I’ve recently purchased a la cloche. I love the bread but clean up was a bear. I read about putting silpat on the bottom not parchment paper. My question is: why not parchment paper? and if I put silpat down, should I put it on the sides too? Thanks

I don’t own a la cloche. However, I make challah bread from scratch every Friday. I usually use a silpat on a cookie sheet, but I’ve also used parchment. I have found that the parchment shifts as the bread dough expands during the last rise and during baking. This is not a serious problem, but I prefer the heavier weight of the silpat and the fact that it doesn’t move.

Why don’t you try seasoning the lid of of your la cloche? By that, I mean wipe the inside of it with vegetable oil. This is only a suggestion. Maybe somebody with more la cloche experience can chime in here and tell me if this is a good idea.

Denise, I use parchment in my cloche and have never had any problems with sticking.  I usually spray it lightly with oil before I put the dough on though.

Denise,

Matthew gave me the same advice about using parchment with La Cloche and I’ve never had a problem with sticking.  It works!

I’ve found, just because I’m so lazy, that those packs of 9 inch parchment rounds used for cake pans work great in La Cloche.  No cutting involved.