I made two loaves of bread today. One was from a mix - all I needed to add was water and yeast. The second was loosely based on this recipe. Both breads ended up looking (and tasting) beautiful. I felt like I had a breakthrough.

You see, I always thought bread needed to go in a bread pan. Without thinking I’d spray the pan with cooking spray or grease it and then plop the dough in. The end result didn’t have much of a crust- and I LOVE crusty bread.

I did something a little different today. Instead of putting the dough in a pan, I formed it into a rounded loaf and placed it on a baking sheet. I applied an egg wash (just with egg whites because I had some in the fridge in a carton) with a pastry brush. On one bread I then sprinkled corn meal. I left the multigrain bread plain. Both have a great crust and a nice professional look.

So the next time you bake bread, think twice before you put it in a loaf pan. Try doing an egg wash and forming it into a rounded loaf shape. You can put cornmeal, too. That would work best for white loaves. You’ll be amazed at how professional it looks.