The secret to baking with steam in a home oven … at last!

My new steam baking baguette setup! Baguette in the middle is a little flat on top because it rose so much, it contacted the half sheet pan above it

I have previously written of my attempts to steam baguettes in a home oven. Steam produces nice “ears” and a glossy, caramelized crust similar to what you’d get from a professional bakery. You can closely replicate the effect for batards and rounds by baking in the controlled environment of a dutch oven, which traps the moisture in the dough until you remove the lid at 20 minutes or so. But it was a challenge to do the same with baguettes.

Well, excuse me for taking so long to figure it out.

I purchased a “Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial High-Sided Sheet Cake Pan with Lid” on Amazon for less than $18 shipped. I fumbled through a few bakes where I put my baguettes on a half sheet pan then carefully fit the cake pan (sans the plastic lid) on top, upside down. The other day, I finally realized I should bake the baguettes inside the pan, on top of a Silpat, and cover with a half-sheet pan to keep in the moisture. See photo above for how well this works. It’s also relatively safe, from a burn standpoint. The cake pan is shallow enough that it’s easy enough to flip in the raw baguettes and score them. And I don’t pre-heat the half-sheet plan that goes on top, figuring that will contribute to extra moisture.

So say goodbye to dried out baguettes without the burnished surfaces and tiny air bubbles we all crave. Farewell to links of chains and rocks inside a a cast off pan used to generate steam. And good night to squirting steam inside your oven and burning yourself. This method works and it’s what I am going to use from now on.

Again, though, this is specific to baguettes and any other bread you might want to bake on a half-sheet pan size surface. If you are making boules and batards, you’re still better off using the dutch oven method.

P.S. Here’s Amazon’s atypically poor view of the product:

As a bonus, the Nordic Ware lid (which you can see in Amazon’s washed out photo above) allows baking giant half-sheet cakes, decorating in the pan, and then bringing to a picnic or some such. At under $18, there’s really no reason not to order one of these right now.