Food

[Dan R]

I live in a near desert, a really cold one, but nearly a desert nonetheless. I have a very large stainless steel bowl that fits snugly on my pizza stone. I put that over the loaf while baking. This uses the moisture coming off the loaf as the steam. I have noticed a significant improvement in oven spring, so the texture and structure of the crumb is better, as well as a thinner, crispier crust that easily shatters when cooling. But, as I said, I live in a ridiculously dry climate.

I admit, every single time a loaf of bread comes out of the oven and it starts snapping and crackling at me I am overcome with delight.

I am wondering as well if it is the recipe. The idea is to mix bread, enough water, flour, salt, and yeast to get an almost non sticky dough. No real kneading. You then refrigerate it after one rise. Each day, you cut off what you want, let it rise, then bake it. It can last up to two weeks if you are making rolls as opposed to loafs. Once I got the flour dialed in, it was almost not sticky to work with and the crumb and texture are perfect or close to it. The crust is not soft, but then again, there is no snap or crackle.

Oh well, it tastes well and with a little butter, the dinners are made even better!