Artisan Bread Baker | Charcoal

Excellent bread baker for sourdough - fits into Breville smart oven air fryer pro. Was worried about damage during shipment and cracking but it arrived very securely packaged and quickly. The EH website states: "Never preheat your ceramic baking dish dry, always add cooking oil or some type of liquid to the dish. (This does not apply to the Flame products and bread bakers.)" Though the bread baker is the exception, to stay on the safe side I did not preheat the baker as I normally would a dutch oven. Tried a baking in preheated oven with cold fermented dough and room temp baker and the bread turned out nicely - 50 min total at 465F - took the lid off to brown the top towards the end for the last 15 min.

The bread baker works beautifully. I have a few Emile Henry bakers and the oval is a great addition so I can make batards. The only difficulty is the lack of a knob on the top, to easily remove the lid. There are small handles on the ends of the lid but with mitts on it is tricky. Otherwise I love the baker! My first bake was a chocolate cherry sour dough.

Must have if you're a bred maker. Quality ceramic, large loaf size. Makes the difference in quality of bread.

Update: I wrote directly to the company and they had replaced it however the replacement cracked again 5 months later. I do not recommend this product and would recommend a cast iron baker if you are looking for longevity. Unfortunately they won't send you another one. I also made sure I was following recommended uses not baking above 450, and cleaning it without harsh abrasives. That's why I knocked it down to 1 star not worth the money. Previous review.For how much this cost I expected it to last longer. I only had it 3 years and it broke. So disappointed. I gave it a two star because it did a great job with baking the loaves but quality is questionable and I would suggest cast iron for durability, quality bakes, and longevity

I had been using dutch ovens to bake my sourdough but a neighbor who I baked for, offered me his since he could bake well. As it turns out, with this I can bake 2 pound loaves and still have some room. I no longer need to take off the lid after partial baking to brown the loaf. I just leave the dough in it for the entire bake time and when I take the lid off, it is golden and crispy outside. Best part, I won't break/Crack when moving from hot to cold or vice versa. This allows me to do a cold start, and then for.my next loaf, drop the cold dough I to the hot baker. So I ended up getting a black one to add to my red one so I can bake 2 batards at the same ti.e and when do, load the next 2. Perfect

I use the Emile Henry bread baker all the time and my artisan bread comes out great. So happy I bought it.

I bake a lot of sourdough and this is by far my favorite thing to use. I actually bought a 2 and then one for my brother.

Was hesitant to order after reading reviews of damaged upon arrival. Haven’t tried (Christmas gift) yet but was double boxed with bubble wrap. Lid fit securely. Look forward to trying out. Will post after using. Tried first time. Made a great loaf. Check out photo. Used recipe on pg. 12 of manual. The shape of the bread is from the basket used to let it rise. Second try. Let the dough rise in bread baker after knocking down once. It doubled in size. Works well either putting the baker in oven and heating first or letting rise and put in oven room temperature. About 7th try in last photo. Got it dialed in after making adjustments for elevation (4800 ft) and high humidity due to snow. Great crust and bread crackles when taking out of oven. Upped temp to 500f 12 mins with lid on and 12 with lid removed for browning. Preheat oven to 500f with bread baker for 30 mins and put in with parchment paper. Used 9” basket for second rise.