May 1, 2008 - 12:14pm
multigrain bread might look awfully dark
I made the following for Bread Baking Day (BBD) #09: Bread With Oats
In the past couple of weeks we were having problems with fuses blowing on our oven; it's fixed now and ever since the oven has been working beautifully. BUT. I think the oven is now hotter than it was. I know that I used to be able to be quite casual about checking the bread after the bell rang 30 minutes after putting it in the oven. I used to take it out at 35 minutes and it would still not be quite ready. Or perhaps it's the honey content in the dough that makes the crust get so dark. Perhaps I should bake this bread at 375F instead of 400F. As a result, this bread does look awfully dark. But inside, it is as wonderful as ever.
Share
Comments
The honey would have made the crust darker, but I love the flavor of a well-caramelized crust. It looks plenty crunchy, too. Crunchy is good. David
I too think the honey made the crust dark but it looks fine. I wish I had a few slices of that bread for our breakfast tomorrow. Great job. weavershouse
Thank you both for your kind words.
There was indeed good crunch on the crust, David. It has turned to beautifully chewy now though - although if I reheat it, the crust gets crunchy again.
It's the best bread for breakfast toast, weavershouse. Do give it a shot. (I'd love to hear how yours turns out.)
I still think that the bread turned out to be a little dark. The camera was somewhat forgiving (not to mention that I didn't photograph the bottom and other side of the loaves). I'm definitely going to turn down the oven to 375F next time I make this.
-Elizabeth
Brown is good and I like the looks of those loaves, inside and out. I use honey frequently in my baking and Like David and Weavershouse said, the honey will carmelize and darken the crust. We get really good quality orange blossom honey here in Florida, which I use and I also bought 3 quarts of sourwood honey on a recent visit to Tennessee. I love the different flavors from various types of honey. Anyway, glad you got your oven fixed---and despite the temp. problem your loaves look very good.
Howard - St. Augustine, FL
Thank you, Howard. The bread really is pretty good (and I still think it was just a bit too dark - I didn't photograph the bottom of the loaves - they were almost black - not charred but darn close.)
Mmmm, orange blossom honey sounds lovely. The honey I used was from a friend who has bees about 3 hours north of us. It's quite mild tasting but delicious. (I'm guessing it's clover honey.)
-Elizabeth
It's time for me to bake more bread. Multi-grain always seems to be good (witness Mark's recipe and the Cooks Illustrated one). Now I'll try this one. It sure LOOKS good.
Rosalie