If you are curious and interested in the cold oven start for bread there are several King Arthur Flour blog postings you may find interesting. "Artisan Sourdough Bread Tips: Part 3" posted on 10/15/15 is a good one to start. There are several others too. "Your Long Covered Baker" posted on 6/6/15 also describes the technique. The KAF blog postings tend to describe using cold oven starts if you don't have a heavy pot that can withstand being preheated empty. I bake cold oven start with my cast iron dutch oven because I get the same results as preheating without the extra preheat time and don't have to worry about lifting a hot pot in and out of the oven any more than necessary. Also, there is a lot of discussion about cold oven starts on the internet in the many bread baking sites and blogs there. You may want to check those out too. Cold oven starts may not be for everyone, but it is an alternative that is interesting to try and works very well for me.

• Reply