We're sorry to hear that you're having some difficulties, Lin! Most often when a bread doesn't brown evenly, it's because the dough was over-proofed. This happens because the yeast cells have eaten up most of the available sugars, not leaving behind much to caramelize during the bake. Another reason the tops of your loaves may not have browned and the crust was overly thick, is that there was too much flour on the surface of the dough from the shaping process. If this sounds like it could have been part of the problem, we'd recommend lightly brushing off the excess flour, another option is to use wet hands when shaping your dough which helps prevent too much flour from being used. A thick crust can often be caused by too much steam while baking too. We'd suggest using a bit less water next time so that you're steaming the bread for a shorter period of time. We hope this helps for future baking adventures! 

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