Searching Thin crispy crust

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Jim Burgin on 3 Apr 2017 at 08:15

 I have been learning artisan banking over a year now.  Good results with tasty crumb.  Often use poolish.  Almost always bake in my cloche.   CANNOT, despite recipe claims, produce a thin crispy crust.  Thick chewy crust is about to discourage me.  Have plenty of good books:  Forkish (Flour Water, Salt, Yeast), Reinhart (Several), Ortiz (The Village Baker), Field (The Italian Baker).   My ideal:  tasty crumb with large open holes, thin crispy crust, and not having to spray my oven.  Any good ideas much appreciated.  Best wishes, Jim Burgin.

this, but I wonder whether there is a "crusty roll" recipe that you could adapt to being a loaf that would meet your needs?

Personally, I deliberately go for the softer, chewier crust since I find that the thin, crispy style tends to shred the top of my mouth, and so make a point of avoiding "crusty" recipes, but I suspect that there are some on here that would suit your needs.

This post caught my eye because of the timing chart in the comments, but you might find it useful:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9849/french-rolls

If all else fails, you could always try doing some 100% rye loaves and see if that is a flavour / texture that you enjoy (nothing like what you've been looking for, but, hey - maybe you might like it).

Good luck in your search for a recipe that works for you!

I've recently been on a ciabatta tour. Rose Levy Barenbaum's recipe from The Bread Bible produced the thinnest crispy crust I have achieved in bread. I can't exactly be sure as to the science but she develops the bejesus out of the dough in a KA and uses AP flour, not BF. She also uses a biga but certainly you could use a poolish. The most popular recipe on this website is James Crocadillo ciabatta (or something like that). I believe there were comments of folks who made it about how gloriously thin and crispy the crust was. 

I can't remember exactly but I believe I read that a defining features of baking in a closed vessel is a thick crust. So that could be part of your problem. Normally thats desired in rustic breads so that's why ppl do it. 

Thanks much Bread Babies,

Yes, oversteaming may be the problem I am having with not getting crispy crust - getting tough thick instead.  Confirming this, I just found in Peter Reinhart's Crust and Crumb (p. 27), A cloche, "traps the steam and gives the crust a beautiful sheen and a thick, chewy texture."    Ahha!  I have been following Ken Forkish, Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt - baking my artisan breads in cloche 30 minutes covered followed by 15-25 minutes with lid off.  Think I will reduce covered time to 15 or 20 minutes next time.  Don't I understand that EARLY steam is good for crust - facilitating its expansion with oven spring?  Please RSVP.  Thanks.  Jim

 

A bit of dairy makes for a softer crust- I forget where I read this but it's something about the milk protein. That doesn't necessarily mean crispier but try it and see if it is what you're going for. I have been getting a thick/ chewy crust and burned bottom frequently I suspect is due to my crappy oven/ temp regulation issues. Making a tangzhong w/ 5% of the flour in recipe and 5x that of milk instead of some of the water the recipe called for helped quite a bit-- the tangzhong changed the texture too of course but I've tried it with both milk and water on the same formula; the crust was noticeably different when I used milk. (This is for a SD rustic boule, not the yeasted sandwich loaf in many TZ recipes.)