Tip: Creating Steam

I have a tip that maybe some of you have discovered and already use. It's about how to create steam in the oven when we don't have a built-in steamer. The tip is to bake the bread while baking something moist, like vegetarian meatballs (made with tofu). That would create a good amount of steam, even for baking at 375°F. I don't find ice cubes to create the kind of steam I need.

The expanded version of this tip is this:

Using the Zen Monastery Cookbook's meatball recipe (basically mashing tofu with various ingredients, including egg, forming into balls and bake), I made a tray ot veggie meatballs. Then when I was ready to bake my bread, I put in the tray of tofu meatballs first, then when the oven became steamy (which was quite soon), I put in the bread to bake. Steam galore!

I don't know why, but the ice cubes on tray don't seem to work too well for me, and the boiling water on heavy pan doesn't work well unless the  oven is super heated to 400°F, and sometimes the bread I want shouldn't be baked at that temperature. Using this tip, or a variation of it, seems like good amount of steam will be produced at a moderate temperature oven.

Of course, it won't be practical every time to bake tofu meatballs when you want to bake bread, but maybe using the general idea, you can think of other things you can bake for dinner that will also help create steam for the bread you're baking.

Hope this helps someone! :)