Make an oven like the pros use

Associated Press

There are a number of ways to replicate a professional hearth oven, usually made of stone or brick, in your home, master baker Peter Reinhart says in "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" (Ten Speed Press, $35).

The first is to use a baking stone. You can slide your doughs directly onto a baking stone, or unglazed quarry tiles, using the back of a sheet pan or a paddle that has been generously dusted with semolina flour.

The second way to replicate a professional hearth oven is to use the double-steaming technique. While the oven is preheating, place an empty heavy-duty pan (cast iron is recommended) on either the top shelf or on the oven floor. Have hot water standing by, the hotter the better. The hot water is added to the steam pan when the bread is placed in the oven.

For safety's sake, work at an angle and use hot pads to prevent steam burns.

Along with the steam pan, use a plant mister containing room-temperature water. Aim for the side and back walls of the oven so that the water hits the walls and instantly vaporizes. Stay away from any light fixtures or glass, which could crack. It is important to remember that the idea is to make steam and vapor, not to wet the dough, which causes splotches.

If baking stones and misting techniques seem like too much work, the Hearth Kitchen Company in Wilton, Conn., has created an insert for home ovens that replicates the hearth. The ceramic insert converts a conventional home oven into a brick oven.

For information, call the company at (800) 383-7818, or visit the company's Web site at www.hearthkitchen.com