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

I absolutely love this shell! My husband bought me this and the heavy weight oven steel for my birthday. They both are wonderful to use and produce great results. I have a number of good quality cast iron pans for my sour dough bread, but definitely prefer using this method. No long period of time preheating pans and the shell weighs very little. He did get me the rectangle one and I ended up returning that one and exchanging it for the boule shape. This is large enough and functional for all shaped breads. The only negative is I can only do one loaf at a time. Since I do not have to preheat the cast iron and only need to preheat the oven for the Brød and Taylor steel, it actually takes the same amount of time to do two of them. This system is expensive- but in my opinion well worth it. I highly recommend the steel and the shell for bread making!

I’ve had this Brod & Taylor Ultralight Baking Shell (Boule version) for about three months now, and honestly, it hasn’t gotten the attention or praise it truly deserves; this product and the company behind it are game-changers. This has given me by far the best and most consistent sourdough baking experience of my life. Before this, I spent money on two different Dutch ovens, tried every technique out there— I was even seriously considering buying a whole new oven because nothing was giving me the crispy crust, oven spring, and airy crumb I wanted reliably. Then I discovered this Baking Shell. I paired it with their base tray/steel, and if I hadn’t, I doubt I’d ever have achieved such killer loaves at home. No preheating the cover, super lightweight, easy to handle, traps steam perfectly, and the results look and taste professional — crackly crust, beautiful ear, open crumb. It’s honestly unmatched. Huge thank you to Brod & Taylor for creating something this brilliant and practically unrivaled in the home sourdough world. If you’re tired of heavy Dutch ovens and inconsistent results, do yourself a favor and get this — you won’t regret it!

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.

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.

New to baking bread and didn’t want the heavy cast iron Dutch ovens often used. I have a pizza steel in my oven and put the Brod & Taylor lite shell over my loaf and it worked great! No preheating and really easy to use. Very high quality, now going to purchase their sourdough home starter kit.

Awesome. Made two Batard loaf's this weekend and didn't have to worry about adding any water to a preheated cast iron skillet. Slide the bread onto the preheated baking steel and covered with the baking shell. Easy to remove after the first 20-25min, nice and light. Bread turned out beautiful

I have two of these batard shaped shells, and one boule. I use these frequently on a large stone in the oven, that fits two shells side by side (also purchased on Amazon), and they are lightweight, and do not require preheating. They seal in the steam so that the loaves have the appropriate amount for proper baking, and I highly recommend them.

Perfect! Excellent results, so much easier than a heavy dutch.

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.

Normalerweise gibt man das Brot in den vorgeheizten Ofen, gibt heißes Wasser in den Ofen, damit das Wasser am kalten Teig kondensiert und so verhindert, dass sich eine Haut bildet, die das Brot am Aufgehen hindert. Dann geht das Brot im Ofen besser auf, man nimmt dafür Ober/Unterhitze, damit die Übertragung nicht zu schnell ist. Oder man bäckt im Topf, macht diesen heiß und die kleine Backkammer sorgt dafür, dass das verdunstende Wasser ebenfalls im Topf bleibt und so dafür sorgt, dass die Verhautung später stattfindet. Führt ebenfalls zu grandios aufgegangenen Broten. Die Backschale nutzt beide Prinzipien auf geniale Weise, wie ich finde. Die Feuchtigkeit vom Brot wird genutzt und die Oberhitze wird abgeblockt, was ein schnelles Verhauten ebenfalls verhindert, die Unterhitze kommt ungehindert ran. Das Ergebnis spricht m.E., für sich. Die beiden Bilder zeigen das obere Brot mit Backschale gebacken, das untere mit kräftig Dampf ohne Dampf. Auf dem ersten Bild ist das Ergebnis. Die beiden Teiglinge sind genau gleich schwer.

I love the baking shell, I love how light it is and so much easier to work with than a dutch oven. My bread turns out amazing. My only complaint is that the finish is beautiful but after a few uses it it comes off in spots and leaves a tarnished spot. Doesn’t stop it working great just doesn’t look as pretty and i wonder how lone the finish will last. I would definitely buy again, well worth the money.