Wondering about crackly crust
The other day I had a bread disaster. First of all my loaves were too big and twinned with each other. Second I preheated the oven to 500F meaning to turn it down after I put the loaves in, but didn't. Third, I forgot to set the timer when I removed the steam pans, so I actually have no idea how long they baked in total - but suffice it to say too long. Teach me to bake when there's too much activity around me. Anyhow, when I removed these sad, sad loaves from the oven, the crust crackled like crazy. I find this very frustrating because I haven't been able to do this on purpose. The last time I had crackly crust was when I baked with King Arthur French Style flour, and I had just assumed it was a function of the flour. The monster loaves were made with KA All Purpose which is what I usually use, so I'm mystified. Does anyone out there understand the knobs to turn to get crackly crust not including what I did? Thanks. -Varda