Visited a bakery in Portland that uses a weird trick for their sourdough crust

I was at a place called The Crusty Owl last week and noticed their sourdough had this amazing, crackly crust that wasn't too hard. I asked the baker, and she said they put a metal bowl of ice cubes on the rack below the bread for the first 10 minutes of baking. The extra steam from the ice melting makes the crust set differently. She said she started doing it after three failed batches with just a water pan. Has anyone else tried a method like this for steam in a home oven?

2 comments

2 Comments

davis.adam7d ago

My grandma always put a cast iron pan of water on the oven floor for her rye bread.

jackson.matthew6d ago

On the oven floor? That's wild.