I dont seem to be able to create interesting crust features like ears
on the bread I bake. I love how this looks in the artisanal bread I
buy, and I want to recreate it at home. Can someone tell me how?

Ive done some shopping for a bread book that speaks at length about
crust features, and I havent found one yet. Does anyone have a
suggestion to offer?

In some cases I want to produce bread with a thick top crust. by
adding a steam pan and spraying the sides of my oven, I can produce
bread that comes out of the oven with a very pleasing bit of thin
crunchyness to the crust, but that disappears after half a day or so.
Thank you!

My favorite is The Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. Very good
information on getting the type of bread you want. Check your local
library and perhaps they will have a copy for you to use.

marcella

In article .com>,
"badgerman" > wrote:

> I dont seem to be able to create interesting crust features like ears
> on the bread I bake. I love how this looks in the artisanal bread I
> buy, and I want to recreate it at home. Can someone tell me how?
>
> Ive done some shopping for a bread book that speaks at length about
> crust features, and I havent found one yet. Does anyone have a
> suggestion to offer?
>
> In some cases I want to produce bread with a thick top crust. by
> adding a steam pan and spraying the sides of my oven, I can produce
> bread that comes out of the oven with a very pleasing bit of thin
> crunchyness to the crust, but that disappears after half a day or so.
> Thank you!

Yeah, the Bread Baker's Apprentice is the book I've been using this
year. But I find that like others I've seen, it doesn't have much on
crust features, or at least not enough for me.

badgerman wrote:
> In some cases I want to produce bread with a thick top crust. by
> adding a steam pan and spraying the sides of my oven, I can produce
> bread that comes out of the oven with a very pleasing bit of thin
> crunchyness to the crust, but that disappears after half a day or so.
> Thank you!

If you put the bread in a plastic bag even the crustiest of breads will
become soft. The moisture that's in the interior of the bread will
eventually escape through the crust and since the bread is sealed
inside a bag the moisture will remain trapped and it will soften the
crust. Crusty breads should be kept in a paper bag. They can be
re-crisped by placing them in a hot oven for a minute or two.

badgerman wrote:
> I dont seem to be able to create interesting crust features like ears
> on the bread I bake. I love how this looks in the artisanal bread I
> buy, and I want to recreate it at home. Can someone tell me how?

Ears?

Ears, I read that somewhere. Let's say you've got a boule loaf and you
score it across the top in such a way that one side of the score sorta
peels back when baked, One bread baker told me that to get that
effect, you score the top at a 45 degree angle rather than 90 degrees
as you would for French bread, and I can see how that might work. But
it doesn't work for me.

I wonder whether these fancy crust features aren't possible in a home
oven like mine. More likely, I'm doing something wrong! Maybe I don't
get enough surface tension, or maybe the bread needs a good misting to
get more oven spring, or what?