Artisan Bread Bullocks-Need Hard Crust Advice.

[BettinaAuSucre]

I make my dough ahead, as per the recipe in "artisan bread in 5 mins a day" book. Everytime I have made it, the crust has been incredibly hard but the inside is perfectly soft.

I do knead a bit before i put it in my oven on the preheated pizza stone for 25 mins., attempting to create the gluten coat i was told was essential to good bread baking. Often it breaks during cooking, and leaves me with an armour like exterior.

Is there something I am missing?

I have tried to make the bread the old-fashioned way, and while it turned out fine the one time I did it, i dont have the time to spend 5 hours rising and kneading.

Am I kneading too much? Is the stone too hot? Am I baking too long?

TIA

[Nyleve]

You might want to try it without the steam in the oven (don't do the water in the pan thing) which is what creates the really crisp crust. Also, it could help to brush the outside of the loaf with milk or beaten egg - both of these tend to keep the crust softer. I don't think it has anything to do with kneading.

[BettinaAuSucre]

Thanks for that suggestion. I will try both. I had been doing the water and feared it wouldnt rise in the oven without the steam.

[Nyleve]

Good luck. I've found that with that method, it takes a few batches before you get it to turn out just the way you like it.

[dutchdot]

Have you tried making the almost no knead bread from the NYT? It is so easy and so good. I make it at least once a week. It takes about 20 minutes in active time (I let it rise about 20 hours). I knead it in the mixing bowl and nothing gets messed up, including my "made for bread" granite countertops.

My husband is a bread freak. He could live (and does) on bread and cheese. He loves it.

[Father Kitchen]

Or brutsh with olive oil or melted butter.