Baking bread and rolls

Why

In the first minutes of baking the gas and steam in the dough expand with the heat and the loaf keeps rising; moisture in the oven keeps the surface soft and supple, so the crust does not set before the bread has risen, and the starch on the surface gelatinises, giving the crust shine and a deeper colour. According to King Arthur Baking, steam is needed only at the start, while the loaf is still rising, roughly the first 15–20 minutes; moisture throughout the bake gives a thick, rubbery crust. Inside, bread bakes until the starch has gelatinised and the proteins have set: America's Test Kitchen gives about 93–99 °C in the centre for lean breads and about 88–91 °C for breads with butter and eggs, but regards a sufficiently dark, well-baked crust as the more reliable sign. As the bread cools, steam keeps leaving the crumb and the gelatinised starch firms up, which is why a loaf cut hot is gummy and dense rye bread needs the longest time to cool.

How to do it

• Preheat the oven in good time, ideally with a baking sheet or cast-iron pot inside, and put the bread in only once it is fully hot.
• Score the loaf with a sharp knife just before baking; the cut decides where the bread expands, so it does not burst at random.
• Give the bread steam at the start: put a tray or dish of hot water on the oven floor, or bake the loaf under a lid for the first 20 minutes.
• After roughly 15–20 minutes, once the loaf stops rising, take out the water or lift off the lid so the crust dries and browns; beware of hot steam when you open the oven.
• Judge doneness by the colour of the crust, with a thermometer in the centre of the loaf; bake a pale loaf longer, even out of its tin for the last 10 minutes.
• Cool the bread on a rack, a loaf for at least 2 hours and dense rye bread longer; rolls cool faster.

If it goes wrong

If the bread is sticky and raw inside when cut, put it back in the oven for about 10–15 minutes at 180 °C and let it cool completely; an underbaked loaf finishes baking this way, while a crumb that was merely cut too hot will dry out a little. Finish a pale crust for a few minutes directly on the oven rack. A crust that is too hard softens if the bread cools wrapped in a tea towel. Sprinkle stale bread with water and put it in a hot oven for 5–10 minutes.