Thick, Tough Crust
My French boules have a hard, tough crust on the bottom. What am I doing wrong?
I bake my boules @475 °F on a stone in a gas oven. I put a pan of boiling water in the oven. I throw 2 Tblspns of boiling water into the oven every 3 minutes to keep the steam up. After 12 minutes of steam I reduce the oven temp to 375 °F and bake the loaves, dry, for an additional 23 minutes. To improve the crispness of the crusts I then turn off the oven, crack the door open and let the loaves cool in the oven to improve the crispness of the crusts.
Would removing the stone after steaming solve this problem? What about removing the stone during the cooling period? Am I baking too long?
The loaves get to an internal temp of about 205 °F and are nicely browned. The top crusts are perfect.
HELP!!!
Take the loaves out of the oven and cool them on a rack at room temperature.
Forde
...is the goal. My wife and family want bread with the crispest of crusts. Cooling @ room temp has been tried and it doesn't meet the spec.
I'm going to bake tomorrow. I'll try removing the stone while the loaves cool in the oven...
Put the loaves on a wire rack, then back into the oven.
I'm gonna try that. I like the idea that the stone stays in the oven, safer that way. I'd planned to bake today but that's slipped until tomorrow. Thanks...