Recipe Talk

I like to bake bread. I follow the directions, allow the dough to rise in the bowl and again in the pan. The loaf almost always cracks open on the side. What can I do to prevent this and get a pretty loaf.

Bread
Use room-temperature ingredients for both yeast and quick bread mixtures to speed rising and baking times

To lower fat in quick breads, substitute half the oil with an equal amount of applesauce

Avoid overmixing bread batter. It can cause holes in the bread and make it tough

Yeast dough rises best in a warm, moist, draft-free location. Drafts cause dough to rise slowly and unevenly

Yeast dough should rise to double its original size. Do not allow dough to over rise or the bread may collapse during baking

Prevent dough from sticking to your hands by spraying them lightly with oil

To keep bread from sticking to the pan, grease it with shortening before pouring in the batter. Do not use oil, as the batter will absorb it

To add color and shine to the crust, brush bread dough with 1 beaten egg and 1 tablespoon water before baking

For a crisp crust, brush bread dough with water before baking

For a soft crust, brush baked bread with melted butter immediately after removing it from the oven

It's normal for quick breads to have a lengthwise crack in the top crust

When baking bread, keep in mind that wheat bread browns faster than white bread

Prevent bread from browning too quickly by covering it loosely with aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes of baking

Use the fine side of a grater to rub burned spots off the crust of a loaf of bread

Cool bread completely before storing it in plastic to prevent condensation and mold from developing

Refrigerated bread turns stale quickly. Bread should be stored at room temperature or frozen

Place a piece of waxed paper between bread slices before freezing for easy separation

If the crust hardens before the yeast in the center of the loaf die, the gases produced by the yeast will be trapped. This splits the crust (i.e. "popcorn" loaves) or results in what I call the "pita effect" (like pocket bread with a large bubble in the center).

Cracks of this type are caused either by the crust drying out too quickly or ... basically a reaction between the sugars in the bread dough

If the bread is dry, it will crack. If the bread is too soft, the seal impression will not remain in the dough. Say the Prayer of the Bread

WOW, great post Patty. A lot of useful information.

Thanks for the great question. One thing I also learned from making bread is that you can actually over-proof the dough! I always thought the longer I proofed, the lighter it would be...NOT SO! hahahah