Sorry, but 350 degrees is not a rule for everything

I was baking at a shared kitchen in Denver last weekend and this guy kept telling me my sourdough needed to be at 350 for the whole bake. I told him I prefer 475 for the first 20 minutes to get a good crust and then drop it. He looked at me like I was crazy. But I have been doing it this way for 3 years and my loaves come out with way better oven spring. Has anyone else tried a hotter initial temp for bread?

3 comments

3 Comments

river9524h agoProlific Poster

Oh yeah totally, I do basically the same thing with my loaves. I crank it up to 500 for the first 15 minutes with steam and then drop it down, the crust comes out so much better than a flat 350 the whole time.

nancyjones2h ago

You know what, I used to be a TOTAL 350-for-everything person. But my neighbor brought over a loaf last month that was so crusty and perfect, I finally asked her and she said the same thing - high heat first then drop it. Tried it once with my own bread and I am NEVER going back.

harper91415m ago

ok ok wait so I used to be one of those people who just set everything to 350 and walked away. but last Christmas I was trying to get that bakery style crust on my boule and it came out pale and kinda sad. my buddy whos a pro baker told me to try 475 with a pan of water on the bottom rack for the first 20 minutes then drop it to 375. I was skeptical but I tried it and holy crap the crust was so crackly and the inside was way more open. never going back to flat temp baking for bread. thanks for posting this cause I thought I was doing something wrong for a second lol