How to Stop Burning the Bottom of Your Bread (With the Bracelet On My Wrist)

Here's a problem more home bakers run into than they'll admit: the loaf comes out of the oven looking incredible on top, deep, blistered, bakery-worthy, and then you flip it over and the bottom is scorched. Bitter. Almost black. All that work, undone in the last fifteen minutes of the bake.

I heard this complaint enough times over the years that I decided to fix it. Not for every baker, plenty of people never hit this, but for the ones who did, it was maddening. So we went looking for a way to lift the loaf up off the steel for the back half of the bake, get a little air moving underneath, and let the bottom breathe while the top finishes.

What we landed on is the simplest tool we've ever made. And I happen to be wearing three of them right now.

[Photo: the bands on my wrist, #bakingsteel and #createsomelove]

Meet the Baking Steel Bracelets

The Baking Steel Bracelets are heat-safe silicone bands rated to 500°F. They come in a 5-pack for $20. And yes, they're the same bands I wear on my wrist every single day.

That's not a marketing gimmick. It's just how they came to be. We needed something food-safe, heat-safe, and the right shape to elevate a loaf off the steel. Silicone bands did the job perfectly. They also happened to be the perfect canvas for the two things this brand is built on: #bakingsteel and #createsomelove. So the tool became the statement, and the statement became the tool. I wear mine 24/7, because I'm always trying to create some love.

How They Work

The fix is almost embarrassingly simple. For the final stretch of your bake, after the loaf has set its shape and you've pulled your steam cover off, you lift the loaf and slide the bracelets underneath it. The bands raise the bread just enough to break direct contact with the screaming-hot steel and let heat circulate underneath instead of slamming straight into the bottom crust.

The top keeps browning. The bottom stops cooking so aggressively. Everything evens out. You get a loaf that's beautifully colored all the way around instead of perfect on top and burnt on the bottom.

[Photo: an 800g loaf elevated on three bands, you can read "bakingsteel" right on the band]

That's an 800-gram loaf in the photo above, sitting up on three bands. And that number matters, because how many bands you use depends on the weight of your loaf.

• Big, heavy loaf (like that 800g boule) — use three bands for stable support.
• Lighter loaf or a ciabatta slipper — a single band does the trick.

Read the loaf. Heavier bread wants more support so it doesn't tip; a light, low slipper needs almost nothing. You'll dial it in after a bake or two.

The Temperature Math (Why 500°F Matters)

Most breads bake in the 400–450°F range. Our bracelets are rated to 500°F. That gap is the whole point, it gives you a comfortable safety margin right where bread actually bakes. You're never pushing the bands to their limit during a normal loaf, which is exactly how it should be.

For pizza, where your steel is ripping at 500°F+, that's a different game, the bracelets are a bread tool, used in the back half of a bread bake, not something you're sliding under a pizza. Keep them in their lane and they'll last you a long time.

No Bracelets? Use What You've Got

I'm going to tell you something most companies wouldn't: you don't strictly need our bands to solve this. The principle is what matters, get the loaf elevated off the steel so it's not in direct contact. Anything heat-safe that lifts the bread will help:

• A pair of metal tongs laid down as a rest
• A bent metal coat hanger shaped into a ring
• A rolled ring of aluminum foil

Just be sure whatever you use can handle the heat, no plastic, nothing that'll melt or scorch. The point is the air gap, not the brand on the band.

That said, the reason I made the bracelets is that the kitchen-hack versions are fiddly. A coat hanger tips. Tongs roll. Foil flattens. The bands sit flat, stack predictably, take the heat without complaint, and do an exceptional job loaf after loaf. Twenty bucks for a 5-pack that lives in your kitchen forever and rides on your wrist in between. That's the trade.

Bonus: They're a Cooling Rack, Too

Here's a use we stumbled into and now do every time. When the bread comes out of the oven, you want air circulating around it as it cools — a hot loaf set flat on a counter steams against the surface and softens its own bottom crust. Slide the bracelets under the loaf as it rests and they do double duty as a mini cooling rack, keeping that bottom crust crisp while the bread sets up.

The Whole System

If you're chasing bakery-quality bread at home, here's how the pieces fit together:

• The Baking Steel Original turns your home oven into a deck oven — it conducts heat dramatically faster than a ceramic stone, which is what gives you that superior bottom crust in the first place.
• The Bracelets let you fine-tune that bottom crust so it's perfect, not burnt.
• And if you want incredible bread without maintaining a sourdough starter, our 72-Hour Dough Mix gets you there with just water and time — it's not only for pizza.

Grab a 5-pack of Bracelets and stop burning your bottoms →

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the bottom of my bread burn?

When a loaf sits in direct contact with a very hot surface — like a baking steel or stone — for the entire bake, the bottom can over-brown and scorch before the top is done. Steel conducts heat fast, which is great for crust development but means the bottom can run ahead of the rest of the loaf. Elevating the bread for the final stretch of the bake breaks that direct contact and evens everything out.

How many bracelets do I need for one loaf?

It depends on the weight of the loaf. A heavy boule (around 800g) is stable on three bands. A lighter loaf or a ciabatta slipper only needs one. Use enough to support the bread without it tipping.

What temperature can the Baking Steel Bracelets handle?

They're rated to 500°F. Most breads bake in the 400–450°F range, so you've got a built-in safety margin right where bread actually bakes.

Can I use something other than the bracelets?

Yes. Any heat-safe item that elevates the loaf works — metal tongs, a bent metal coat hanger, or a rolled ring of aluminum foil. Just make sure it can handle the oven temperature and won't melt. The goal is simply to lift the loaf off the steel so air can circulate underneath.

Can I use the bracelets for pizza?

No — they're a bread tool used in the back half of a bread bake. Pizza runs your steel at 500°F and up, which is outside the bands' rated range. Keep them to bread.

What else can I use them for?

They double as a cooling rack. Slide them under the loaf when it comes out of the oven so air circulates underneath as it cools, keeping the bottom crust crisp.

About the Author

Andris Lagsdin invented the Baking Steel in 2012 using steel from his family's Stoughton Steel Company in Hanover, MA. a shop his family has run since the 1970s. What started as a Kickstarter project (backed after an endorsement from Kenji López-Alt on Serious Eats) has grown into the go-to tool for hundreds of thousands of home pizza makers. Every Baking Steel is still made at the family shop.

Before launching Baking Steel, Andris trained under renowned chef Todd English and spent 15 years in the family steel business. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore.

Today he teaches thousands of students how to make pizzeria-quality pizza at home through his free online classes and recipes.

In 2026, Andris launched the 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix the same recipe he's been teaching for over a decade, now in a bag. Just add water.