The blog of cooking-ez.com
Steam for baking bread
What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in mind.
This is because, when baking bread in an oven, it is vital that right at the start, the loaf goes into an atmosphere that is hot, of course, (around 480°F or 250°C), but also very humid: saturated with steam, in fact. Some of the water suspended in the air inside the oven will settle out evenly on the bread and will react with the dough to form sugars (in the chemical sense). These will help brown the crust in the famous Maillard reactions, producing this bread a more appetising colour, but that is not all. It also helps to form a thin, crisp crust.
This is because, when baking bread in an oven, it is vital that right at the start, the loaf goes into an atmosphere that is hot, of course, (around 480°F or 250°C), but also very humid: saturated with steam, in fact. Some of the water suspended in the air inside the oven will settle out evenly on the bread and will react with the dough to form sugars (in the chemical sense). These will help brown the crust in the famous Maillard reactions, producing this bread a more appetising colour, but that is not all. It also helps to form a thin, crisp crust.
136K 38 4.5
Last modified on: June 16th 2021
Steam for baking bread
So steam is indispensable: there are no beautifully browned, crusty loaves without it. You should note that once the crust is formed in the oven, after about 15 or 20 minutes, the steam is no longer necessary, so there is no need to keep adding it for the rest of the cooking time.
For amateur bakers like us, things are rather different, but here are a few ways to achieve a similar effect:
When you put the bread in the oven, before closing the door, pour a large glassful of water into the burning-hot tray (do be careful not to scald yourself),
If all the water has evaporated in under 15 minutes, add a second glassful.
To sum up: Without steam, no beautiful, good bread. You need to have steam in the oven during the first 15 minutes of baking.
Creating steam in the oven
Professional bakers have the advantage of a special "Steam" control on their electric ovens. This injects water into the oven, which lands on very hot metal elements and vaporises to create the steam. They simply press a button and “pshhhh!” , that's it.For amateur bakers like us, things are rather different, but here are a few ways to achieve a similar effect:
Conventional kitchen oven
For this set up, preheat the oven with an empty oven tray sitting directly on the bottom (oven floor or sole) and leave it in the oven to heat up.
When you put the bread in the oven, before closing the door, pour a large glassful of water into the burning-hot tray (do be careful not to scald yourself),
If all the water has evaporated in under 15 minutes, add a second glassful.
Bread oven
If you are fortunate enough to have a proper bread oven, you will need to use a special technique, shown on this page which explains the Steam Machine.To sum up: Without steam, no beautiful, good bread. You need to have steam in the oven during the first 15 minutes of baking.
Lasts posts
Wipe meats and fish before cooking
When you want to cook meat or fish, there's a very simple yet very important step to take before you even start: It's to dry, or wipe, each side of the meat or fish, sometimes called "dabbing" or "sponging". But why? And how? Let me explain.1,3395 April 14th 2024
Toss the salad
When you've finished preparing a salad, green or otherwise, it's usually time to add the dressing and toss. It's often said to "toss the salad", which means to season and mix. Is it easy? Not so easy...2,7325 March 8th 2024
Half milk, half cream
In a multitude of recipes, savoury or sweet, milk is used as the main ingredient, or at least as the main liquid ingredient. Milk is used instead of water, for example, because milk contains a proportion of fat, which adds roundness and softness to the recipe. This mellowness is very pleasant on...2,591 February 27th 2024
Cutting soft cheeses
As you may have already noticed, when you have to use a "soft" cheese in a recipe - their exact name is "soft cheese" - such as Camembert, Munster or Mont d'or, it's not easy to make anything other than thick slices.2,7275 February 20th 2024
It's spinning too fast!
When you need to grate or slice vegetables, you generally use an electric machine that does all the work: a food processor, a mixer with a "slicer" extension or similar. Are these machines really suitable? Generally speaking, yes of course, but there's one criterion that often poses a problem,...5,6715 November 12th 2023
Other pages you may also like
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.266K 23.7 June 23th 2021
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .119K 14.1 February 7th 2017
Fruits which can ruin your jelly
There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...68K4.0 March 6th 2013
For well opened (puffed) cakes
It's always nice to have a well puffed up cake after baking, not only will it taste good but it looks great too. Let's see how to get this beautiful shape almost every time.27K4.2 January 23th 2019
Chive flowers
Did you know that? Chive flowers are not only a beautiful purple color, but they are also edible and delicious.42K4.4 May 29th 2019
Follow this page (as 11 people already do)
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.