Frank,
I think you should try baking your breads longer. At least in my oven,
breads tend to look darker in the oven than when I take them out. I throw
them back in until they look dark enough after I take them out. My advice:
be brave, throw them back in for another 10 - 15 min. assuming you're
baking at 400 (F.) to 425 (F.), basically until the crust looks the way you
want it to. I think you won't find the crumb dried out. Many breads are
typically underbaked. There's a well-known artisan baker in NYC, Balthazar
Bakery, whose output looks to me, literally burnt, personally not to my
liking (burnt toast -- the universal emetic)!
An alternative is to brush your breads with egg yolk, thinned with a little
water, before baking which will give a shiny brown sheen, not necessarily
what you want on some of the rustic breads that Carol Field has in "The
Italian Baker." (Great book!)
Mark Judman <Mark_Judman@colpal.com>
FMTZ@aol.com wrote
>I cannot get my crusts to get as beautifully dark brown as those pictured in
>books or, for that matter, available from artisan bakeries