The Combi Steam Oven is perfect for baking bread.  What bread needs is some steam at the start of the baking process to make that crust that we all love and to assist in the initial rise of the bread.  This is what the giant commercial baking ovens can do.  Now we can do this at home!

Bread baking needs three things: temperature, moisture and time.  In general my Miele combi steam oven book suggests you should start with a high moisture level and low temperature then dry out with a low moisture level and high temperature.

This is a different method to what bread bakers recommend.  I did a Sourdough class where the baker suggested a high oven temperature with a very hot, preheated pizza stone to develop the base crust, spraying your oven with water (ie to produce the steam that is needed) and baking at a high temperature for about 10-15 min then dropping the temperature a bit for the remaining baking time.  He was correct in advising just how to create the correct environment in your oven for baking bread at home.  We don’t know exactly what the commercial combi steam ovens do in the way they bake but I do know that the domestic combi steam oven is the closest appliance we have on the Australian market to what the chefs use in commercial kitchens.  To be honest I was a little surprised that they start for a few minutes with a lower temperature so next time I do bread I am going to try a higher temperature, then the moisture, then a little lower temperature like he said and see how it turns out.

I decided to try one of the Automatic programs in the combi steamer instead.  So from a COLD start I placed my sourdough loaf that had been resting overnight in the fridge and about 5 hours at room temperature, slashed the top as we had been shown with a sharp blade and put it onto the flat baking sheet which I covered in baking powder and a little rice flour as I didn’t have any Semolina.  I set the controls to Auto, Baking White Bread, filled the water container at the side and pressed ‘Start now’.  Within about 50 minutes I had a great Sourdough loaf.  The crust was crisp, the texture was fantastic, the taste even better.  I was pretty impressed and it was so easy.  The base could have been a bit darker so next time I will change the setting to a little darker which is a scale that appears on the controls and give it a few more minutes.  OR I can over-ride the Auto setting and put in the separate parts of the program myself.  This is called Combination mode.  I have the ability to add up to 6 Stages of cooking programs in this appliance and it is very easy to do.  I may also try next time pre-heating a pizza stone then adding the 4 stages of baking to see how the crust develops with this method as I mentioned above.  I will keep you posted.

This is a picture of my Sourdough.

There are so many wonderful Auto programs that it is going to take me months to experiment with them all.  This is what is so great about these appliances.  You can test the programs and methods to see which one suits you the best.  Like everything, everyone has different likes and dislikes and you can adapt and change any setting or recipe to suit yourself.

Has anyone cooked any bread lately?  I would particularly like to hear from you if you have done so in a Combi Steamer and if so, what Brand and setting did you use?

See my post here with timings in the Bread baking table.