How do I know when bread is baked?

Four tests, the internal temperatures for lean and enriched dough, and why crust colour tells you very little.

Difficulty: beginner
Time: 5 min
Read: 3 min

Short answer

Probe the centre: 93 to 96°C for a plain loaf, 88 to 91°C for enriched dough with butter or egg. Without a thermometer, tap the base — a hollow sound means done — and check the loaf feels light for its size.

Bread is unusual in that the outside can look completely finished while the centre is still ten degrees short. That is why colour alone leads people astray so often.

Step by step

Use a probe thermometer as the primary test.Insert through the base into the centre, avoiding any large air pockets. It is the only test that is not a judgement call.
Know the two target ranges.Lean doughs — white, wholemeal, sourdough, baguette — are done at 93 to 96°C. Enriched doughs with butter, milk, egg or sugar set earlier, at about 88 to 91°C.
Tap the base.Turn the loaf over and knock the underside with a knuckle. A clear hollow sound means done; a dull thud means the crumb is still dense with moisture.
Weigh it in your hand.A baked loaf has lost around 10 to 15% of its dough weight in water, so it feels noticeably light. An underbaked one feels heavy and solid.
Look at the sides, not the top.The top browns first because it faces the heat. Pale, soft sides on a tin loaf mean it needs longer even if the top looks perfect.
Give it longer if in doubt.Five more minutes rarely spoils a loaf and often saves one. If the crust is already dark, tent it with foil and keep going.
Do not judge by the stated time.Oven accuracy, tin material, loaf shape and dough hydration all shift it substantially. Recipe times are a starting point.
Let it cool before deciding.A loaf that seems slightly underdone at the moment of baking often reads perfectly once it has cooled and set. Judge the crumb cold.

Tips

93 to 96°C for plain bread. It is the single most useful number in baking.
Pale sides mean not yet, however good the top looks.
If the crust is browning too fast, tent it with foil and keep baking.

Common mistakes

Taking the loaf out when the top is brown — The top faces the element and browns first, so it reaches colour well before the centre reaches temperature. Loaves regularly look finished at 85°C in the middle, which produces a gummy crumb.
Relying on the recipe's stated time — The same recipe in two ovens can differ by ten minutes or more, and tin material alone changes it. The time tells you when to start checking, not when to stop baking.

If it doesn't work

Crust dark but centre wet

Cause: Oven too hot — Fix: Lower the temperature 10 to 20°C, cover with foil and bake longer.

Pale and soft-sided

Cause: Underbaked, or tin too insulating — Fix: Bake longer, and consider turning the loaf out of the tin for the last ten minutes.

Hollow tap but gummy crumb

Cause: Cut while warm — Fix: Cool it completely before slicing — the tap test was probably right.

Thermometer reads high but bread is heavy

Cause: Probe hit an air pocket — Fix: Take a second reading from a different angle through the base.

Questions people ask

Does the hollow tap test actually work?

It is a reasonable guide and experienced bakers rely on it, but it is a judgement about sound. A probe thermometer answers the same question definitively and costs very little.

Should I bake bread out of the tin at the end?

For a crisper crust on the sides, yes — turn it out for the last five to ten minutes and put it straight on the shelf. It also lets you check the sides have coloured.