Food Topic: What's for eatin' ?

we will be eating fresh crust.... OOhhhhm nom nom nom nom!! 

Once it's cooled that is.

And we're ALWAYS reminded of despicable me when we yell OOH FRESH CRUST!! 

we just stuff our face with it, not the crust. 

As you know, we bake our own (gluten free) bread. 

But, we would like to have the top crust be less dark.   
We think it's not an option to reduce baking time, because it has to properly cook. We bake our bread for 80 minutes on 185 Celsius. 
Do any of you know how you can get the top crust be lighter in color?  We were thinking about covering it,    but, if so, with what? We bake in cast iron forms... should the moisture not be able to get out...? and if we put foil on there won't that prevent it?
maybe after a while when the dough stops being sticky....?....   

We are already baking with only the bottom heat, and no fan, otherwise it will be brown even quicker. We are working with a white flour, for white bread. It SHOULD be possible to bake a very light colored bread, and still have it be properly cooked, but HOW?!

Tookie wrote:As you know, we bake our own (gluten free) bread. 

But, we would like to have the top crust be less dark.   
We think it's not an option to reduce baking time, because it has to properly cook. We bake our bread for 80 minutes on 185 Celsius. 
Do any of you know how you can get the top crust be lighter in color?  We were thinking about covering it,    but, if so, with what? We bake in cast iron forms... should the moisture not be able to get out...? and if we put foil on there won't that prevent it?
maybe after a while when the dough stops being sticky....?....   

We are already baking with only the bottom heat, and no fan, otherwise it will be brown even quicker. We are working with a white flour, for white bread. It SHOULD be possible to bake a very light colored bread, and still have it be properly cooked, but HOW?!

Probably a little late to be any help (story of my life) - things that make a crust darken are proteins and sugars reacting together (along with heat and time, of course). The reaction starts going gang-busters when food surfaces reach about 300F / 150C.  Assuming you don't want to change the recipe and the side crusts are as you like them, lowering oven temp might help but I think you are on the right track covering it.   Making a foil tent shape, leaving the ends open might do the trick.  It hopefully will create a steamy but slightly cooler zone just over the top of the bread while letting the loaf cook normally.  The idea is to try to delay the top of the dough from hitting 140-150C for as long as possible. I'd leave plenty of room for the moisture to escape - maybe with the top of the tent 10-13 cm above the pan.  I'd love to hear how you end up fixing it.  Good luck.

Thank you for your advice! It's not too late at all! So far, no one knew how to do it, so this is very helpful. 

However.... so far, i have not figured out HOW to make that foil tent, as there is almost NO room above the pans in the oven. Like... 2 centimeters. (one inch?) IF that. 

Gonna check out if the pans can be put lower in the oven to have more room.

Just made homemade butter. Fun, fast and easy. I was the only one excited. The rest of the family couldn't care less. I'm off to make some hot toast or muffins and enjoy it myself

Sounds yummy, pnp!   Care to share the recipe?  As long as you enjoyed it, too bad for those who couldn't see the fun in it  .  I personally take great satisfaction in the things I produce myself, even if I don't always enjoy the process of production, lol.

It was so easy spots and it didn't take long at all.

I used heavy whipping cream. I didn't measure as I was just trying to see if I could do it.

Beat it for several minutes. You have to get past the whipped cream stage. It will begin to change color and get thicker, chunkier. Keep going! Not quite there yet. You beat it until the buttermilk separates from the fats. Pour off the liquid (you can keep it for other baking if you wish). Then you rinse the butter in cold water and continue to squeeze it until the water is clear (getting all the buttermilk out will keep your butter fresher longer). Ta Da! You've just made butter! It is unsalted and you can use it that way for baking or add a pinch of salt at a time until you like the flavor. You can also flavor your butter with spices (garlic), herbs, or honey.

pnp - That sounds divine!!!!!  I love unsalted butter! OOOoooh and on warm toast or a muffin...yummy!!!!  :drooling:I'm a bread lover (much of my weight comes from bread).

Tookie - When I bake pies, I always cover the edges of the crust with tin foil so they don't burn. Since you don't have room to make a tin foil tent(although I would try using a toothpick in the middle), maybe you could do strips of foil, or cover it with foil and do pin pricks or tears in the foil to allow steam to escape?

That is a VERY good idea that might solve my space problem... thank you!

puppiesnponies wrote:Just made homemade butter. Fun, fast and easy. I was the only one excited. The rest of the family couldn't care less. I'm off to make some hot toast or muffins and enjoy it myself

I remember somebody once saying that half of cooking was turning cream into butter and the other half was turning butter into cream.  Whenever I read a recipe saying to "cream" the butter or to whip the cream, I laugh a little.

I have accidentally over whipped cream before but never taken it all the way to butter. I might just have to try that now.  Thanks PnP.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!