Instructions: In the "Jesuit Bread Book" I discovered that adding a pan of water to the oven to affect the crust on bread doesnt work. What the author has done for years, and now so have I, is to spray well the pre-baked bread with vinegar (and sprinkle on the sesame seeds or poppy seeds or coarse salt etcetera) and bake it for five minutes, spray well again, bake for five minutes, spray a final time and bake for the remainder of the time suggested. The vinegar is supposed to evaporate and leave no taste but I find this isnt so. A taste remains which I feel, and lots of people who have tasted my bread also feel, adds beautifully to the flavour of the French or Italian or herb or rosemary-buttermilk or bread sticks; any kind of plain or savory bread seems to be enhanced by this. I wouldnt try it with a sweet bread. And it makes the sesame seeds stick, too! [dr.baker1@pei.sympatico.ca]

I use a simple method of beating one egg in a cup with a fork, then brushing it on the loaf just before I put it in the oven. I preheat a stone at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes, then lower the temp to 400 when I put the loaf in. I find about 45-50 minutes is good to get a nice brown loaf without burning the seeds, but your oven temp may vary from mine. I use this method for Italian bread. You could also just use the egg white. The egg thats left over I nuke on high for one minute in a microwave and with a little salt and pepper its a little snack for the baker. [Frank Cavalier (fcaval@idt.net)]

You can use egg without it burning. I would use one egg white mixed with 1 T. of water (beat it a little), after your bread is formed and just before you place it in the oven, gently apply the wash and the seeds. It will be shiny and very pretty to look at! ["Jo in Minnesota" (josiem@tekstar.com)]

In response to the question of how to get sesame seeds to stick to your bread, heres what I do. (I make sourdough bread (in the machine), take it out to let it rise, then bake in the oven.) I have a little spray bottle which I fill with water, and "spritz" the bread (after shaping and scoring the top) with water, shake on my sesame seeds, then let it rise as usual and bake. The extra water on the loaves never seems to make a difference, and the seeds stay stuck! I also sometimes spritz the bread just before putting it in the oven for a nice crust. Good luck. [dsj (dsj@teleport.com)]

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