Bread-Bakers v108.n026.9

Hi there!

The bottom line is, bake your bread to whatever doneness *you* want to eat.

However...the *theoretical* reason to bake till brown is that with 
bread, as with most cooked food, the culinary school rule-of-thumb 
applies: "browning = flavor." Heat above approximately 350F causes 
both proteins and sugars to undergo various chemical reactions that 
create lots of new and flavorful molecules...and the brown color 
indicates that these changes have taken place. (In fact, that's yet 
another reason I love making bread so much--with just flour, water, 
salt and yeast, it is still a microcosm of the most important aspects 
of all cooking!) This is also the reason that "deglazing" the pan 
after searing meat creates such a flavorful gravy.

So, this means that a) the crust is typically the most flavorful part 
of bread, and b) if you don't bake your bread till it's brown, it 
won't have as much flavor as it might.

Allen
SHB
San Francisco