On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1021

doughgases(fromsmallbubblesintothe
waterphase,thenbackoutintolarger
bubbles),andencouragesthedevelopmentof
amoreopen,irregularcrumbstructure.
Baking

Ovens,BakingTemperatures,andSteam
Thekindofoveninwhichbreadisbakedhas
animportantinfluenceonthequalitiesofthe
finishedloaf.
Traditional Bread Ovens Until the middle of
the 19th century, bread was baked in clay,
stone,orbrickovensthatwerepreheatedbya
woodfire,andthatcouldstorealargeamount
of heat energy. The baker started the fire on
the floor of the oven, let it burn for hours,
cleanedouttheashes,andthenintroducedthe
loavesofdoughandclosedtheovendoor.The
oven surfaces start out at 700–900ºF/350–
450ºC, the domed roof radiating its stored


heat from above, the floor conducting heat
directly into the loaves from beneath.As the
dough heats it releases steam, which fills the
closedchamberandfurtherspeedsthetransfer
ofheattotheloaves.Slowlytheovensurfaces
lose their heat, and the temperature declines
duringthebake,atthesametimethattheloaf
is browning and therefore becoming more
efficient at absorbing heat. The result is a

rapidinitialheatingthatencouragesthedough
to expand, and temperatures high enough to
dry the crust well and generate the color and
flavorsofthebrowningreactions(p.778).
ModernMetalOvensThemodernmetaloven
is certainly easier to bake in than the woodfired oven, but it isn’t as ideally suited to
breadmaking. It usually has a maximum
cooking temperature of 500ºF/250ºC.And its
thinwallsareincapableofstoringmuchheat,
so its temperature is maintained by means of
gasflamesorelectricalelementsthatgetred-