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Deep Brown Bread Crust

"Werner Gansz" <wwgansz@madriver.com>
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:21:53 -0400
v110.n024.7
A few months ago (years ago?... time flies when you get old) Mike 
Avery suggested here that free-standing breads should be baked until 
the crust is a deep brown color to bring out a fully caramelized 
flavor.  There was some disagreement and confusion as to whether he 
was suggesting that the crust should be "burned".  I've been baking 
deep brown crusts for several years but rather than taking pictures 
of my breads, which usually have lots of cosmetic flaws (I'm a lousy 
bread loaf shaper and a really lousy slasher) the link below is to a 
picture that I took at a farmer's market display for Red Hen Breads, 
a baker here in central Vermont.

http://wernerg.smugmug.com/Vermont/Mad-River-Valley/DSC0368ff/941285827_oHCeo-X2.jpg

Note the color of most of the crusts, some are actually a bit burned 
by design.  Red Hen's breads are delicious; their crusts are thick, 
chewy and have a nutty sweetness from the caramelized sugars created 
by long fermentation and the deep bake.

If your free-standing loaves don't look like these, I think you are 
missing out on a lot of flavor.  Bake them a little hotter and little 
longer than most recipes suggest.  A bit of "almost black" on the lip 
of the slash isn't a bad thing.

Happy baking
Werner