Jeannie, 450 degrees is a typical baking temperature for artisan breads, which tend to contain basic ingredients like flour, water, salt and yeast that can handle the higher temperature without burning too quickly. Smaller loaves tend to bake more quickly than larger loaves, so this may have impacted the timing of your bread baking. It may be that if you brushed the dough with the egg yolk glaze, this contributed to your bread browning more quickly, and it is also possible that your oven is running a little too hot. If you have a convection oven I would recommend baking on "regular bake," or reducing the baking temperature by 25 degrees. And it's always helpful to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is reading accurately. Allow your oven to preheat for 30 minutes and then check the thermometer reading. Simply adjust your setting to reflect any difference in temperature. Barb@KAF

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