Bread is famously made from four simple ingredients: salt, yeast, flour, and water. And yet, when it comes to baking a perfect loaf of crisp, chewy, super satisfying home-baked bread, water is critical in another form: steam. This vapor isn't only for visual appeal when you rip off a hunk from a freshly made loaf; it's essential in developing the texture and rise that signify quality bread.
And while it may seem simple to whip together a dough at home, what many bread lovers may not know is that commercial ovens are designed to produce that all-important steam in ways that the ones in our kitchens cannot (and are actually designed to deliver the opposite: dry heat). There is a popular method — placing a pan of ice in the oven — that provides a blast of steam, but only initially. Once that liquid evaporates, your dough will be left exposed to harsh dry heat.
Fortunately, there's a complementary hack that will help your standard-issue home oven mimic that of a professional bread baker, and you likely already have the tools on hand. By simply placing some wet towels in the oven along with your bread, you're providing an additional source of steam that will release more gradually throughout the bake— leaving you on your way to perfectly shiny, well-risen loaves that will satisfy your carb cravings. Putting this steamy method to work Creating this steam release system is a matter of simple makeshift engineering.
While your oven is preheating, roll up two or three kitchen tow.