been interested in trying to bake the NABin5 Master Recipe in a cloche. Not having to introduce the steam seems like the optimal method of getting a nice crispy, uniform crust and crumb. If I were to win this contest and it is as awesome as I think it will be, I will also know what my Christmas present to my sister will be :).
Thank you!!
I’ve been wanting and wanting to try this technique (still making bread with the dough cycle of the bread machine) but haven’t had the nerve or the right equipment thus far.
This cloche looks absolutely perfect and I’d so love to win it here (but if I don’t I’ll probably break down and just buy one) :+)
I finally got my bins of flour back from daughter who loves my organics but is too busy to go to the store with grandson. Bread will be coming up on Tuesday!
Do you have any clues on how much I can reduce the salt in your recipes without losing too much flavor? I know can experiment but that would waste a lot of bread!
Hi Lynn,
The problem with salt is that everyone tastes it differently, so what is salty for me, may seem unsalted to you. It really is based on individual preference. Here is a post about salt, but it may come down to experimenting. Maybe start with a half batch of dough. https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2008/02/10/qa-salt
Thanks, Zoë
Re-posting on JustMyOpines.wordpress.com AND CouponingforAll.com. GREAT give away. We have to live on hubbies disability and this would help a lot. Have wanted one of your books since I heard of this method. One day… One day! 🙂 I have a question, though:
This would be PERFECT for Hubs who likes crisp crust, but how do you make a soft crust, for me?
You guys are so great to share your methods and recipes. You truly are revolutionizing the modern kitchen. (Actualy going retro, lol)
For all of your fans, thank you.
I absolutely love your method of bread making. It works so well in my lifestyle, and you can’t beat the yummy results. I would love to try it in this beautiful cloche. Your pictures are stunning, and I like that pretty red color!
love it!
I have been baking your bread for a few years now and I haven’t been able to achieve that rich crust. Maybe the cloche is key. And and EH that is beautiful as well!
Thats bread looks great, i would love to try baking with cloche. thanks for the chance
I love your books and tell everyone that if they just tried one recipe it would change their life. I have never used a cloche, but would love to try.
Until I met your method, I had never been able to bake a decent loaf of bread. It’s like magic!
Thanks for a great recipe and book. I’m now using a terra-cotta plant pot which is working, but I’d sure love that cloche!
thanks!
I love paging through your books, which I have recommended to friends and colleagues.
I have your first book, would love to get the second and see what is new.
Thanks for this contest opportunity! I had a pizza party using the olive oil dough for my 3 year old in November. Now my friend’s husbands are calling me for the name of the book so they can get them for Christmas presents for their wives! I just love making my own bread and the looks on people’s faces when I tell them I made it! Thanks!
I will have to try this again – have not had success before, but hopefully these directions will help me to make a wonderful loaf! Thanks!
I LOVE your bread baking method. I’ve been doing it for about a year now. It’s awesome!
I would really like to try using the cloche, I use a pizza stone now still working my way through all your great recipes
This looks wonderful! The cloche is beautiful!
ABin5 has CHANGED the way I cook, and my family couldn’t be more appreciative. The new edition is one of the only things on my Christmas wish list. I’d love to give this beautiful cloche a try!
Without you two, I never would have found out how much I love baking fresh bread for my family. The ABin5 method produces consistent, delicious results, every time. And not just bread, but pizza and pastries too. You two are also so helpful and quick to respond to questions here and on twitter. Thanks for everything!
I’ve even had requests to start selling the bread, which makes me think you two may be inadvertently triggering the creation of hundreds, maybe thousands, of artisan micro-bakeries, each serving a hyper-local market, and stimulating local economies. Joel Salatin would be proud! Thanks again for all you do!
Oh wow! What a great giveaway!! I’d love to win! Your books taught me to not be afraid of yeast. I now have fresh bread in my house all the time thanks to your books 🙂
Thanks so much for all your great recipes, the best and easiest bread ever!
Looks great!!! I’d love a new copy of the book! and a Cloche, too, of course!
Our family loves the original book, and I can’t wait to try the new one! It’s revolutionized our home.
What a great giveaway, I love baking bread and follow your posts for new items to bake. am looking forward to baking the brioche you posted last time. I enjoy being able to whip up a batch of your recipe and have 3 loaves to enjoy over time.
I love your bread!
With a new baby and a preschooler, time is of the essence, and I would love to get back into bread baking more, and be able to give them fresh healthy choices. Love your books!
Would love to bake with that beautiful cloche!
I love your cookbooks! I’ve been looking at better ways to bake my bread and the cloche looks like it would do the trick! Thank you for the opportunity to enter this awesome giveaway!!!!
This cloche would be a great addition to my bread baking toolkit, and the red even matches my kitchen! 🙂