January 20, 2021 - 9:17pm
Old recipe tastes great, but crust is pale and meh. How do I fix this?
My grandmother gave me her mother's recipe for bread the other day, she's not much of a baker herself so never having it I didn't necessarily know how it was suppose to turn out. Also the salt ratio was high, way more than what I'd normally add to bread but rather than change it I just left it as is. So glad I did, jt turned out much better than I expected it to. The end product wasn't too salty at all, and I'd say the taste and texture was similiar to fresh bread you get in a basket at Italian restaurants. Everyone loved it and my grandma said it tasted just like she remembered as a child, only difference she found was the crust. While it was thin it didn't stay crispy and it was very pale. How can I fix this?
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Easy fix. A second bake. Before serving give it ten minutes in a hot oven to brown and crispen the crust.
What has happened that as the loaf cooled, the steam from inside the loaf rose to the surface and softened the crust. This is normal. (One way to soften a cold hard crust is to bag it and let it stand overnight. Loaf moisture usually moves from the center to the crust and softens it.)
If the loaf is heading to the table from the oven, give it 5-10 minutes longer in the oven. You might want to turn up the heat a little bit if baking in a moderate oven.
If the loaf is a day or two old and the crust is dried out, wrap any cut ends with a small bit of alufoil and simply run it quickly under clean tap water for a second to wet the crust, then Into the hot oven to brown and crispen, about 5 to 10 min depending on temp. and desired browning. Much like pale rolls you can buy and finish browning in your own oven, only better.
Cudos for continuing a family tradition and finding the fun in baking your own bread. Youve got nice oven spring and the loaf opened up nicely. A pleasure to behold. :)
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definetly try that next time. Was thinking of even adding diastic malt powder and doing and overnight rise in the fridge to help with color. Would be interesting to try both methods side by side
I'd love to see it.
I took the original recipe, scaled it down to one loaf and converted most of it from lbs/volume to grams. Also looking at other recipes for Italian bread 2.5% Salt is in the normal range so I guess I was wrong about it seeming excessive.
250 g. Strong Flour (Bread/High Gluten)
25 g. Olive Oil
6 g. (1 tsp) Table Salt
137 g. Warm Water
1/4 tsp. Sugar
1 3/4 tsp Yeast (I used instant)
Mix all the ingredients together, knead for 8-10 min. Cover and let rise for an hour. Deflate, shape, let rise again for roughly 30-45 min or until properly proofed. Put it in a 375 F oven for 20-25 min (I baked it directly on a stone)
Also I scored the bread, and sprayed it with water before baking and twice during the first 3 minutes of baking. Wasn't part of the recipe but I always do that with my breads.