4. Keep a Bowl of Water in the Oven
In a hurry to cook your bread? Shave a few minutes off of the baking process by adding a bowl of water to the oven. Place a bowl of water on the bottom rack of the oven below the bread tin. The water provides a super-heating effect to the dough, finishing it a few minutes earlier.
However, if you have the patience and can wait till the full baking term finishes, the effect rewards you with a crispier crust that’s golden brown. A standard size loaf cooks in the oven at 425F for 30-minutes. With the addition of water, you can pull it at 32-minutes, or you can wait until 35-minutes for a crispier crust.
So, what do you do? We thought so. You’re going to wait for the extra few minutes, aren’t you? If you want to be efficient with your time, you can use the 35-minutes of baking to do other chores around the house. Maybe you can do the laundry or load the dishwasher. It’s up to you.