The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [16]
A humid atmosphere during the proof will keep the top of the loaf from drying out into a hard crust. One simple and effective way to achieve this is to rinse or spray the inside of a plastic bag with water, then put the loaf inside, puff the bag up with air, and seal. Or just place a lightweight damp cloth directly on the surface of the loaf. The ripe dough is dry enough now that the cloth won’t stick; be sure it stays damp, though.
About halfway through the proof you will want to start heating the oven. Before you turn on the gas, adjust the height of the racks so that you can put your loaf as nearly in the middle as possible. Preheat the oven in time to have it up to 350°F by the time the bread is ready to go in. If you have kept the bread in the oven to rise, remove it now to a draft-free place while the oven preheats. Protecting the loaf from chills by putting it on a heating pad under a box—or devising some other way of warming it while the oven preheats—helps keep the texture of the loaf even. If the nearly risen loaf gets chilled, the crust may be thick and tough.
During the proof the dough rises fast, so watch it closely; it can get away from you. To check its progress, moisten your finger and press on the dough gently with your fingertip. Early on, it feels firm and the indentation fills in quickly. Halfway, it feels spongy on the surface but firm underneath. The dough is ready for the oven when it feels altogether spongy and the indentation fills in slowly. Don’t wait until the dent from your finger remains, because by then the dough is in danger of losing its capacity to continue rising in the oven. If the dough is ripe and strong, it will rise in the pan to the top of the sides and make a satisfying arch over the middle by the time it is ready to bake. But the bread will be plenty good if the rise is a little short of that (for one reason or another), and if after 45 minutes or so you suspect it has done all the rising it is going to do, bake it even if it is less than mammoth. It’s better to put bread in the oven a little early than a little late.
If your dough has risen very well, arching over the top of the pan, with plenty of resilience when you press with your finger, you can slash the top to give it extra room to spring in the oven. This bread is very pretty with one straight slash down the middle. (For general tips on slashing. see this page)
11. Baking
When the bread is ready and the oven hot, place the loaf very gently on the rack as close to the center of the oven as you can. Ideally, you will bake your bread for an hour at 350°F. But ovens vary a lot so after about half an hour (not before then, please!) check on the loaf to see how it looks. If it is quite brown at this point, reduce the temperature setting to 325°F and check after 15 minutes or so to see if the bread is done.
If, on the other hand, the bread is pale—pinkish rather than golden—raise the setting by 25°F and give it more time. Either way, for the next baking you will want to make suitable adjustments when you preheat. (Note that convection ovens take less time at a lower setting.)
When you check at the half-hour point, you may find that the bread is baking unevenly, brown on one end and pale on the other. Often ovens have hot spots. If yours does, gently turn the pan so that the loaf bakes evenly. (More about ovens.)
12. Is It Done?
If this is the first time you have baked the Loaf for Learning in your oven, looking at the crust will not give you much help in deciding whether it is done. After a few bakings, when you have adjusted the heat, the color of the crust will tell you a lot. In a very accurate oven with even heat, this loaf, because it has both milk protein and sweetener in it, will be a rich deep golden brown when it is done. Especially look