If it is true we eat with our eyes, there are few things more appetizing than the glossy, deeply browned, blistered crust on a loaf of sourdough bread.

But making bread with a crust like this can be hard to do at home, without the benefit of the professional steam-injected ovens that bakeries use for their loaves. If you bake sourdough regularly, you probably already know about the importance of steam and the various ways you can do it in your home oven. But if your crusts still lack those crunchy blisters, our own Martin Philip has guidance on how you can get a more blistered crust on your bread.

His three essential tips: 

  1. Use as little flour as possible on the outside of your loaves
  2. Bake in a covered baker
  3. Add ice or water to the covered baker while the bread bakes

But that’s not all you can do to ensure your loaf has a blistered crust. Martin shares more tips and tricks to achieve great crust in the video below:


Cover photo by Martin Philip.

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Pain de Campagne (Country Bread)
Pain de Campagne (Country Bread)
4.5 out of 5 stars 233 Reviews
Total
21 hrs 5 mins
Yield
2 large loaves
Recipe in this post
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Filed Under: Tips and Techniques
Rossi crimping pie crust
The Author

About Rossi Anastopoulo

Rossi Anastopoulo grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, which is how she fell in love with biscuits. She didn’t have any bakers in her household (with the exception of her grandmother’s perfect koulourakia), so she learned at a young age that the best way to satisfy her sweet tooth was to make dess...
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