Artisan Bread: How to Make Crusty Bread

To make your bread crusty, the climatic characteristic of your oven should be in the highest climatic characteristic possible because if not, you will bake soft bread instead. If you think that the heat of your oven is not enough, you can use a baking stone.

Place the baking stone in the oven while you preheat for 20 minutes. When you put the dough over it, the heat is fast transferred which helps in producing crusty bread. That is if you don't have a hearth. Some devotee bakers custom-make their own hearths, but if you are just starting, it is advisable to start with a baking stone.

Bread Pan

Another leading and easy thing you can do is to have steam in the oven. Steam does two things: It prevents the exterior of the dough from drying until it has reached full rise and it improves the color and texture of the crust.

Artisan Bread: How to Make Crusty Bread

Like those pro bakers that have their own hearth, they also have ovens that inject steam while the baking process. But there are indeed a lot of other alternatives to infuse steam inside your oven.

You can use a baking pan to put at the bottom of the oven while you are preheating along with the baking stone which is a level above the pan. Right after you put in your dough over the baking stone, pour in some hot water on the pan and fast close the oven to trap in the steam. As soon as you pour in the hot water, it immediately boils that sends steam over your dough.

There are also other ways of having steam in the oven. You can spray the walls of the oven or simply rubbing the exterior of the loaf with water. But bakers agree that the best formula used is the hot water in a pan.

Artisan Bread: How to Make Crusty Bread

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