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Can I bake an artisan-style bread recipe in a loaf pan?
Maybe you’re in the mood for a sandwich bread shape, but so far you’re only comfortable with our No Knead Sourdough Bread Recipe which uses a clay baker or Dutch oven. Or maybe there’s a neat artisan-style bread recipe you’d like to try but you want a soft crust for it.
Well, there’s no rule saying you can’t bake a artisan-style bread recipe in a loaf pan, but you should change the baking approach: time, temperature, and steam set-up. Also, depending on your loaf pan size, you may eventually decide to scale the recipe up or down.
The pan in the photos below is the USA Bread Loaf Pan in Medium (9 x 5 x 2.75 inches) and I find that it works for 850-1150g dough. That’s anywhere from 3 to 4½ cups of flour. This is a wide range because different wheat varieties and flour types will expand more or less.
Here is the same Corn Porridge and Rosemary Sourdough Bread Recipe baked in a clay baker versus a loaf pan.
Same dough baked two ways
These loaf-pan breads above were baked for 20 minutes at 450F with a foil tent*, followed by 30 minutes at 425F with the foil off.
Another good option, which is used in this spelt sandwich bread is 50-60 minutes at 350F, without a cover, but to keep the crust steamy and expanding longer, brush the top of the dough with water (or milk) just before loading the pan into the oven.
Other steam systems work too, as does scoring the dough to control crust-bursting.
*To make a foil tent-cover, wrap the base of the pan to form the shape, and then tent it over the top of the pan, pressing to seal around the edges.
Forming the foil tent
Can I bake an artisan-style bread recipe in a loaf pan?