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 enjoy making your breads and sharing them with friends and family, especially my two delightful grandsons…they can have no dairy in any form and your simple and delicious breads are a real treat for them.
I would love to win this contest and give the items to my daughter for Christmas. I know she and the boys, as well as her husband, would appreciate it very much.
Thanks for the chance to win such a great prize package. I would love to try using a cloche.
I would love to win especially the book!
I would love to win!
Great giveaway, would love to win.
Huge fan so would love to win!
Love your website and the loaves!!!
I have baked bread in a Dutch oven and would love to try it in a cloche!
Reminds me of the bread I grew up eating in Germany.
This would make a Merry Christmas to me!
I found out about your book yesterday while looking for a new bread recipe. I will try the method this week.
Thank you for allowing us a chance to receive such wonderful items!
I just got your new book and have been enjoying it immensely. Can’t wait to look over the rest of the website!
Can’t wait to get started making bread!
I would love to win this stuff!
This method makes fresh, home-made bread so much easier than the loaves I did with my grandmother way back in the wood cookstove and lots of kneading era. She did not teach me to use a cloche so winning one would be a welcome new experience. It is so nice to have bread with a short list of ingredients, all of which can be pronounced without a chemistry degree! Thank you!!
I would love to win! The cloche and bread look beautiful. I am trying to live a healthy lifestyle and homemade bread is the best!
That bread looks amazing!
I’m a beginning bread baker and have been having a lot of fun experimenting. I just got the perfect container to start making the artisan bread in 5 minutes/day. I can’t wait to bake the first loaves. Thanks for all you do!
I would love to try this method but know I could never afford 1 of those pan things. I love the idea of making the dough ahead & storing in the fridge. Thank you
I’ve always wanted to try baking in a cloche. I have the Emile Henry stone and love it. Thanks!
This is incredible. A friend shared 2 of your recipes with me and I love them. I can’t believe how easy this is. I’ve never been very successful at baking bread. I need to get my own copy.
Love your method!
Thank you so much for your great books and all the great tips. I love using these recipes as they are so easy and always turn out great. I make sure and share your books with my friends !!! Thanks for the opportunity to win these goodies. Would enjoy using them all in my bread baking.
Love the new book.
I am loving my homemade bread. Don’t have a cloche yet, but am already thinking of getting one
I’ve been baking using all of your books for the last 4 years. All of the recopies turned out at least decent if not excellent. My family has so many favorites that it’s hard to name all. Your books and web site has inspired me to experiment. Thank you!
Too late to enter the contest? Would love a cloche! Love the bread recipes, sooooo easy. Want everyone to know how easy and labor
NON intensive your process is!
THANKS SO MUCH!
Is the idea that a cloche is sort of a mini-brick oven?
I am addicted to bread making since finding your site and I would love to try baking in a cloche!
My husband was so excited about this new book that he gave it to me Before Christmas! We could have homebaked bread any day now! Would love to try the cloche!
Inspirational!
Just discovered your first book and love it. I have tried 4 different recipes, 3 of which are in the refrigerator right now. Two of the three I haven’t baked yet but will do so tomorrow. I have been baking bread since the late 1950’s and have been quite successful. However, this technique is amazing and so easy and delicious.
We love your books. We found them when our son was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. We found that his body reacted adversely to a myriad of chemicals found in most foods. Your bread recipes allowed us to be able to make healthy, delicious bread for him with the minimum of time and effort! We would love to try the cloche!
I finally got your book, Jeff and Zoe! We just tried the master recipe and still have some dough in the fridge.
Wow, my mouth is watering from reading the slide show! Can’t wait to try this.
What a great way to make bread! I’d love to win the cloche and all the extras. Thanks for hosting the giveaway and for you always informative blog.
Oh my, that Cloche is beautiful. Thanks for the opportunity!
Just bought your newest book (I have all four), and can’t wait to try some of the new recipes. Your method is so easy and foolproof — much less work and time than the traditional method. Thanks for bringing back the joy of baking bread.
The bread looks fantastic!
-Larry
Wow i really knead a copy of the new book! 😀
I live in a very rural area of Ohio. The closest bakery is over 30 miles away. When friends from out-of-town visit, I always ask them to bring a favorite loaf of bread from their local bakery. I would love to win your contest because having your book and equipment, it would allow me to make my own artisan breads in my home. Meanwhile, I’m reading your blog to learn as much as possible about your easy way to make breads. Thank you for this contest!
Kind regards,
Kathleen
I would love to try this FUN-looking way to bake bread!
Simple & Tasty! Win-Win! (except for my thighs, that’s another story…) But still, Win-Win! Hooray for bread, free stuff & a “curvier”* me!
* not actually curvy
I have told everyone how easy it is to make this wonderful bread. I am giving several of your books for Christmas gifts. I can hardly wait to try some of the other breads in the book. New Years Day will bring pizzas from the pizza book. Thanks for making bread making so easy! Maybe winning theEmile Henry Cloche would be a great start to the New Year!!
Making bread with your recipe for gluten free crusty boule has made a world of difference in my life. I was rarely able to enjoy bread due to the cost of commercially produced rice bread. I could only have the rice since I have sensitivities to corn and potato as well as wheat. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your work on this subject! I have shared some of my bread using your recipe with others in my work and family who also have gluten sensitivities. They are amazed at the flavor and texture of this wonderful product!
What a great giveaway.
Your book is on my wishlist in Amazon! I moved from NY where all kinds of bread where abundant to SC where all the bread is just mushy. We WANT and NEED crusty bread! Have no experience making any kind of bread. Tried my bread machine like 5 times.
Beautiful loaf of bread and an interesting bread baking tool. It seems to replicate the environment of baking bread in a brick oven like we do at Serenity Farm. We spritz our bread with water first before inserting it onto the hot bricks and touch it up some while baking, depending on the thickness of the crust we are going for.
Delicious! Can’t wait to get started 🙂