My first attempt at batards (little torpedos) was a great success! While I think I should have slashed a little deeper when I scored the loaves, overall the results were fantastic. I hadn’t been brave enough to try a steam bath, or hearth bread, or batards until today for a whole host of reasons. But I grit my teeth and off I went, with results I’m very proud of. I used my cast iron pan as the steam pan (putting it under the stoneware pan as I didn’t think it’d fit on top) and used my peel (which I have decided I love) to put the loaves (and the parchment paper I proofed them on) onto the baking stone after the oven and pans had preheated for the better part of 40 minutes.
I did end up cooking the loaves for about 5 minutes less than the minimum time suggested in the formula.
