You could get some river stones like you'd put down in a garden, put them on a sheet tray or half sheet along with a length of steel chain and put the whole thing on the very bottom shelf of the oven. After preheating the oven to bread baking temperature, let the oven cycle on and off a couple of times. When you're ready to bake, put the bread in, and with a Super Soaker water gun spray the stones and chain. Close the oven door quickly and you've gotten the crust you want on your bread. Stand to the side when soaking the stones. Live steam is dangerous. It might also help to have an assistant to close the door.

I like the idea ^

This is undoubtedly okay, but I'm a wimp about spraying a water gun into my electric oven Just seems wrong and makes my hands shake thinking about it.

The internet, where everything is true, also has lots of "advice" about never washing your pizza/bread stone because it will absorb the water then crack/explode when heated. Bad science probably, but I'm not taking chances. Scrubbed and scraped the stone for a long time yesterday after a failed pizza attempt and it's now set aside to dry for a week or so. Just in case.

The pizza stone improves as it conditions. It is absorbant. It is the debris on it that is a part of it's conditioning process. High heat makes it safe. Washing it simply starts the conditioning process from start again, presuming - and hoping - retained water doesn't cause it to split / break. Pizza stones should never be washed.

I'm confused because you seem to want to use the stone to produce steam for pizza? You don't want this - you want dry very intense heat for pizza.

If you want a crisp base for your pizza and are having problems then roll it out on semolina. Ensure you heat the stone for a good hour - possibly using the grill which you can then revert to high oven for cooking the pizza.

If you want steam for bread then using a fine garden mist sprayer for injecting a small amount of steam is unlikely to cause you problems - but you will need a bit more steam for the first 5 to 10 minutes of baking, using the methods previously described.

Good luck.

Good reply.
I think OP is worried re spraying the base/elements of the oven. This could be avoided by simply pre heating an iron griddle, very hot, and placing that on the base. I do it all of the time and its fine.

Thanks.

Actually the element in an oven is not too dissimilar to an element in a kettle - although I certainly wouldn't spray the elements directly when hot - just the panels of the oven and the racks.

My cast-iron ridged griddle approach is a convenient and safe way of giving a short initial intense steam environment and the water is contained for a few seconds ....

http://www.balconyshirts.co.uk/media...ite-prod_4.jpg

I Loaf Real Bread T shirts ....

There's someone at work who can't eat bread (not sure why). I don't eat bread right in front of him, but I do eat bread at my desk and hope the delicious smell makes it over about 10 feet. :D

Whoever said man cannot live on bread alone is wrong. Here's how it would work:

breakfast: bread and coffee
lunch: bread and iced tea
dinner: bread and wine

:cool:

afternoon tea .....?

supper ......?

:D

At the hotel I'm currently staying at in Benin, West Africa, they bake their own bread, so yes I do at least think about it, while toasting some of the lovely brown bread or scoffing a yummy chocolate croissant.

As luck would have it, my breadmaker crapped out this afternoon on its last loaf (bearing in pan seized). I'd use the electric oven in the suite but we're selling and my wife wants it clean.

So, bake in the oven and clean it - for all there is to clean after a loaf :confused:

Let's not forget to All Praise Julia Child for the "steam in the home oven" ideas that are all essentially variations on her ideas in Mastering II.

Does anyone else regularly (often) bake or even think about bread any more?
 

It would never have occurred to me to think that I was the only one who made bread regularly.
However, when I need to discuss bread or when I'm looking for ideas I log onto The Fresh Loaf forum.
There's an Asian style pain de mie there which is to die for (takes 3 days from start to finish but worth the effort/planning).
I mostly make a no knead bread that uses some rye flour and red wine but have my trusty Amkarsrum Assistent for doughs such as that pain de mie which need a lot of kneading.
Never bothered with a Kitchenaid as it's notorious for breaking down when used for bread dough, the Ankarsrum Assistent is a wonderful, wonderful machine and I'm sure we'll both get to grow old together.