STEAM STROKE (video below).
This is certainly the part that is most problematic for those who make bread at home.
Whether it’s professionals (at home) or individuals, you’ll see almost everyone trying out a multitude of techniques to bring moisture to the oven to bake their bread.
Some people know why and others don't. But everyone knows it has to be done.
In reality, this humidity is necessary:
- Because it will allow the crust of the bread to cook less quickly at the start of baking (so the crust should be thinner and crispier. Then towards the end of baking we can decide to let the bread bake again to have a thicker crust and more grilled if desired).
- The crust which cooks less quickly is supposed to let the bread develop more easily, it will be more swollen.
- The notches (nibs) should work better and thus prevent the bread from exploding in other places (even if with me it is not uncommon for it to explode!).
- Finally, this humidity will give a nice color to your bread.
Suffice to say that we have a lot of elements there that require thinking to do it the best way!
But how should this moisture be put in the oven?
I obviously started making my breads by trying the tips I found on the internet.
The big question! By placing it cold in the oven? Hot?
In a bowl ? A metal container? In the drip pan? Lots of water ? Few ? With a spray bottle in the oven, on the bread?
After tests, nothing seemed valid to me. All these tips from home professionals as well as individuals seemed to me not to be the best solutions.
In fact, there were questions missing from this problem!
When to put this humidity? How long should this moisture stay in the oven?
And above all the most fundamental of questions:
"What is steam when you make bread?"
It was from there that I told myself that I had to make an immediate burst of vapor. Don't just put water in the oven and wait for it to turn into steam.
And it's just that I told myself that if I threw water in the bottom of the oven while it was hot, I would get steam directly!
I started by throwing 2 glasses of water. The problem was that it splashed from time to time on my breads because of the thermal shock. In addition, this maneuver is dangerous because it produces a return of vapor which comes straight at you. And believe me, it can be very hot!
And the time to put all this amount of water, the steam was already out of the oven before I finished throwing my water!
I then had the idea of using the syringe which I use to mix my water with the flour.
I started by injecting 3 water syringes. And finally, it was much better, I was no longer splashing my bread!
But again, the time to put the 3rd syringe and the steam of the 1st and 2nd syringe was already out of the oven!
And logically, I ended up putting a single syringe of water in the bottom of my oven.
I was the first one surprised by the result!
Voila, it only takes one syringe of water immediately after putting the bread in the oven. By injecting the water with the oven door already closed halfway, the door can be closed very quickly and the steam will immediately cover the entire surface of the bread evenly.
You don't have to do anything else to get great results!
Be careful, this way of doing things can distort the bottom of your oven. This is the case for my oven. By dint of sending cold water to make my steam blows, thermal shocks have deformed the bottom of my oven which is no longer flat!
But I assume that my oven is made for cooking. It is not a decorative object which must always be impeccable aesthetically. The oven should serve me and not the opposite! Some more modern ovens than mine have a steam function but I don't know if these ovens can make a short and effective steam boost?
BREADS TJ METHOD
