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?

2 comments

2 Comments

river9523h 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.

nancyjones1h 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.