Bread Recipes for the Emile Henry XL Oven

This beginning of the year, Emile Henry has surprised us with many new products, several of them designed for those of us who love baking bread at home: among other things it has brought us the ceramic crown bread oven and the XL bread oven.

The latter is a very versatile oven: like all Emile Henry ovens, it is designed to create optimal humidity conditions to achieve a crispy crust, without the need to worry about generating humidity when baking with a glass of water or a separate tray. You can make all kinds of breads in it: country loaves, rustic breads, oblong loaves... But also, you can use it without the lid to bake XL cakes, meatloaves, sweet or savory tarts, pound cakes... all in XL size, great for the days you have guests at home or to make leftovers and store them for the next day.

We know from several people who have already tried it that the oven delivers everything it promises: You are making irresistible breads! And for those waiting for ideas to get the most out of it, I leave you with a couple of recipes that, without complications, will make you enjoy a good homemade bread. Let’s get baking!

Below are the recipes for rustic country bread using a poolish base, which will give it a mild flavor, and the recipe for rye bread with caramelized onion and rosemary, a bread with character that you will love.

Rustic country bread with poolish method

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Baking time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

For the poolish:

• 200 gr of bread flour (wheat flour T55)
• 20 gr of fresh baker's yeast
• 10 gr of powdered sugar
• 200 ml of warm water

For the bread:

• 1 Kg of wheat flour T55
• 20 gr of salt
• 400 ml of warm water
• 10 gr of butter for the mold

Preparation

For the poolish

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water (around 35ºC approximately)
2. Add the flour and mix it with a spatula. Let rest covered with plastic wrap in a place free of drafts.
3. When the poolish is foamy and has doubled in volume, it's ready to use.

For the dough

1. In a large bowl, mix the poolish with the 400ml of water.
2. Add the flour and salt at the same time and work the dough well until it gains body (to save time and energy, use the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook).
3. Cover the bowl with a cotton cloth and let the dough rest about 30 minutes at room temperature.
4. Work the dough again to break it and degas it.
5. Shape the dough so it takes the form of the Emile Henry XL rectangular oven and place it inside, having previously greased the ceramic oven with butter.
6. Put the lid on the ceramic oven and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
7. With a brush apply a little water to the surface of the dough, sprinkle a little flour and make some firm slashes on the surface with a lamé.
8. With the oven preheated to 240ºC, insert the ceramic oven inside and keep it for 50 minutes.
9. Once that time has passed, remove the lid and leave it inside the oven for 5 more minutes.
10. Remove it from the oven and place the ceramic mold on a cooling rack or on a cloth (never on marble, to avoid a thermal shock to the ceramic) and wait for it to cool a little before unmolding it.

Emile Henry XL rectangular ceramic oven

Rye bread with caramelized onion and rosemary

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 800gr of bread flour (wheat flour T55)
• 200 gr of rye flour
• 20 gr of fine salt
• 10 gr of active dry baker's yeast
• 600 ml of water (around 35-40ºC)
• 10 gr of butter (for the mold)
• 2 onions
• 5cl of olive oil
• 1 sprig of rosemary

Preparation

The day before

1. Mix in a bowl the two flours together with the salt and active dry baker's yeast.
2. Pour in warm water (around 40ºC approximately) and work the dough until you obtain a smooth, elastic ball (if you do it with the Kitchen Aid, use the dough hook).
3. Cover the bowl with a cotton cloth and let the dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
4. Without removing it from the bowl, press the dough to degas it, reshape it into a ball and cover the bowl again, this time with plastic wrap, and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day

1. Take the dough out of the refrigerator to let it lose its chill.
2. Chop the onions, sauté them in a skillet with olive oil and add salt and pepper.
3. Incorporate the previous mixture into the dough (pour the mixture over the dough and fold the dough so that everything is well incorporated). Shape it into a roll the size of the Emile Henry XL rectangular ceramic oven.
4. Put the lid on the ceramic oven and let the dough rest for 45 minutes at room temperature.
5. Brush the surface of the dough with water using a brush, sprinkle a little flour over its surface and place a sprig of rosemary on top.
6. With the oven previously preheated to 240ºC, insert the ceramic mold with the lid for 50 minutes.
7. Once this time has passed, remove the lid and leave it in the oven for 5 more minutes.
8. Remove it from the oven and wait for it to cool a little before unmolding it (as in the previous recipe, avoid strong heat contrasts on the ceramic; do not place the ceramic oven directly on marble when it is hot).