Brod & Taylor Ultralight Baking Shell for Sourdough Bread (Batard) – No Preheating Needed for Crispy Crust and Even Baking

The Brod & Taylor Ultralight Baking Shell has been a game-changer for my steam oven baking. It is impressively lightweight, making it easy to insert and remove even when hot, yet it feels very durable and solid. The flat, smooth surface ensures even heat distribution, which gives consistent browning and a nice crisp crust on bread, pizza, and pastries. I also appreciate that the edges are slightly raised, helping to keep dough or batter in place without spilling. Cleanup is simple since nothing sticks, and the non-reactive surface maintains its quality over time. The shell is slightly larger than I expected, so storage requires a bit of planning, but the quality, performance, and versatility make it an excellent tool for any serious home baker.

For the past year or so, I've been regularly (at least once a week) making sourdough bread. When I was using a Dutch oven, my loaves came out great, but the Dutch oven is cast iron and heavy and I can only bake one loaf at a time, when most of the recipes I make are for 2 loaves. So then, I graduated to a baking stone and a steam system. I had hit or miss results with that method, unfortunately. Getting the right amount of water in the tray and keeping the steam from escaping worked sometimes, but I could not often get it just right. Then I saw this baking shell. I have several Brod & Taylor baking and sourdough tools and they are quality. I measured and 2 of these baking shells easily fit side by side on my baking stone. Problem solved. Every loaf I have made since getting 2 of these baking shells has been perfect, or pretty near it. I get a lot of oven spring and the interior crumb is just right. I only wish I would have tried them sooner.

This is a useful, well-designed, lightweight addition to my bread baking equipment. Definitely functions as expected and makes baking bread with a nice crust easy. Love that it is so lightweight and doesn't need preheating. Taking one star off for the price which fits seem too high for an aluminum product.

My sourdough bread gets better oven spring without having to utilize a heavy dutch oven. I am happy with my purchase.

Good quality but too small. Measure well before you buy.

Lightweight and very easy to use. Does a very good job.

This is my go-to baking pan now which replaced my clay cloche. I place it on top of my baking steel and my bread comes out well baked with a crispy crust. I like the way they made the edges which give it a bit more seal. I wish they would make a longer baking shell.

Yes this is an excellent cloche for Sourdough bread baking on a steel

I’m new to sourdough baking and after a ton of research I came across this shell after seeing it on TikTok and thought what a great and light alternative to a super heavy Dutch oven. I’ve baked a few times with a Dutch oven and was getting annoyed at how heavy it was, it was also not yielding me the desired results in terms of bread structure etc. I used this just once and I was blown away by how light it is and how easy it is to use!! Highly recommend.

I bought the boule and the batard. I would suggest the batard for making bread rolls ( and they are amazing) the boule for making full loaves of bread. Little tip spray both with water before placing over dough and grease the inner rim to avoid dough sticking. Other than that, perfect.

Worked as advertised.

I bought this alongside the baking steel works brilliantly for my sourdough no heavy lifting, light to hold great handle excellent quality, my bread turns out great

It's better than a dutch oven,it's safer because of the weight difference much lighter,works great with the brod & Taylor steel aswell