Today I had the pleasure of baking on the new fire bricks. WOW do they get hot. I definitely need to fine tune the baking temperature and possibly time.
I cooked three baguettes today, using my standard temp and baking times. Typically I start the oven at 550 or so, insert the bread, go through the steaming process, then drop the temp to 450 and bake for 12 – 15 minutes.
These loafs came out just on the slightly burnt side on the bottom and very done on the sides, but the tops could have used a few more minutes to get a nice browning.
Tomorrow’s plan is to start the oven at 450, not 550 and see if that makes the difference. My theory is that the fire bricks pretty much stay at 550 throughout the baking process, which is why they burnt.
If that doesn’t work, then maybe I’ll raise the bricks up to the next rack level (1.5 inches).
😛