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 baking bread and I love your recipes! Would love to try the cloche, as well as the yeast, flour and your new cookbook. Your cookbooks are the best!
I have both given and received your books as gifts. I would love to try the cloche. I recently received your new book as an early Christmas gift and should I win would love to re-gift the book and keep the cloche. Thanks for all your great ideas.
I have your original ABin5 and love it…so does everyone that has tasted the master recipe I’ve made. Would love the new book and that Cloche
Hi Jeff, Zoe,
Another great recipe to try. I always have a batch of your dough in our refrig. It has become a staple in our home.
Dee
I would love to win; thank you! And if I don’t win and I don’t get it for the holidays, I’ll be getting the new edition of the book shortly thereafter. 🙂
My husband just started baking bread. He’s very new at it. In fact it’s the first thing he’s ever baked. He has found a new hobby and I’d love to support it. He’d love your book and I think it’s perfect for him. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!! Thanks for the opportunity.
I just got the Kindle version of your new book. Only about 1/2 way through. But a signed copy would be great. That Cloche is beautiful!
The wifey would love one! Especially if it is red.
I have 2 of your books, but I would love to win the updated one and the cloche! Thanks for the fun contest!
Happy Holidays- a red cloche- how perfect is that w/ a green ribbon tied around it! Ho HO Ho it’s off to baking I GO!
ooh, what a great prize! hope I win!
Thanks for the giveaway! Hope I win it!
My family is living on baguettes of Eastern European Peasant Bread – I’ve been eyeballing cloches as the next step. This is inspiration!
I have enjoyed ABin5, and would love to have the new edition (and the cloche, too).
What an amazing giveaway. I love your books and love sharing them with friends. I would love to share this book with our local library, always nice to be able to donate good books.
The cloche looks easier to use than a Dutch oven – much less likely to burn myself on the sides while placing the loaf in it.
I have tried baking your doughs in a dutch oven and I loved the results. I can see how a cloche would be so much easier.
I introduced my sister in law to ABIN5 and she has the book and has been baking in a cloche but not a nice pretty red Emile Henry one!
Thanks for the chance to win. Thanks to you we are enjoying homemade bread and the best pizza we have every made at home.
Your method of bread-making has saved me. Store bought bread is just not welcome here anymore. Thanks for inventing it.
About the platinum yeast: can I just sub it into existing recipes with no changes? I typically use SAF instant. Thanks and congrats on the new book.
I’ve never baked your bread in a Dutch oven or a cloche, but am intrigued by the latter. Thank you for your wonderful giveaway!
What a fantastic giveaway. I’d love to bake my ABin5 in a flaming red cloche!
Your bread looks wonderful. I would love to receive a copy of your cookbook as to haven’t had the pleasure of owning one yet. Thank you so much
for the opportunity
That is beautiful! So, this give away includes ABin5 AND a Cloche!?! Sign me up 🙂
Hey! I’d like to be the big winner. I enjoy making home made bread. I would surely like trying your recipes in the cook book. And the cloche would be something new to try out. Good luck to all of you :).
I’m just getting into bread baking & would love to have homemade bread as my primary bread for our house. Your book sounds lovely!
What a fabulous prize for bread bakers!
I love your method of baking bread. I have all your books and I have your new book on my Christmas list.
My husband and I are learning to make bread. Would be cool to try out the cloche.
Would love a chance to bake from ABin5 and try out that awesome cloche. Happy Holidays!
Big fan! I hope I win!
I really want to learn to make my own bread, its on my culinary bucket list!
I love baking bread using your recipes. I would love to be a winner and try to bake in a cloche. Thank you for wonderful books and great bread-baking method!
Oh my goodness! This looks wonderful! Fingers crossed….
Bread is the One Thing I cannot make. I can do complicated, layered sponge cakes, I can make curries with hundreds of ingredients, I can make tricky souffles that don’t even collapse! But simple bread? I’ve met my match. I’m venturing into new waters with your cookbook after going into sticker shock in the bread aisle one too many times. Bread, I will master thee yet!!! Thanks for making this foolproof. .. now we’ll see if it’s Megan-proof.
Thanks for all the inspiration, love the feeling that making my own bread leaves me with :/)
I always feel a bit Susie Homemaker when I say we had homemade pizza, or sticky buns or what ever other delicious bready thing cam out of our oven. I try to explain how easy it easy, but no one seems to believe me. Thanks for your great books!
No knead breads have become a staple of my life in the past year. Thanks so much guys, love what you’re doing.
I have your first book and we love it! We make pizza dough all the time!
Changing the way I make bread! Love the recipes. Nothing better than this bread with a bowl of soup. Love!
I love baking bread in my dutch oven, but now I think I need to try the cloche too! I am addicted to ABIN5!! Fresh bread with homemade jam is soooo perfect ; )
I am new to baking bread just because of you! My co workers are loving all of the bread I have been gifting them (Can’t eat it all!) It’s so easy and fun, I can’t resist. I have two of your books and all of the necessities ready to be gifted to my mother for Christmas. She is the official baker in our family. I hope she loves it as much as I do!
I have spent years dreaming about bread with a hard, crusty outside and chewy, airy inside and finally decided this fall that I would not let another year go by without at least attempting to learn how to make bread, bread like I had eaten daily when I studied in Italy so many years ago… Thanks to you, my very first try turned out better than I could have ever dreamed. I am extremely grateful you’ve shared your wonderful *new* bread making method with the world.
I bake bread every day for two weeks a year on a narrowboat cruising the English canals. Mix at night, shape in the morning, go back to bed with a cup of tea and a book for a while and then bake three rolls and a small loaf. It would be great fun to have the new book and the other things. I am your biggest fan!
Oh,wow, I’ve heard of a cloche before but never seen one. Very cool!
I received your first book, a pizza peel, and a baking stone for Christmas a few years ago. It has been one of the most useful gifts ever. I would love to see the updates in the new book, and the cloche would be a wonderful addition to my bread baking tools. You guys are awsome.
I got the old book a year ago and have been making your bread since then. I would love your second book and the cloche.
I would love that cloche!
Yesterday I taught an adult ed class about baking simple artisan no knead bread to a delightfully enthusiastic group. We baked in two stoneware bakers called Breadpots. These work perfectly for a rounded boule. I have used a cloche cloche but did not like it as well. And I tried, in desperate moment a bowl on a pizza stone,but have not tried this French one. Oh to have both. A flat stone for shaped breads and the BreadPot for wetter and breads. I know about baking just a crumb of what you do. My students would love to see your book. I promise to share. Love your work. Mo
I’ve been baking your bread for about five years, but I’ve never tried it on parchment. So that’s my assignment for this weekend 🙂
Thank you for making bread so fun, easy, and tasty for the casual home baker!