Crunchy bread crust?

Question

I can get a good thick crust on my Italian-style breads (e.g. Pugliese) but they invariably lose their crunch after cooling off. I've tried the canonical tips (spray bread, spray oven walls, boiling water underneath, ice cubes underneath, etc.) but nothing seems to help preserving the crust. The Pugliese I buy from the local bakeries keeps it's crunch for a couple of days.

Any ideas? What do commercial bakers do to keep the crunch?

Has anyone tried letting the bread cool off in the oven with the door cracked? My thought is that the steam causes the softening so the warm air might help keep the crust at a lower relative humidity.

Thanks, Andrew

Roy · Accepted Answer

In baking crusty type breads in institutional type ovens; usually1/3-to 1/2  of the total baking time is with  lots of steam  injection,coupled with high heat)in the oven atmosphere but once the cruststarts to form the steam is vented out( by oven dampler) resulting in adrier oven conditions. In addition the oven temperature is reduced Thattime constitutes the rest of the total baking time.IF you can adopt that condition in your home oven that may solve yourproblem.Roy

Thomas H. O'Reilly · Answer

I think Roy's onto something.  I haven't tried Pugliese, but when I make Ciabatta, the steam is supposed to stop after the first ten minutes, which for me means removing the cast iron skillet of boiling water sitting on the floor of the oven.  While I do have problems with crusts - see my recent post on baguettes - this problem hasn't been one of them.  My ciabatta crust remains crunchy for days, even after being stored.  T

Crunchy bread crust?

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?