Hi Corrine, I doubt that the holes you're seeing are related to your cloche or steam escaping, although it's important to remove the lid about halfway throught the bake, so your bread can finish baking in a dry environment. This sounds more like a fermentation/shaping issue. Are you scoring your loaves before baking (which provides a strategic vent for excess fermentation gases)? What recipe are you following? A large hole running through your loaf might be due to over-fermentation, especially if you see the air more towards the top of the loaf. When dough is allowed to ferment for too long, or at too warm of a temperature, this can ultimately cause the gluten-structure to begin to break down, so that the smaller pockets of gas collapse and form one big pocket. It could also be a shaping issue if you're failing to degas the larger pockets of gas during your preshape or shape. While it's generally not necessary or desireable to pound out every pocket of gas during shaping, the larger bubbles should be removed so they don't cause a weak spot or divet in your loaf. Check out this blog post for some tips on shaping a boule, and this method works well for a batard (football) shape, although you may want to point out the ends of the loaf slightly with the heel of your hand when forming a batard. For more help troubleshooting, please don't hesitate to give our Baker's Hotline a call at 855-371-BAKE. We're here M-F from 9am-9pm EST, and Saturday and Sunday from 9am-5pm EST, and we'd be glad to talk over your process with you and see if we can pinpoint the problem. 

Barb

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