Step Eight: Baking and Cooling

You’re in the home stretch now, but don’t think for one second that it gets easier from here. As with any of the other steps in the bread-baking process, if you don’t accurately carry out the baking procedures listed below, you’re not going to obtain the results you’d like. The good news is that it’s not that hard to master the baking; all you have to do is follow the rules. If you do that and you’ve been diligent in performing all of the other steps up to this point, I guarantee that you’re going to have a wonderful loaf of bread come out of the oven. But before you get there, you need to take care of a few other matters first.