“ 2 hours at an initial temperature of 420°”
That’s 788F.
It must have been the ancient equivalent of a microwave at that temp!”
That has to be wrong if means 420 Celsius. At 788F it wouldn’t it be burnt to pure carbon before two hours? Probably within an hour?
Yes. I bake my sourdough at 500F for 20 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered. Some recipes turn the temp down to 450 for the last 30 min. White sandwich bread is around 280F.
I figure they must have fired the oven to 780F, raked out the coals, and put the bread in after the oven cooled a bit.
I wonder how they timed the bake. “Hey Siri, set timer for two hours” probably didn’t work in those days.