Baking Crusty Bread

ike

Hi all, I make my own yeast bread at the weekends when time allows, and to date I've been very happy with the results in terms of taste, texture, crumb etc. But the one thing I can't get is a crispy crust.

I've tried adding water to the oven to make steam, rubbing water over the dough before putting in to bake, but still no crusty crust.

Any ideas?

Tree

You need to buy a combination oven. In order to get the crusty crusts you're used to from fancier shops, the bread needs to be baked in a humid oven. Sadly, it's nearly impossible to do this in a home oven, they're not hermetically sealed, so if you add hot water or icecubes to the bottom of the oven, the steam will just escape anyway. Likewise, water on the bread itself will evaporate soon enough.

I find adding milk to the bread makes the crust softer than if it's made with water alone, so if you're using milk you could drop that. Of course the crumb won't be as soft either, so that's a trade off.

genuine leather

Hi ike
As Tree mentioned its hard to get the crust your looking for with the standard oven in comparison to the professional steam jet ovens(some day:)) that most bakerys use.

I have found that a close second can be achieved by doing a longer prove on the dough(less yeast) and then cooking the bread in a preheated cast iron pot(dutch oven method) with relatively high temps, covered for the first 30 mins, and lid off for the last 15-20 mins. The closed pot acts like an oven inside the oven and contains the moisture within the pot.It really is a fantastic finished loaf. You just have to be very carefull handling the hot pot,having to take it from the oven to turn the dough into it. Its fun waiting to see your bread after 30 mins when the lid comes off. Hope this helps.GL

ike

That's interesting GL, I'll try that, would a large Le Creuset casserole dish would do the job?

genuine leather

Le creuset pot would be perfect ike.
If you worked the dough weight to about 1/3 rd of the pot volume and go from there, to allow head room for the bread to rise. Although a few have risen higher on me and it makes for a very interesting shape to the top of the bread:).

For the final prove i will place the dough on a nicely floured cloth in a shallow dish similar in shape to the pot(round,oval)wholemeal,seeds,oat bran, wheatgerm,whatever you like, give a lovely finish,place dough with the seam down and cover.It opens up in many different beautiful ways.....Bread Art:)

ike

Great stuff, thanks again!

Ronanc1

I've found from some recipes i've used that the addition of sugars or more commonly honey to the bread mix provides that deep brown crusty exterior you see in a lot of European breads obviously theres no added sweetness etc as the quantity is relatively small might be something to investigate.

Sigma Force

I make an enriched dough and the crust is nice and crunchy esp. for the first few hours after cooling and if toasted it crusts up again. Maybe it's the oil in it that does it.

500g strong bread flour.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon any herbs/seeds you like (optional)
50ml olive oil
5g dried yeast dissolved in
300ml water

Bake at 220C add a little water to a seperate tray for a little steam.