Did a bake this morning and happy about the dark brown crust! However, sometimes I have this problem where the bottom of the loaf doesn't brown as dark/even as the rest of the loaf. What could be happening here?
I bake in a Lodge combo cooker dutch oven and drop the bread into the shallow end. I also keep the bread on parchment paper so it's easier to transfer over.
This bread was baked at 450 degrees (20 min covered) and 450 degrees (27 minutes uncovered) after preheating the oven to 500 degrees.
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I watched a baker explain that the dark colored dutch ovens can cause this. She suggested removing the loaf from the dutch oven after the initial bake, and placing it directly on the rack for that second bake.
I’ve had the reverse problem, bottom cooking more quickly than the top. I ended up pulling the loaf out of the combo cooker once the crust had hardened, maybe 5mins after uncovering it. This helped me get a more even bake, I wonder if it would work for you too.
Regardless, your loaves look great!
If it's uneven from one side to the other it could be uneven heat in your oven. I give my pot a 180 degree spin when I take the lid off, then for the last 8 minutes I take it out of the Dutch oven and put it directly on the rack, rotating 90 degrees every 2 minutes. (I get underbrowned/uneven bottom edges worse than your pic otherwise, but I'm using a deep Dutch oven.)
A nice long preheat of your Dutch oven - at least, a nice long preheat of the half that browns the bottom crust ? - might improve the results. If you're placing your dough onto a cold piece of thick iron, then the oven has to spend time heating that iron first, before the bottom crust can even get warm. This preheating means you end up having to take special care when setting your dough down, to not also brown your knuckles. ?
Thanks everyone for the advice! I've been scared to take the loaf out of the cast iron because of the possibility of burning the bottom of the loaf, but I'll try it next bake.
I did try rotating the loaf in the cast iron when uncovering the loaf, but it still came out uneven.
Sorry I can't offer a solution but I've had the same problem. I have been pre-heating the enamelled lodge dutch oven for about an hour at 250°F before putting my bread in with baking paper and then baking for 20 mins with the lid and then 20 mins without.