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 have just started baking bread….the cloche is a great idea. I just bought your book and will re-gift it when I win the autographed one! Love your work. Mac
I have all four books and would love to try baking in the cloche!
i have your 1st printing of your 1st book.
The cloche is beautiful, and I’d love to try baking bread in it! It doesn’t hurt that it would perfectly match my dutch oven 🙂
We bake the Peasant Bread in a Dutch Oven and it is so tasty and moist. Baking rules.
That cloche is beautiful! I have my first loaf of the fall rising right now. Will be baking it in my dutch oven, though.
Would love this!! Love your books!!
Oh, I’d love this!!
I love my Emile Henry pizza stone. This would be a nice complement to that.
Two weeks ago, I made a big batch of the basic recipe dough for the bake sale where I work to benefit the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. This week, I’ve got a big batch in the fridge for my own use. I just love it.
Would love this cloche and book! Grwat results guaranteed!
I love the red cloche! I would love to try baking my bread in this.
Looks beautiful! Would love to win 🙂
I have progressed from making all of my bread in a bread machine to making it in a dutch oven and often imagine using a cloche…if I had one!
I have your pizza book on my Christmas list to Santa this year. I love using you recipes, I have leaders at SCout camps amazed to have fresh bread and rolls at camps. Using a cloche would be an interesting was of making bread.
Hoping for the New AB in 5 for Christmas and would love to try the cloche as well!
Martha
I would love to bake in a cloche. I started with HBin5 a few years ago and have been expanding since. Love the ideas from your blog.
That is gorgeous! I haven’t been baking much bread lately but I should get back into that. So nice to have a warm slice with some butter as a little snack.
I make bread all the time in a cast iron dutch oven, but would love to try a cloche.
Emile Henry cloche and your artisan boule…made for each other.
I would love to win that beautiful red cloche to bake bread in!
Love your books and recipes! The red cloche is beautiful. Would love to try it out!
Fridge full o dough…
This would be a great Christmas gift (for me!!) 🙂
I’d love to try my hand at baking in a cloche, I imagine it is much easier than trying to not crack the oven door glass when adding water to the steam pan!
wow, the cloche sounds great – would love to try it!
Wow, what a great prize!
Love the ABin5 method and would love to bake one in a cloche
I just bought the HBin5 and made my first batch. I totally forgot to add the gluten but the loaves turned out great. Luckily the bread goes fast here so I’ll make another batch soon. 🙂
I add 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon of Tupelo Honey as I live in Apalachicola, Florida
I love your approach to bread baking. Thank you for such complete information, wonderful images and fantastic giveaway!
Don’t suppose I’ll win because you’d have to post it to Spain, but I covet one of those cloches… A sin I know, but they really are beautiful.
Beautiful bread and cloche! Thanks for the contest.
I have enjoyed your first two books. You’ve made bread baking fun and much easier. I would love to win this contest!
Baking in a cloche looks like fun! Thanks for the chance to win.
Oh my! This entire prize excites the heck out of me! I’ve been baking bread in my Dutch oven, which sometimes causes a timing issue, since I often need to cook a meal with the Dutch oven. This cloche would definitely solve that problem. Fingers crossed. Happy Holidays to the both of you!
I’d love to give a try to baking in a cloche!
Me! Me! Please pick me!! I love making no-knead breads. Here’s just one of the breads I’ve made successfully with your wonderful recipes! https://fromaliceskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/03/no-knead-brioche-filled-with-chocolate.html
I would be tickled pink to win all these goodies!!
Have all the books and love them❤️
I can hardly wait to try this. I use all three of your books regularly.
Your book is directly responsible for the delicious bread I make, including the yummy pita bread I just had my tuna sandwich in this afternoon. Thank you for that and for the giveaway!
Your bread is delicious. Thank you!
I’m just starting to make my own breads. I love your books and this prize pack looks amazing.
I’m very interested in trying this method…
Great giveaway! I’m hoping to mix my first batch of dough today!
I love your recipes! I have never used a cloche but would enjoy trying it!
I have all your books but would still love to win.
Thanks for all the wonderful recipes!
Wow! I love your bread recipes. I found you online and have been trying to bake whatever I can here in Ghana without your books, but … next week a friend is bringing your book to me!!! I will leave it with my daughter if, no WHEN, I win this drawing. Don’t worry, I have a US address and will be back soon.
That cloche is gorgeous and I’ve been wanting something by Emile Henry. With the cloche and your book I’d bake bread everyday!!
I regularly make bread using your recipes and own a couple of your books. I love that I am still able to have homemade bread with two small kids (not a lot of time for baking).