Bread frustrations

[Dom]

Hey guys , new here and new to baking . I m trying to bake bread rolls which have a soft crust .... So far I've tried temperature ranges from 170 to 200 celcius ... Without fail my crust is hard ... I wrap them in damp towels after baking but I always end up with at least part of the crust rock hard ... Any tips appreciated as I m getting disheartened ... Would a lower shelf help ? I've a fan oven and it just seems to scorch the crust before the rolls before they finish cooking .... Best results so far are at 190 celcius on Middle shelf but even the. There are rock hard areas ... Thanks folks

 

[connie]

What recipe are you using? Soft bread rolls have a different recipe to normal bread. Are you using white or wholemeal flour? Strong bread flour or normal?
Without more information we can't really help you other than to work blind and it is so much easier with information.

 

[DancingLady]

Have you tried a tinfoil tent over them? That can really help prevent over browning and harness. Another idea is to put them on the second shelf, and a pan of water on the lower shelf. Perhaps your oven is getting to dry and drying them out. If that's the case, the pan of water should help a lot.

 

[Dom]

Thanks guys ,
It's literally white flour dry yeast and water as it is holy bread for te eucharist ( coptic ) . I have today managed to succeed by ramping up the oven temperature to 250 celcius and lowering baking time to 10 minutes which has made them come out perfect , soft well cooked and not dry ... Thanks for the replies ... All the previous ideas I gleaned from the web were to lower temperature but the main problem seemed to be the fact that if they stay in the oven too long at whatever temperature they dry out terribly ( the holy bread has to be soft and with a very soft crust ) I got there in te end ... After weeks of failed attempts. But that's baking I guess ! Thanks guys