Over-browning on top and bottom
I am new here, but have been lurking for some time. I was recently given the gift of some SAF yeast that works wonderfully and have expanded into bread baking. I baked a spiced bread (much like for hot cross buns) that was enriched with egg, butter and milk and contained 5 tbls sugar. I folded in raisins and candied ginger before forming and glazed with beaten egg before baking. The recipe called to bake it at 425F for 15-20 mins and then lower the oven to 400F and bake for 25 mins. Following these times and temperatures, the bread WAY overbrowned on the top and the bottom to almost the color of molasses. I was going for more of a golden hue.
Anyway, I am new to bread baking and am not sure how to augment the temperatures and times to acheive the proper color of crust as well as internal doneness. I have had this same issue with brioche type breads as well. Any help is appreciated.
My guess is the too-dark crust comes from the addition of the candied ginger. Any sweetener will tend to produce a darker crust. If (as I expect) the candied ginger has a tendency to fracture so there's a lot of "powder", it's adding sweetener throughout the dough.
If only the top crust is dark, the first suspect is uneven heat in the oven, and moving the rack down one notch sometimes helps. Laying a piece of tinfoil over the loaf about halfway through the bake also may help. But where -as apparently here- it's not just the top crust but all the crust, something else is needed.
So here are some possibilities:
I find these types of sugar enriched breads bake better 25° lower. Go for 400°F and then reduce to 385°F if it seems too brown for the rest of the bake.