Okay, this is a watershed moment in my bread baking career. I just removed from the oven the first boule I’ve ever made that actually looked like artisan bread, from a bakery. It’s rough and a little misshapen, but it sprung up in the oven, it has those beautiful spiral grooves from the willow banneton, and—this best of all—it has a golden top crust. Finally! A golden top crust. I almost can’t believe it. I’ve been “haunted” by a ghostly white and unattractive top crust since my very first loaf. I just hope this isn’t a fluke!
Now I feel confident in claiming that the attractive top crust is a function of steam—lots of it—and high heat early in the bake. I was able to get more steam this time through than ever before. So much that it literally escaped in a cloud around the seals of my oven’s door. (Hmm, perhaps I ought to think about replacing those seals, eh?) One of the keys to getting lots of steam is long preheating times. I preheated the oven for about 45 minutes, and many bakers suggest a minimum of 1 hour. You need to use a steam pan with a heat high capacity. I noticed a big difference in steam production when I switched from a brownie pan to a cast-iron frying pan. I haven’t yet tried lava rocks, as some have suggested. One final thought on steam creation: I think it’s best to add a moderate amount of water to the pan for the initial burst, but not so much that all the heat in the pan is dissipated. If some of the heat is retained, it may be possible to do another “steam injection” at, say, two minutes into the bake. Concerning spritzing: I don’t think it contributes much steam volume, as compared to the preheated-water-in-the-preheated-frypan method.
Today’s loaf was 70% hydration: 400g of 150% hydration barm mixed with 200g unbleached bread flour, 75g whole wheat flour, 25g rye flour, and 100g of water. I gave it a bulk rise in a cool kitchen overnight, then a quick fold and shape on the bench in the morning, followed by a three hour proof in a willow banneton dusted with rice flour. I turned the proofed loaf out onto parchment upon a peel and slid it into a 500-degree oven. The flavor is sweet, tangy, and complex. The crumb is moderately open, not dense like sandwich bread, and not wide open with gaping holes, like ciabatta.
Now I feel confident in claiming that the attractive top crust is a function of steam—lots of it—and high heat early in the bake. I was able to get more steam this time through than ever before. So much that it literally escaped in a cloud around the seals of my oven’s door. (Hmm, perhaps I ought to think about replacing those seals, eh?) One of the keys to getting lots of steam is long preheating times. I preheated the oven for about 45 minutes, and many bakers suggest a minimum of 1 hour. You need to use a steam pan with a heat high capacity. I noticed a big difference in steam production when I switched from a brownie pan to a cast-iron frying pan. I haven’t yet tried lava rocks, as some have suggested. One final thought on steam creation: I think it’s best to add a moderate amount of water to the pan for the initial burst, but not so much that all the heat in the pan is dissipated. If some of the heat is retained, it may be possible to do another “steam injection” at, say, two minutes into the bake. Concerning spritzing: I don’t think it contributes much steam volume, as compared to the preheated-water-in-the-preheated-frypan method.
Today’s loaf was 70% hydration: 400g of 150% hydration barm mixed with 200g unbleached bread flour, 75g whole wheat flour, 25g rye flour, and 100g of water. I gave it a bulk rise in a cool kitchen overnight, then a quick fold and shape on the bench in the morning, followed by a three hour proof in a willow banneton dusted with rice flour. I turned the proofed loaf out onto parchment upon a peel and slid it into a 500-degree oven. The flavor is sweet, tangy, and complex. The crumb is moderately open, not dense like sandwich bread, and not wide open with gaping holes, like ciabatta.
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