Baking the Bread

These instructions for two-phase baking include approximate start times of various steps for the second day of the Two-Day Process and for the One-Day Process, assuming that it will take about 30 minutes to heat the oven to 500° F.

To bake the bread:

1. Remove dough from the refrigerator.
   2-day: 7:00 am of second day
   1-day: Omit this step.

   Put the dough (in the covered proofing basket) in a 80° F oven for about 3 hours to warm up. The warmer the dough is when it starts to bake, the thicker and crisper the crust will be.

2. Preheat the oven.
   2-day: 10:00 am
   1-day: 4:00 pm (one hour after making dough ball)

   In 2-day process, remove covered proofing basket from oven.

   Put the aluminum pot with its cover into the oven and set the oven temperature to 500° F. (Don’t cover the pot.)

   

3. Bake, phase 1: covered.
   2-day: 10:30 am
   1-day: 4:30 pm

   When the oven reaches 500° F:

   • Score the dough.
   • Invert the dough for transfer to the heated aluminum pot.
   • Remove the covered, heated aluminum pot and cover from the oven. (Careful; they’re hot!)
   • Quickly flip the dough ball into the heated pot.

   • Immediately place the heated cover on the heated pot and return the covered pot to the oven.

     

   • Turn the oven temperature down to 450° F.
   • Bake covered for 20 minutes.

   If the dough is still a bit cold in the 2-day process, allow extra baking time for phase 1. For example, I used to leave the dough on the counter to warm; it was still cold after sitting at room temperature for 3 hours, so I baked it covered for 22 minutes instead of 20. If I start to preheat the oven as soon as I take the dough out of the refrigerator and start to bake when the dough had been sitting at room temperature for only half an hour, I baked it covered for 25 minutes.

4. Bake, phase 2: uncovered.
   2-day: 10:50 am
   1-day: 4:50 pm

   Finish baking:

   • Gently remove the lid from the aluminum pot and then continue baking with the pot uncovered.

     

     

     

     

   • After 10 minutes, rotate the pot 180° in the oven to even browning.
   • Bake another 5 minutes before beginning to test the bread’s temperature.
5. Test the bread and remove when done.
2-day: First test around 11:05 am, done around 11:07 am
1-day: First test around 5:05 pm, done around 5:07 pm

The bread is done when its internal temperature reaches 205° F (typically after baking uncovered for about 15 to 18 minutes).

• Remove the aluminum pot from the oven and quickly test the bread’s temperature.

  

  

• If the bread is not quite ready, return it to the oven and then test again in a minute or two. Repeat, as necessary, until the internal temperature reaches 205° F.

• When the bread is done, turn it out of the aluminum pot onto a cooling rack.

  

6. Cool, eat, and enjoy!

   • Let the bread cool on a rack for at least 12 minutes before slicing it.

     

     

   • Any bread that is not eaten the same day should be frozen until the day (or night before) it will be eaten.

     Cool the bread thoroughly before freezing it.