Always seem tio get a very hard tough bottom crust

Have tried a number of recipes and have been baking them all in a deep cast iron skillet with a lid.
Doesn’t seem to matter how hot we start or finish lid on or off, the bottom crust is always near burnEd and HARD.

When I first started baking artisan style I was using a cast iron dutch oven and had the same problem you’re having. One day by chance I left my baking stone in the oven when I baked the bread and voila, no burned bottom. If you don’t have a stone try putting a sheet pan or something similar under your cast iron and see if this helps.

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I’ll give that a go, bake day is tomorrow.

Just to clarify…I don’t mean directly under but on a lower rack beneath your cast iron.

You could also try taking the bread out of the dutch oven and placing it directly on the wire rack in your oven when you take the lid off the dutch oven.

I was having this problem frequently whether using my oblong clay baker or Dutch oven. Recently I tried putting them directly on a cookie sheet (same rack) and I ended up having a beautiful bottom crust, not overdone at all but nicely browned. It’s worth a try. Not sure it matters, but I have a gas oven (convection) and it’s difficult to get precise temperatures.

This is what I do too (directly under the pan same shelf, and after 20 minutes when I’m dropping the oven temp) - only needed for cast iron though in my oven.

Gee thanks! I’ll try that. My bottom crust is so hard even my husband has trouble cutting it.