Today I made Eric's Fav. Rye (from TFL) and all appeared to go well --- until I pulled the loaves out of the oven and sighed at the pasty-looking, not-at-all-brown crust. It was steamed for the first 10 minutes at 370, then 30 additional minutes at 370 (per the recipe). 

A couple of weeks ago I had the same result with an experimental sourdough I made (Eric's is also sourdough-based with a yeast kicker). 

I very rarely have this happen with a sandwich loaf, but maybe once or twice in several years. 

What causes this? I mean, the loaf appears barely baked, with no browning to speak of. I had an inconsistent browning experience with some Uighur Nan I made today as well -- half came out of the oven with lovely browning, the other half baked just as long with virtually no browning (not in the oven at the same time -- sequential baking of flatbreads). 

Can someone share tips for a consistently brown and appealing crust? 

Just tried french baguettes for the first time.  All went well, except they didn't brown well.  I used King Arthur Flour recipe, which calls for a 500 oven reduced to 475 when the bread goes in.  Several blogs on the KAF website recomended starting with a 475 oven and reducing to 450, so that's what I did.  Any advice?

Here's a shot of a recent, representative loaf:

http://oldwithoutmoney.com/sourdoughLoafnBuns.jpg

A some significant cracking along one end & side, but reasonable form, decent results from scoring, a decent crust, and it tasted yummy good.
(Baked in a loaf pan at 425.)

But none of that brown caramelizing that characterized many a fine loaf.

What can I do to get that nice brown color? 

Thanks

I love this quote, which I found on the Foppish Baker blog (foppish-baker.blogspot.com, I think). The universal motto of bread lovers everywhere:

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” --Robert Browning