Home baking or ‘amateur’ baking – in the true sense of the word – has it’s own idiosyncrasies in a domestic kitchen and some require a little more thought or improvisation.
How to generate steam in a domestic oven is one of those things I get asked often. There are lots of ideas advanced on how to best generate steam in a domestic oven for baking bread. Some seem to be easily achieved with good results, others are terrible and really don’t do the job as they are based on inaccurate understanding of the role and effect of steam on bread dough. However, before I pen a few ideas how to make steam at home it would be good to understand just exactly what steam in the oven does and how it improves bread quality.