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Bread is the basic elements: flour, water, salt and yeast. To transform it from dough into something delicious, all you need is heat and a container to prevent the heat from escaping. For home bakers, the container is usually a Dutch oven, which traps steam to form a bright, bubbling crust (imitating the effect of steam jet ovens used in commercial bakeries). A great Dutch oven can be very cheap and lasts a lifetime, which is why when I saw the $225 price tag on Insta's popular Challenger Bread Pan, I did it twice.

Why is it so expensive? The PR line is that, unlike the traditional Dutch oven that is only used by bakers, Challenger is made for them. Similar to my preferred loaf pan, Lodge Combo Cooker, the Challenger is made of pre-seasoned bare cast iron and has an inverted Dutch oven design. Its function is similar to a bread bell, with a tall dome top and a low side bottom to make the dough more Easy to install. But it differs from Combo Cooker in some key aspects: First, Challenger's cast iron is thicker than Lodge's cast iron, and theoretically can absorb and retain more heat during the baking process. Secondly, the shape of the bread pan is rectangular instead of round, so it can hold batards and half baguettes and rolling balls. Finally, there are handles on both sides of the Challenger base, and there are two handles on the lid to make it easier to operate in a hot oven.

For me — an experienced but unprofessional home baker who is always looking to improve the final product — the real question is whether the extra $180 or so will actually bring me significantly better bread. If not, are there cheaper options that provide some of the same benefits as ergonomics?

After studying the competition, I realized that Challenger Bread Pan has opened up its own niche market, becoming a purely bread-focused cast iron baking container. In the end, I could only find another pan that provides any function similar to its combination of functions: Camp Chef’s 12-quart Golden Spike Oval Roaster. Although its real design purpose is to roast chicken or cook casseroles on a campfire, the Golden Spike Oval Roaster has a flat shallow pot lid that you can use upside down as a baking surface, just like Challenger Bread Pan and Lodge Combo Cooker .

There is actually only one way to test bread pans, and that is to bake in them. So for several months, I bake four loaves a week, using my standard two baker's yeast recipe (PDF). (Yes, that is more than 32 breads. No, I didn't eat all the breads myself.)

For some baking, I divide the bread into two different baking containers. For others, I used the same pan, but changed the baking time, temperature or the shape of the bread, trying to find the parameters that would consistently produce the crunchy, dark, tartar crust that I wanted, while maintaining Soft, moist crumbs. In almost all cases, before loading the dough, I preheat the cookware at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes and bake it at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, then leave it uncovered until the result is what I like brown. During each baking, I will document ergonomics and other practical considerations.

Once I started testing, I quickly discovered that although the Golden Spike Oval Roaster is a sturdy, beautiful cast iron cookware that can bake beautiful bread, it is far from an ideal choice for home bakers. Its small handle and extremely heavy nature (when inverted) make it difficult to manipulate, as is its large size. It is about 20.5 inches wide, nearly 6 inches wider than Challenger, and only a few inches narrower than my 5-cubic-foot oven. It weighs 26 pounds, more than twice the Lodge Combo Cooker, and 4 pounds heavier than Challenger Bread Pan, even though it is made of thinner cast iron.

After hours of research and testing of baking equipment and kitchen equipment, if you want to start baking bread, we think you need the following.

After putting the Golden Spike Oval Roaster aside, I set aside the Challenger Bread Pan and directly compared it with my trusted Lodge Combo Cooker. The following are the key points of their differences:

Challenger Bread Pan produces beautiful bread, which has a real advantage over cheaper baking containers. Even so, the sky-high price is difficult to give a comprehensive recommendation for the pan.

If you are a novice baker, especially someone who is not sure whether you will stick to this hobby, please skip the challenger. You can bake the same delicious bread in the Lodge Combo Cooker at less than a quarter of the price. Yes, Lodge will limit your use of rolling balls or downsized batards, which will take longer to bake. But you don't need to preheat the Lodge for so long, the bread will still be delicious. Another benefit: your Lodge pan is easier to store and can be used not only to make bread, but also to make other things.

However, if you are an experienced baker and want the best baking experience-or if you are looking for a gift that will impress friends who are obsessed with bread-the challenger can satisfy you need. Yes, it is a unitasker, and yes, it takes up a lot of space. But it will produce the bread you want and give you the flexibility to make various types of bread in the same pan. None of the other baking containers we have seen offer the same combination of functionality and quality.

Ben Keough is an editor at Wirecutter, covering power supply, home office and hobbies. He previously spent more than a decade writing articles about cameras, printers and other office equipment for Wirecutter, Reviewed, USA Today, and Digital Camera HQ. After four years of printer testing, he confirmed that they are all bad, but some are less than others.

After hours of research and testing of baking equipment and kitchen equipment, if you want to start baking bread, we think you need the following.

After baking nearly 40 loaves of bread on eight machines, we believe that Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus is the most reliable bread machine you can buy.

If properly maintained, Lodge cast iron can last a lifetime. You can't say many products.

We think FibraMent-D baking stone is the best universal baking stone for making crispy pizza, crusty bread and golden pastries.

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