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
