September 16, 2012 - 3:07pm
Mottled Appearance
Below are pictures of the upper crust and bottom crust of a rustic bread I've been making recently. These pictures illustrate a problem I've been fighting for some time with many of my breads. I can't figure out why the upper crust has a mottled appearance versus being nicely browned. The bottom crust which was on parchment paper against the baking stone shows no such issue.
After shaping, the recipe calls for placing on parchment paper and covering with plastic wrap. I almost always spray lightly with oil to keep the plastic wrap from sticking otherwise I have a really hard time getting it off for baking without messing up the appearance of the loaf. Could this be the issue?
Any pointers and help will be appreciated.