Emile Henry Ceramic Bread/Potato Cooker | Charcoal

I love to bake sourdough bread in this—always comes out beautifully crisp and delicious.

This is my best pan for baking sourdough bread so good I bought a second one. It’s makes the perfectly shaped loaf I have 10 other baking vessels which are too heavy like cast iron which I have retired. This EH is by far the best pan I have it doesn’t burn and the shape is perfect. It cleans up nicely even burned on places .it’s very durable I love them .

I have 7 Emile Henry pieces now and I love them all, you really can’t go wrong. The all perform as promised, I have not used this bread/potato pot for potatoes but I do use it to make sourdough Bread 2-3 times a week. I prefer this pot to the bread cloche since it’s smaller and easier to handle, I love the texture of the bread that comes out of the piece. Since the bowl is round and can withstand temperature change I let it proof in the fridge then it goes straight into the oven, one less bowl to clean. I also love that the interior is all glazed, I find that the glaze makes clean up easier and keeps the pot looking new and he red is beautiful. I believe I got this when it was on sale for $99, I think it was worth every penny, I really don’t use my bread cloche anymore for my round loaves. The cons are that it is more fragile than cast iron and my first one arrived with a broken handle but now that it has been replaced it is perfect. I would like another one in my future.

I am getting rid of my bread machine as making bread in these pots are so superior in both taste and texture. If you plan on only using it as a bread pot I wouldn’t do the milk curing step. It was so difficult to clean up and left permanent dark marks on the bottom that won’t come off. If I had to do it over, I would use the Japanese method of cooking glutinous rice to cure instead, you can find YouTube videos on that if you look up donabe. I tried cooking fingerling yams but it came out watery and tasteless, I don’t know if it was the quality of the yams or due to the cooking process so that was a fail. I’ll attempt with regular potato’s next time. BUT baking bread in this pot was my primary purpose for purchasing this item an it turns out wonderful crusty, tasty bread with a chewy, soft interior. Make sure you find a good recipe, many use too much yeast. I like the no knead breads overnight or if baking same day I use only a rounded 1/2 teaspoon of yeast to 3 cups bread flour but give it a long first rise and a second one. I use this pot at least once or twice a week.

Bought for baking sourdough bread, and the results are fabulous. As others noted it can break easily so you have to be careful. Preheat in oven to 475 degrees (start with a cold oven) for an hour before putting in the bread. Flip the dough out of a banneton onto parchment paper and score it. Put parchment paper (large enough so some is outside the pot) and all into the very hot pot. Cover for 20 minutes in oven. Uncover to brown, then lift parchment paper out onto.a wrack to cool. Very easy. Since I do 2 loaves at a time, when I take the lid off the first loaf, leave it in the oven so it stays hot. I never put the hot pot onto anything but several towels on a glass cutting board. Hint - make sure towels are 100% cotton or they’ll stick to the pot. Very happy with the purchase - well worth the price.

Finally. My wife is so elated that her sourdough bread resembles that of a true artisan that she has been doing victory laps in the kitchen. Domed to perfection and a wonderful crunchy crust with a soft interior. No longer the flat cow chip look that she would fuss over...gone are those days. She has the taste pegged, but the outcome of the finish has been a dismal experience...according to her. Of course when you're successful in making a perfectly rounded sourdough bread, it opens the door to other possibilities such as baguettes, bread loaf, Italian bread loaf...according to her. Looks like Emile Henry is going to do a brisk with my wife...according to her. Before I forget, I should mention that she loves her bread pot especially for the fact that the bread doesn't bind to the pot and cleanly slides out.

I smile every time I wash this pot because of how light each bowl is and how everything seems to slide right off. It's essentially black in color and would probably fit in almost all deco themes. Minimalist, contemporary/modern, rustic, retro, etc.Besides baking no-knead breads with a thin, baguette-like crust of even thickness all around & baking 8 large potatoes so evenly and easily in one sitting, I also use this pot for...Tajine - Shallow bowl on the bottom, deeper bowl on top as the lid. This prevents steam drippage.Rice - Again, as above, flipped config to prevent drips.Noodle Soup - 2 different customized noodle soups. The deep bowl is 2.5 quarts up to the rim and the shallow bowls holds 1.5 quarts up to the rim.Individual Hot Pot & Nabemono for two.

Be very careful when handling this pot when it is HOT. While this is a not as heavy as the Le Creuset Dutch oven, it is very dangerous to grasp the handles especially with heavy duty grippy pot holders. Buy the one with the top handle, especially for bread making. Now I don't know what to do with it.