Crusty bread is a favorite for many. However, not many of us have an idea of how it is baked. We often leave that to the professional bakers. We assume that it is a complex process that difficult to fathom let alone implement.
But did you know that artisan bakers are not the only people capable of making beautiful and delicious crusty bread? With your basic baking skills at home, it is possible to make a crusty bread just by following the instructions below:
1. Choose the right recipe
The first step in making a crusty bread is selecting a perfect crusty bread recipe. First of all, you need to understand that soft diner roles shouldn’t be crusty. If you try to force them because you will be disappointed.
It is very simple to make a crusty bread. All you need is flour, yeast, water, and salt. Please don’t include anything that will make them soft such as eggs, sugar, cream or butter.
However, some recipes call for small amounts of sugar or dried milk intended for the inner tenderness of the crusty bread.
2. Shape the dough into proportional sizes
You should understand that a big round or oval shape will not shine in the crisp crust department compared to thin individual rolls.
Despite the fact that you can still make a much bigger loaf with a crisp crust, the ratio of a tender to crunchy will be smaller. The best option is to always stick with smaller, skinnier rolls.
3. To end up with a perfect crusty bread, generate steam in your oven
One secret held by most professional bakers is a steam-injected oven. There’s nothing that produces a nice crust than an oven full of steam – especially for the first part of the baking process.
Although you might not have such an oven, it is possible to replicate the role of steam in creating a crisp crust. You can achieve this by making a homemade steamy oven.
The easiest way to create a homemade steamy oven is by spraying or brushing risen loaves using arm water before putting them into the hot oven. Besides that, you can also use a stoneware pan that has a lid to trap moisture emanating from the baking bread.
4. Bake on a pizza stone or steel
It is often easy for most bakers to create a good crisp top compared to the bottom crusty. However, you can perfect this by baking it on a preheated pizza stone or baking steel. The advantage of the steel or stone is that it diverts a jolt of the heat to the bread – making it rise quickly.
On the other hand, the bottom of the bread without a covering of the metal pan (which takes time to absorb before transmitting the heat) has the ability to bake very quickly – bringing out a perfect golden brown color and crisp
In general, making crusty bread is not a big deal. It’s just that sometimes we tend to assume that only the professional bakers can ace it.
