How to Get a Chewy Crust When Baking Bread
Once you've baked a few batches and a few types of bread, you'll get picky about crusts. While a soft, melting surface is perfect for a sweet roll, what could be better than a baguette with crackling crust or a slice of whole wheat that resists when you bite in? Three simple techniques allow you to control the chewiness of each loaf you make. For increasing degrees of chewiness, use egg, milk or water. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Prepare the Loaves
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Select a likely recipe. The first time, choose a yeast bread recipe that bakes longer and cooler: 45 to 60 minutes at 375 degrees F, instead of 20 minutes at 425 degrees, for example. Later, you can adjust.
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Mix and allow the dough to rise once or twice, according to its directions.
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Shape loaves and allow them to rise a final time.
From Chewy to Chewiest
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For normal chewiness, after the final rising, brush beaten-until-frothy egg all over the top of your loaf or rolls. This also will add a shine.
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If the egg white didn't make your crust chewy enough, brush with milk instead just before you pop the baked goods into the oven. You can use fresh (any fat content), reconstituted dry or canned condensed milk.
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What will make your crust the chewiest is the water treatment in three different variations. In the first one, brush the loaf with water, then bake. In the second variation, brush with water before baking and 10 minutes before the end of baking and brush again. In the third variation, brush again a final time 2 minutes before the bread is finished.
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After baking, reinforce the crust texture by brushing with egg, milk or water as soon as you pull a loaf from the oven.
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To preserve chewiness, always cool yeast breads on a rack or towel that allows circulation on all sides. When a chewy crust is your goal, be sure to cool completely to room temperature and test for a dry feel before wrapping.
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Tips & Warnings
If you want a soft crust, with what you now know about chewy bread crusts, simply avoid brushing on egg, milk, or water when a recipe asks you to do so, and you'll keep the crust pliable. Don't forget homemade pizza. The same techniques that work for loaves of bread also work on pizza crust. If you want home-baked bread but don't want to start from scratch, buy pre-made yeast dough from your grocer's freezer or, in the case of white bread, from a nearby pizza parlor that makes its own crusts.
