Steaming

A dry and hard crust tends to form fairly quickly on many yeast breads due to the nature of their formula. Once a crust is formed, bread dough can no longer expand in volume. Carbon dioxide, air, steam within the dough may still be expanding, but without significant leavening effect.

You can prevent this premature forming of crust by injecting moisture into the hot oven during the early stage of baking. This keeps surface of bread dough moist, allows it to rise longer, and ultimately produces a lighter loaf of bread.

Steam also facilitates starch gelatinization and caramelization of sugar on surface of breads. This results in a thin, crisp crust and wonderful brown color.

Steam should be injected into the hot oven at the same time as placing dough. A second shot of steam, a couple of minutes later, is beneficial.

Alternatively, place a pan in the lowest rack when preheating oven. Then pour