Importance of steam in baking bread:
- reason is steam allows the bread to rise once put into oven
- bread rises only when dough's surface is moist...once it gets hard, the bread can no longer rise
- steam enhances color, gives the crust a nice sheen, and gives the bread better volume
- steam cools the surface of dough allowing for a longer time to caramelize and rise
- think my bread is denser than i want because it doesn't have enough steam...not enough steam no dough doesn't get to rise and puff up the inside to give it a better texture...
- stick a cast iron pan into oven as oven is preheating...
- boil some water on the stovetop
- when oven is done preheating, moisten oven by placing ice cubes onto another pan into the oven
- score the bread and mist the surface lightly
- load the bread into oven and pour boiling water into cast iron pan and shut door asap
- when bread starts to show color, open a crack in the oven door slightly to allow the oven to dry up. this ensures that the crust is thin and crisp
Do i need to vent the oven???
- books say that it keeps the bread's crust crisp and thin...in my experience, the crust is about the same either way...just that the bread into the oven gets more even head throughout with the door open
- i feel that it depends on the amount of steam is in the oven...
- normally i just squirt some water into the sides of the oven so by the time the bread browns, its already very dry so no need.
- if i follow the above method for steaming, i think i would need to open the door a crack for atleast a few minutes to dry out the oven from all the steam
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