Emile HenryBread Loaf Baker, Ceramic, Burgundy, 24x15x12.5 cm

I baked my first loaves in this today. These are only my fourth and fifth loaves ever, and I'm hardly a star baker. They came out to perfection - just carefully hold the thing upside down and out falls the loaf onto a cooling tray! No sticking, nothing. I think the secret to this is to totally ignore the instructions that come with the thing. I didn't grease the pan, or anything else. I follow the instructions in Ken Forkish's "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast" book. Stick the oven on as hot as it will go (around 250C) and *preheat* the bread tin with it. This is ceramic, so it takes a while to heat up and then stays hot. Then drop the proven dough into it - careful not to burn your fingers on the hot tin! Then, 30 minutes, take the lid off, brown to taste (about 10-20 mins), then remove and drop it out onto a cooling rack for half an hour or so. The hot ceramic gives the yeast a vigorous kick start for a final rise before the heat kills it, which fills out the tin to the sides. EmileHenry don't state a white dough recipe or capacities, just fancy, complex recipes, and so my loaves today were probably half the size I would like for this tin. I reckon that to fill the tin and create a nice sandwich loaf shape, you likely need a dough made with 700 - 800g of flour, with appropriate water, salt, yeast. Today's loaves were made to that capacity (750g), but after reading reviews of dough stuck to the lid, I chickened out and divided into two loaves of half that size, which formed a rather shallow loaf, but they look (and taste) great, with a nice domed crust. So I'd say this: ignore the negative amazon reviews from people who clearly don't know what they are doing, ignore the EmileHenry instructions and read Ken Forkish. (Just FYI, I don't know Ken, I just read his book... but I've never baked bread in my life before, and have now had 5 great loaves out of five.) Paul Hollywood - eat your heart out!

Helps me bake fantastic rye bread. Wouldn’t be without it!

makes a nice loaf of bread. It would be better if they put handles on loaf baker problem getting out of oven

Too small to take a fully risen standard loaf made with 500g flour (even though recipes in the booklet have more flour than this). All measurements are less than stated (it is 24 x 14 x 8 cm). The dimensions given are external at the widest point at the top (item is considerably narrower at the base). The height is measured to the top of the lid dome but only 8cm of height is actually useable to contain bread. The capacity is given as 2 litres, but it is only 1.75 l filled to the brim. You cannot let your bread rise into the domed lid too much because if it touches the unglazed ceramic of the lid it sticks horribly and you lose half your loaf getting it out. Poor sizing info and poor design (unglazed inner to lid).

Making bread for many years. With this Cloche heavily oiled including top then used greaseproof paper to line across width and length as have with metal bread pans without problems. Baked;- removed lid which ripped the top off the loaf as securely stuck. Remainder Stuck to base as well in small areas not covered with greaseproof even when oiled well before cooking. Have top soaking in hot water not going to be easy to clean. Will be returning for refund.