Yeast Bread Crusts

Bread crust is formed from surface dough during the cooking process. It is hardened and browned through the Maillard reaction using the sugars and amino acids and the intense heat at the bread surface. The nature of a bread's crust differs depending on the type of bread and the way it is baked.

Shiny Crust - An egg yolk glaze will create a shiny, golden crust. Egg white glazes make a shiny, crisp crust. With Challah, you brush the dough with an egg white wash right after shaping and again just before baking. This gives the breads a shiny appearance and crisp crust. Egg glazes are also used to attach other ingredients like nuts or seeds.

Brown Crust - brush with beaten egg white, egg yolk, milk, or cream

Soft Crust - If you brush milk on the dough before baking, the crust will be softer and tender. Brushing the baked loaf with butter will also make the crust softer. Doughs that have eggs and dairy will, naturally, have a softer crust.

Shiny, soft crust: brush the bread with olive oil before and after baking

Soft, Sweet Crust - brush with milk with a little sugar dissolved in it before baking.

Thin, Crisp Crust - best accomplished by baking on a stone and providing steam during the first 15 minutes of baking. Professional oven have built in steamers. You can provide steam by brushing or spritzing the bread with water during the first 15 minutes of baking, place a pan of water in the oven for the first 15 minutes, or throw 1/2 cup of water on the oven floor or in a heated pan and immediately close the door (cold water in hot pan + hot oven = steam). Remove the pan of water after 15 minutes of baking or the bread doesn't brown well. Crusty bread also is improved by having a high initial baking temp that drops after the first 15 minutes and then again 10 minutes later. And, converse to the soft crust, doughs that lack eggs and have no or a minimum of dairy develop better crust.

For optimum crackliness, spray the dough AND use one of the other methods. The water gelatinizes the starches on the outside of the dough, and this helps result in a crackly crust.

Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice deconstructs this perfectly. Use a baking stone. Preheat the oven to 50-100 dgrees higher than the recipe calls for and put a heavy frying pan or sheet pan on the top shelf or oven floor. Get some hot water. When you put the bread in the oven, also pour the hot water into the pan (watching for steam burns). Then spray the walls of the oven three times at 30 second intervals with a plant mister.

Use a high gluten flour, such as bread flour. Bread flour, because of its high protein content, results in a chewy bread without being solid or dense. It also results in a thin crispy crust.

The type of liquid you use will change the bread characteristics. Water will make a loaf that has more wheat flavor and a crisper crust.

Thin Dark Crust - Bake at a high temperature, 425° F.

Thicker Lighter Crust - Bake at 400° F. for 10 minutes, then at 375° F. until done. Use this method for doughs with eggs and extra sugar. These doughs brown more quickly. All-purpose flour gives you a thicker crust. The lower the protein content, such as all-purpose, the lower the moisture absorption rate of the flour and a thicker crust results. The stronger the flour, such as bread flour, the higher the absorption rate the thinner the crust.